MO Senator Wants to Expand Law on Elder Abuse

A Missouri senator wants the state to expand its law on elder abuse by adding language to protecting older citizens from financial exploitation.

Sen. Kevin Engler is proposing to make it a crime for those with authority over an elderly person to take advantage of the older person’s state of mind for financial gain. The legislation would apply to people who have guardianship, power of attorney or some other financial management role for seniors.

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MO Senator Seeks to Expand Elder Abuse Law

Nursing Facility Sued Over Resident’s Alleged Brain Injury

The son of an elderly St. Clair County woman says his mother was left with a severe brain injury because she was neglected by her East St. Louis nursing home.

Willie Burns, as guardian of the estate and person of Annie L. Burns, filed a lawsuit Feb. 14 in St. Clair County Circuit Court against Virgil Calvert Nursing & Rehabilitation Center Inc.

Willie Burns says his mother was a resident of the Virgil Calvert Nursing and Rehab Center from May 2008 through April 2010. He says that during that time, Annie was allowed to fall several times while under the direct supervision nursing home staff, even though workers allegedly knew Annie was a likely fall victim.

When his mother did fall, Willie Burns claims the nursing home staff or administrators did not notify him or Annie’s doctor in a timely fashion.

In April 2010, Annie was admitted to St. Louis University Hospital with several brain injuries allegedly caused by her frequent falls. Willie accuses the nursing home of abusing and neglecting his mother, violating Illinois’ Nursing Home Care Act. He seeks more than $50,000 in damages, plus court costs, on behalf of his mother.

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Virgil Calvert Sued Over Resident’s Alleged Brain Injury

Editorial: Legal Assisted Suicide is a Recipe for Abuse

Editor, the Tribune: I am an attorney in Washington state, where assisted suicide is legal. I am also president of Choice is an Illusion, a not-for-profit corporation opposed to assisted suicide.

I disagree with Sandy Davidson (“Missourians should have a right to die”) that assisted suicide laws should be enacted in Missouri. Washington’s assisted suicide law is similar to a law in Oregon. These laws are promoted as providing patient choice. They are instead a recipe for elder abuse.

Under both the Oregon and Washington laws, an heir, who will financially benefit from the patient’s death, is allowed to actively help the patient sign up for the lethal dose. An heir can even talk for the patient during the lethal dose request process. This situation invites patient coercion, not patient choice.

More important, once the lethal dose is issued, there is no oversight, not even a required witness at the death. This creates the opportunity for someone who will benefit from the death to administer the dose without consent.

For more information about problems with legal assisted suicide, please visit http://www.choiceillusion.org.

~Margaret Dore

Civil Suits Against Rita Hunter Pending

A 12-count indictment handed up last week will demand Rita Hunter’s appearance in federal court, but the former Jasper County public administrator also has court dates pending in state court on civil lawsuits filed against her by county wards.

Several lawsuits still are making their way through the courts, though in other instances, courts have ruled in favor of the former administrator who left office Dec. 31, 2008. One Jasper County Circuit Court jury also has found in favor of Hunter, who thus far has been defended by attorneys for the county’s insurance carrier. In addition, Hunter has not been released in final financial settlements she filed on wards when she left office, because of challenges filed questioning how wards’ money was handled and reported.

Hunter, 59, of rural Joplin, now faces federal charges of health care fraud, theft of government property, document fraud, Social Security fraud and Medicaid fraud, in connection with the operation of her office when she was administrator from January 2005 through December 2008. The indictment alleges financial misdeeds started as early as April 2005, four months after the start of her term.

The indictment alleges Hunter collected nearly $200,000 to which her office was not entitled. That came either by falsifying reports to apply for Medicaid benefits to which wards were not entitled, or collecting fees from what wards were receiving from Social Security, without authorization and without reporting to the federal agency. In those cases, more than $121,000 from Medicaid and nearly $60,000 from Social Security were used for the fees for administrative charges by her office and to pay attorney fees and tax preparation fees, authorities allege.

Hunter is to report Jan. 5 for arraignment on the charges. In an appearance before U.S Magistrate James C. England on Wednesday, she was assigned a public defender and released on a personal recognizance bond, according to Don Ledford, spokesman for U.S. Attorney Beth Phillips.

Springfield attorney Lynn Myers said he expects both sides will be back in Jasper County Circuit Court soon on a lawsuit filed in July 2008 on behalf of several former wards. The suit seeks damages from Hunter and the county’s insurance company, alleging she overcharged wards and mishandled their funds.

The lawsuit currently lists wards including Guy Sesler, Treba Benson and the late Emma France, but Myers is asking the court to approve the case as a class action, contending overcharging was common among all wards’ accounts.

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Civil Suits Pending on Local Level

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Former Jasper County MO Administrator Rita Hunter Indicted for Fraud Scheme!

Former Jasper County MO Administrator Rita Hunter Indicted for Fraud Scheme!

A former Jasper County Administrator is being indicted on a 200,000 fraud scheme.

A federal grand jury in Springfield accuses 59-year-old Rita Hunter of illegally obtaining federal medicaid and social security benefits and using them to subsidize the administration of her office.

The indictment includes two counts of health care fraud, two counts theft of public money, two counts social security and medicaid fraud, and four counts of document fraud.

The indictment alleges that hunter directed her employees to submit false medicaid applications for mentally disabled wards of the state.

According to the indictment, the applications said the individuals had assets below the $1,000 threshold, which is false.

Medicaid and social security benefits were allegedly then funnelled through the public administrators office.

Approximately $121,000 of the $200,000 200 was said to be used for administration fees, attorney fees, tax fees and court fees not related to the ward’s medical care.

Hunter was the Jasper County Public Administrator from 2005 to 2008.

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Former Jasper County MO Administrator Indicted

Millionaire’s Children Battle for Estate, Vs. Ex-Neighbor, Lawyer

A successful multimillionaire in life, Frank Blumeyer of Naples knew where every penny of his fortune would go after his death.

He set up partnerships and trusts, using profits from his 30 years as an insurance company owner and his later business, Storage Inns of America, to provide for nine children, 22 grandchildren and 12 great-grandchildren.

Now, nearly a year after the 92-year-old patriarch was buried, his children are battling his former neighbors over his estate in courtrooms from Collier County to St. Louis.

The tangled web of litigation and love is like a made-for-TV movie.

There’s a suspended lawyer who has been in trouble with courts and state bar associations; a now-defunct escort service the lawyer operated with his current wife before his prior wife died of cancer; naked photos of his current wife found on Blumeyer’s computer; and allegations of elder financial fraud.

Eight of Blumeyer’s children allege his former Gordon Drive neighbors — suspended Naples attorney Allen Brufsky, 72, and his wife — used their father as a bank, siphoning more than a million dollars, while turning him against them.

In complaints to the Florida Department of Children and Families (DCF), Collier Circuit Court and The Florida Bar, they allege the Brufskys seduced their father, allowing him to take naked photos of Marcia Brufsky, 64, and have an affair so they could use his money. Emails show Brufsky even offered to sell his wife for $675,000.

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Love and War in Port Royal: Millionaire’s Children Battle for Estate vs. Ex-neighbor, Lawyer

Attorney Sentenced to Two Years, Apologizes for Theft

A disbarred St. Louis lawyer has been sentenced to two years in federal prison for stealing more than $300,000 from clients.

The St. Louis Post-Dispatch reports Steven Gartenberg pleaded guilty in June to two counts of mail fraud. He admitted keeping more than $100,00 from a woman’s estate that was supposed to go to a church, the Alzheimer’s association and three individuals.

Gartenberg also admitted making more than $200,000 in unauthorized withdrawals from the bank account of a mentally disabled woman who was under his guardianship.

He apologized at sentencing Friday, saying he feels remorse for what he’s done.

Gartenberg was ordered to repay $267,000, most of which will go to the Bar Plan Surety and Fidelity Company, a lawyer liability insurance company that paid for the guardianship victim.

Source:
St. Louis Attorney Sentenced to 2 Years for Fraud

Disbarred Atty Gets Two Years for Fraud

Steven P. Gartenberg, a disbarred lawyer who once had an office in Brentwood, was sentenced to two years in federal prison Friday for stealing more more than $300,000 from clients.

Gartenberg pleaded guilty in June to two counts of mail fraud. He admitted keeping more than $100,000 from a woman’s estate that was supposed to go to the Kirkwood United Methodist Church, the Alzheimer’s Association and three individuals and making more than $200,000 in unauthorized withdrawals from the bank account of a mentally disabled woman who was under his guardianship.

He also took money from two other clients, and later repaid them from a dead man’s estate.

On Friday, Gartenberg apologized, saying, “This isn’t like me. I feel much remorse for what I’ve done.”

Under federal sentencing guidelines, Gartenberg faced 27 to 33 months in prison.

Ultimately, U.S. District Judge Rod Sippel sentenced Gartenberg to two years in prison and ordered him to repay $267,000. Most of that money will go to the Bar Plan Surety and Fidelity Company, professional liability coverage for lawyers, which paid for the guardianship victim. He also repaid a small amount himself, Margulis said.

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Disbarred Attorney Gets Two Years for Fraud

>Physician Named John Q. Hammons’ Temporary Guardian

>A veteran Springfield physician has been appointed to serve as temporary guardian of hotel magnate John Q. Hammons.

Dr. James Coulter, a board-certified pulmonologist and internal medicine specialist with 43 years medical experience, is now providing independent medical advice to the court about care for the ailing Hammons.

He also is deciding who can visit Hammons at the long-term care facility where Hammons has resided for nearly a year, according to a source with knowledge of Coulter’s appointment.

[Greene County Probate Judge Michael]Cordonnier has closed the guardianship petition hearings to the public and also closed documents and records related to the case.

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Physician Named Temporary Guardian in Hammons Case

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Judge Moves John Q. Hammons Hearing to Nursing Home

>Judge Moves John Q. Hammons Hearing to Nursing Home

>The legal dispute over the care of a 92-year-old businessman moved to the nursing home where he lives on Thursday. A probate judge held a hearing at The Manor at Elfindale, where John Q. Hammons lives, rather than the Greene County Judicial Courts Facility.

The hearing was for a lawsuit filed in early March by eight friends of Hammons. The friends say Hammons’ guardian, Jacqueline Dowdy, won’t let them visit or call Hammons, even though they believe he wants to see them and is well enough to do so. The lawsuit seeks to have Greene County Public Administrator David Yancey appointed to be Hammons’ guardian.

Public administrators handle the affairs of people who can’t do it themselves and have no one else to do it for him. Hammons and his wife, Juanita, have no children, and Juanita Hammons has long been in a nursing home herself.

After the hearing on Thursday, Probate Judge Michael Cordonnier recessed the Case Management Hearing until 8:30 a.m. on April 7.

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Judge Moves John Q. Hammons Guardianship Hearing to Nursing Home

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John Q. Hammons Guardianship Closed!