Petition: Mandatory Liability Insurance for California’s Assisted Living Facilities

The State of California does not require an assisted living facility (also known as a residential care facility for the elderly (RCFE) to carry liability insurance, either at the time the facility is licensed or any time during the life of the business. Whether a licensee (RCFE owner) carries liability insurance is entirely at the discretion of the licensee.

YET, California allows RCFEs to care for increasing numbers of hospice, bedridden, and other medically needy residents, but does not require any skilled medical professionals to be employed by the facilities. Simply put – this is a recipe for neglect and abuse. And worse, there is no reasonable mechanism for residents and their families to obtain meaningful accountability from these facilities when the resident is injured, made sick or dies at the hand of the licensee.

A judgment against an uninsured facility sued for wrongful death due to the neglect or abuse of a resident, is useless if the facility does not carry liability insurance. The facility receives a monetary judgment, but because there is no liability insurance to pay the judgment to the aggrieved family, the facility owner unable to pay the judgment – files bankruptcy. Few civil litigators will take a contingency case against an RCFE if the RCFE is uninsured. In either case, the family is left holding an empty bag.

CARR’s findings are that 87% of facilities in its database do not carry liability insurance at the time they are licensed. The odds are high that most residents in California live in facilities that do not carry liability insurance at all.

California must do a better job of protecting the frail, elderly, and medically needy residents living in assisted living. The decision to protect the elderly and their families can no longer be left to the licensee.

Mandatory Liability Insurance for RCFEs is both NECESSARY and OVERDUE! for three reasons: Moral Imperative, Accountability and Fairness.
• Moral Imperative: Elders and their families are at the mercy of uninsured RCFEs when the elder is injured, made ill, or suffers death at the hand of the licensee.
• Accountability: Current state regulations afford limited avenues for the family to hold the licensee accountable for harm suffered.
• Fairness: Why are frail elders not protected against ‘defective’ care delivered by RCFE owners?

Every licensed driver in California must carry liability insurance. Yet, over 8,000 assisted living facilities in California, carrying for 200,000 frail and medically needy residents, 24 hours a day, 365 days a year, without benefit of skilled medical professionals being on the staff of these facilities are exempt from carrying liability insurance.

CARR says, ENOUGH. The time for accountability is now.

For the older adult in each of us, please join CARR in demanding this common sense consumer protection for all: Require that all California residential care facilities for the elderly (RCFEs) carry mandatory liability insurance.

CALIFORNIA RESIDENTS – SIGN THE PETITION!

Legal Matters: Petition for guardianship an option for those who need help

People have the right to make bad decisions. Dad can buy a new vacuum cleaner every week and stack them floor to ceiling. Although he is probably making his family crazy, he is not necessarily legally incompetent. But if Dad cannot buy food because he spends all his income on vacuum cleaners, he may need a guardian to manage his money.

Bad decisions become a legal issue when family members or others concerned conclude that a person is unable to make or communicate responsible decisions about his person or property because of physical or mental disability, disease, habitual drunkenness, drug addiction or other circumstances such as disappearance.

Screen Name or Email Now I remember!

The best idea for a person who understands that his mental illness affects his functioning or knows that advanced years impair his memory or reasoning is to plan ahead. He may grant financial power of attorney to a trustworthy person and appoint an agent to make health-care decisions if he is unable to do so.

 

A representative payee can be appointed for a person who can no longer manage his income. The payee receives the person’s government benefits, such as Social Security or a veteran’s pension, and pays his bills.
 

A petition for guardianship may be the only good option for a person who has not given power of attorney and refuses to accept help but can no longer take care of himself. The person may need one or both types of guardian — a guardian of the person to make sure he has health care, food, clothing and shelter, or a guardian of property if he is unable to manage his property or business affairs effectively.
 

Mental incompetency is a ghost in fog, difficult to define or identify. Maryland law says a guardian of the person must be appointed if a judge determines that the individual “lacks sufficient understanding or capacity to make or communicate responsible decisions concerning his person, including provisions for health care, food, clothing, or shelter, because of any mental disability, disease, habitual drunkenness, or addiction to drugs, and that no less restrictive form of intervention is available which is consistent with the person’s welfare and safety.”
 

A disabled person may be competent to make some decisions but not others. For example, a developmentally disabled 20-year-old may be able to express a reasoned opinion about whom she trusts to handle her money, but unable to pay her bills on time.

Full Article and Source:
Legal Matters: Petition for guardianship an option for those who need help

Petition: Chief White Owl’s Law for Nursing Home Reform

There needs to be changes made in the Nursing Homes for Residents and Patients to have their 100% Resident Rights Granted. There needs to be Maximum Protection on All Residents and Patients Health and Safety throughout each Health Care Facility. There Needs to be improvements made to assure that each Resident gets the best care possible and that each and every Health Care Facility is fully staffed to care for the ones in need. There should not even be an issue as Nursing Home abuse and neglect. All Residents should be treated with dignity and respect. Together We Can ALL Make a Difference. Let’s Make This a Better, Safer, and Healthier World To Live In For ALL!!

SIGN the petition

Petition: Free Marquis Tanksley

To: FRANKLIN COUNTY PROBATE COURT, OH; U.S. DEPARTMENT OF JUSTICE, PRESIDENT BARACK OBAMA

Marquis Tanksley (pictured with bruises on his forehead and in severe distress at CDC) is autistic and has been and continues to be REPEATEDLY ASSAULTED, RESTRAINED, NEGLECTED and ABUSE at Columbus Developmental Center (CDC) which is an state run ICF/MR facility operated by the Ohio Department…

Support and protect the human and civil rights of one of our most vulnerable populations, the disabled!

Speak out against the abuse of autistic adults in facilities and institutions!

Demand the release of Marquis Tanksley so he can live an happy and productive life that we all are entitled to!

Prosecute the employees who have assaulted and abused Marquis Tanksley and the employees who did not report the assault and abuse of Marquis Tanksley!

SIGN THE PETITION

Petition: Stop Human Trafficking of the Elderly

 Many people don’t know that there is an entire court system whose job it is to remove elder civil rights. Anyone can apply for guardianship over an “incapacitated” adult, and many guardians have no qualifications. Background checks aren’t often performed.

The guardian has complete control over everything in the elder’s life, including choice of visitors, medications, living situations. All of the elders assets are now in their control. Wills, health directives, trusts, and power of attorney established before incapacitation are routinely ignored or changed.

SIGN THE PETITION

Petition: Urge CA Sen. Noreen Evans to CAP California Probate Fees

In 2006 the State of California enacted the Fiduciaries Act, which was meant to protect consumers from financial fraud, and abuse, by California Fiduciaries. A Fiduciaries Bureau was opened and Fiduciaries had to register, take classes, and become licensed by the Fiduciaries Bureau, a Division of the Calif. Dept. of Consumer Affairs. However, since 2006, Private Fiduciaries in California have been conducting a “Feeding Frenzy” with regards to fees charged to their elderly client’s estates, assets, etc., see Calif. 6th Cir. Court of Appeals recent decision. Furthermore, Norine Boehmer, president of the Professional Fiduciary Association of California is against the reduction of fees for fiduciary’s whom belong to her for profit organization.

Therefore, to to protect the consumer from further financial abuse by California licensed Private Fiduciaries, we urge State Senator Noreen Evans to submit legislation placing a cap on all licensed fiduciary fees in the State of California.

Source:
SIGN Petition: Urge Calif. Sen. Noreen Evans to CAP California Probate Fees

Petition: Mom, It’s Christmas 2012 – Your Daughters Will Never Stop Fighting for Your Freedom

STOP The Injustice Of An Innocent Woman Being Held Against Her Will, Isolated From Family & Friends For The Past Five Years In A Nursing Facility Through No Fault Of Her Own.

Why Are We Forcing Our Tax Payers To Pay Out HUNDREDS OF THOUSANDS OF DOLLARS A YEAR Forcing Mollie Florkey To Be Held Prisoner In A Nursing Home When It’s Not Necessary ?

SIGN THE PETITION

See Also:
NASGA:Mollie Florkey, Ohio Victim

Petition to the FDA; Regulate Nursing Home Injuries and Deaths

Family members expect bed rails to protect the parents, grandparents, and great grandparents spending their nights in nursing home beds.

Warning labels are not placed on the bed rails that have strangled and injured Senior Citizens for years. The FDA finally issued a warning in 1995 about the dangers of bed rails.You’ve heard about that, right? Exactly. No one has. And so the deaths and injuries continued.

After the FDA’s ineffective warning, officials discussed placing warning labels on bed rails. But, manufacturers resisted, so the FDA let it slide.

Shoving the issue of bed rail safety labeling under the rug won’t hide the needless deaths and injuries that vulnerable senior citizens face. Putting a warning label on a product that needs it, however, will save lives.

SIGN the Petition – FDA: Regulate Nursing Home Injuries and Deaths

Petition: To Return Mary G Sykes Home and to Remove Carolyn Toerpe as Plenary Guardian

Probate elder abuse in Cook County is a continuing issue. The courts are corrupt and deny the elderly their human rights on a regular basis.

Mary G Sykes, a 92 year old woman is just one example.

While she stood in open court and wanted to tell the judge she wanted to return home with her daughter Gloria J Sykes, she was denied this right. She was repeatedly denied the right to an attorney by the court. Her GAL’s only listened to one party–Carolyn Toerpe and the entire procedure was railroaded. Gloria was denied the right to be her guardian–even though she lovingly cared for her for 10+ years in Mary’s own home. Carolyn, who had little contact and rarely took her mother was awarded Plenary Guardianship in a railroaded proceeding.

SIGN THE PETITION to Return Mary G Sykes Home and to Remove Carolyn Toerpe as Plenary Guardian

Petition: Remove Sonoma County Judge Mark Tansil

We, elders and disabled consumers of California licensed fiduciaries, are being forced to pay large billing fees to court appointed self-dealing fiduciares, guradians, and trustees, and their greedy attorneys.

The culprit: Judge Mark Tansil, of Sonoma County Califonria, awards these fees to those self-dealing fiduciaries the court appoints. When we attempt to object, Judge Mark Tansil forces us to go without legal representation, and then awards large billing fees to these self-dealing fiduciaries and their attorneys.

We believe Judge Mark Tansil is a disgrace to the Judicial systen, and that he should be removed from the bench, therefore we are petitioning the California Governor, and the California Commission on Judicial Performance to take action against Judge Mark Tansil.

SIGN the petition to remove Sonoma County Judge Mark Tansil