Feds Probe California Nursing Homes for Abuse

The U.S. Department of Justice is looking into complaints of lax care at Northern California nursing homes, and threatening civil or criminal charges against serious violators.

The federal investigators will look at inappropriate use of psychiatric medications and poor care that results in injury or illness, according to a statement about the probe. Investigators are also looking at nursing homes that discharge sick patients or refuse admission to patients returning from a hospital.

The investigation was, at least in part, spurred by a provision of the federal health reform law signed by President Barack Obama in March. That law includes the Elder Justice Act, which calls for coordination between the U.S. attorney general’s office and other government agencies to prevent elder abuse, neglect and exploitation.

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Feds Probe Nursing Home Abuse

Court of Appeals: Alzheimer’s Patient May Sue for Divorce

The Fourth District Court of Appeal revived a divorce petition by an elderly Alzheimer’s patient adjudged to be incompetent.

Div. One explained that the trial court had erred in dismissing the petition sua sponte without providing the parties with adequate notice and without first determining whether Evelyn Straczynski was capable expressing an intent to obtain a dissolution of her marriage on account of irreconcilable differences.

Straczynski began divorce proceedings in August 2005, but her husband, Charles Straczynski, alleged in his response that she suffered from Alzheimer’s disease, dementia and was “not truly aware of what she is doing at this time.”

Evelyn Straczynski was placed in an assisted living program that November, but when San Diego Superior Court Judge David B. Oberholtzer interviewed her, he found she had “sufficient capacity to determine she wanted a divorce.”

Over the course of the next two years, Oberholtzer ruled on a number of motions, finding, among other things, that a 1986 prenuptial agreement was enforceable and that Straczynski’s husband was obligated to pay her half of the proceeds of the sale from the family home plus an additional $265,000. Oberholtzer also ordered the husband to pay all expenses associated with Straczynski’s care and medications.

Proceeding concurrently with this dissolution action was a conservatorship case in the probate court regarding Straczynski. The probate court found Straczynski was not competent to be in an attorney-client relationship and appointed a guardian ad litem and conservator for her estate. The probate judge also specified that the conservator “shall have standing to litigate the Family Court matters on behalf of the conservatee.”

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Alzheimer’s Patient May Sue for Divorce, Court of Appeals Say

Court Rejects Michael Jackson’s Father’s Appeal

A California appeals court rejected a bid by Michael Jackson’s father to challenge the administration of his son’s lucrative estate.

A three-justice panel of the California Second District Court of Appeal unanimously affirmed a probate judge’s ruling that Joe Jackson didn’t have standing to intervene in his son’s estate.

A copy of the opinion was not immediately available.

Despite being excluded from his son’s 2002 will, Joe Jackson had been seeking to have some control over financial affairs.

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Court Rejects Michael Jacson’s Father’s Appeal

CA: Audit Hits Fresno County Public Guardian

A company hired to manage the affairs of elderly and mentally ill clients in Fresno County may have overbilled for its services — and the county agency responsible for oversight failed to see the problems, a county audit has found.

The county’s audit committee, which includes Supervisor Judy Case and several top county administrators, decided Thursday to forward the report to the District Attorney’s Office for possible criminal investigation.

Committee members didn’t say who they want investigated, but the discussion of potential criminal activity centered on a vendor, Anjaleoni Enterprises of Clovis. County officials are concerned about more than $1 million in bills the company submitted in the last fiscal year, including some for items it purchased from relatives of Anjaleoni’s owner. Auditors didn’t estimate how many of the bills might have been improper.

The Fresno County Public Guardian office is responsible for about 260 elderly and mentally ill people who can’t take care of themselves. Money from their estates is put into an account managed by the county, which relies on vendors to provide care for the clients, including making purchases for them.

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Audit Hits Fresno County Public Guardian

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Questions Surround Madera Public Guardian

CA: Former Nurse Pleads No Contest to Elder Abuse

In a plea deal, Marlene Delp, a former nurse at the Terraces of Roseville, pleaded no contest to two felony charges of elder abuse and drug possession.

The plea comes on the heels of a proposed class action lawsuit filed last week, alleging the company didn’t investigate related complaints against Delp.

The “lax policies” of Westmont Living, which runs the Terraces, “made it easy for Delp to steal resident pain medications,” Sacramento attorney Mark A. Redmond said in a release. As a member of Attorneys Against Abuse of Elders, he filed the case on behalf of multiple current and former Terraces residents.

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Nurse Pleads No Contest to Elder Abuse, Possession

Delp, 63, faces three years formal probation and 8-12 months in the Placer County jail.

Orange Co. CA Will Spend $45,000 to Review Public Guardian

The county plans to spend $45,000 to investigate allegations that one of its agencies is unnecessarily taking control over people’s estates to pad its own coffers, including taking aim at the $15 million estate of Charles “Mask” Lewis Jr., the co-founder of Tapout, a mixed-martial arts clothing line.

Public Administrator/Public Guardian John S. Williams and his agency, which oversees $38 million in estates and the lives and deaths of more than 1,000 people every year, is the target of the county’s review.

Criticized in two Orange County grand jury reports in 2009, the Public Administrator/Public Guardian’s Office was back in the spotlight in August when then-Assistant District Attorney Todd Spitzer, thought by many to be in line to become the next district attorney, was fired after he began looking into allegations a conservatorship case was being mishandled by the agency.Supervisor Pat Bates, who last year allowed Williams a little breathing room to correct the critiques of his office, has now asked for a county review of how the once little-known county agency liquidates the assets of large estates.

Williams, who blames the complaints on disgruntled employees who were either fired or not promoted, then upped the ante, asking for a complete review of his office’s policies and procedures.

The review, being done by Tim Kay, a local attorney with expertise in conservatorship issues, is under way, but the board of supervisors will consider his contract at Tuesday’s meeting.

Kay’s report, which will be confidential, will be handed over to Orange County Chief Executive Officer Mauk by Oct. 29 with any necessary revisions, according to the proposed contract.

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$45,000 to Review Public Guardian, Tapout Sale

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Orange Co. California: Investigator Will Review Public Guardian

Orange Co. California: Investigator Will Review Public Guardian

The county will hire an outside investigator to review the embattled Public Administrator/Public Guardian’s Office after accusations of mismanagement in the office responsible for managing $38 million in assets and the lives or deaths of 1,000 people each year.

Assistant county executive officer Rob Richardson confirmed the county is looking into hiring a retired judge or law firm to look into the policies and procedures governing the office, but the decision of who that will be or how much it will cost the county has not been made.

The review will target cases involving estates and conservatorships to make sure they are being handled within the law, said Stephen Dunivent, the deputy county executive officer overseeing the review. Also in the county’s cross hairs are property auction firms hired by the office and the process used to select those firms. The review is expected to be done by early November, Dunivent said.Public Administrator/Public Guardian John S. Williams has hired his own personal attorney, Phil Greer, to represent him as an individual. Greer is not being paid by the county, Richardson confirmed.

The Public Administrator/Public Guardian Office was thrown back into the public spotlight in August after then-assistant district attorney Todd Spitzer, thought to be the heir apparent to the district attorney, was fired after he began looking into allegations that a case was being mishandled by the agency.

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Investigator Will Review Public Guardian

Britney Spears Hearing Scheduled for Oct. 14

Britney Spears’ conservatorship order is to come to an end within three months.

the 28-year-old pop star is expected to reclaim control of her life after meeting with Los Angeles Superior Court Judge Reva Goetz last week so he could assess her general wellbeing.

A source told RadarOnline.com: “Britney has made tremendous progress in the past three to four months. She seems to be firmly in control again.

“Judge Goetz needed to meet with Britney and talk to her face-to-face, to see how she was doing. It’s one thing to read medical reports about her, but the in-person meeting was very important.

“Britney’s court-appointed attorney, Sam Imgham, was the only other person in the judge’s chambers during the 35-minute meeting.

“Judge Goetz also met with Britney’s father, Jamie separately, as well as with Britney’s therapist.”

The final decision will be made by Judge Goetz, and if he decides Spears no longer needs conservators she will be in charge of her affairs within 12 weeks.

The next conservatorship hearing is scheduled for October 14.

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Britney Spears Set to Take Back Control

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Britney Spears Remains Conserved

Schwarzenegger Pushes to Keep Violent Felons Out of Home Care

Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger called on state lawmakers to enact legislation that would prevent violent felons from caring for ailing residents in California home health care programs.

Schwarzenegger said in his letter to Senate and Assembly leaders that current rules that keep the department from rejecting caregiver candidates with criminal records represent a grave threat to the safety of home care recipients.

“Choosing to protect these felons over the vulnerable beneficiaries in this program is akin to releasing violent felons from prison and sending them straight into a nursing home on a work-release program,” the governor wrote.

“We are allowing these people into the homes of vulnerable individuals without supervision,” said John Wagner, director of the state Department of Social Services. “It is dangerous. These are serious convictions.”

State and county investigators have not reported violent crime backgrounds because program rules allow felons to work as home care aides. They can only be disqualified if there’s a history of specific types of child abuse, elder abuse or defrauding of public assistance programs.

Privacy laws prevent warning elderly, infirm and disabled residents that caregivers are felons.

Some 996 convicted felons have been identified as working or seeking jobs in the program since background checks started last year. Some 786 of them were removed or declared ineligible, but the rest are expected to be employed in the program, state Social Services said.

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Calif. Gov Wants New Home Health Hiring Laws

Fraud Suspects Appear in Federal Court

Two former Modesto men accused of bilking $10 million from elderly homeowners pleaded not guilty Tuesday in federal court in Fresno.

Jim Lankford, who owned Century 21 Apollo, and his roommate, Jon McDade, were released Friday in San Francisco after posting unsecured property bonds of $1 million each. They surrendered passports and were ordered not to sell assets or take out lines of credit, a Department of Justice spokeswoman said.

According to an indictment, the men gained the trust of elderly property owners, lied to obtain lending, forged documents and moved property among them to secure multiple loans. Lankford is charged with 49 counts of mail fraud. McDade faces 10 counts of mail fraud and one of bank fraud.

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2 Modesto Fraud Suspects Appear in Federal Court