Press Release: Santa Clara Superior Court Judge Thomas Cain Allegedly Prevents 83 Year Old White Woman from Being with her 58 Year Old African-American Husband

Santa Clara Conservatorship judge Thomas Cain is being charged with allegedly committing race, gender and age discrimination. According is court papers filed on Monday and Wednesday, Beatrice Pacheco-Starks is claiming that she is being discriminated against by judge Cain due to her age, gender and the race of herself and her African-American husband Mr. Marreon Gene Starks. In re Conservatorship of Beatrice K. Pacheco, 112-PR-171580

The Motion to Disqualify Thomas Cain from hearing an Emergency Petition for Removal of Conservatorship, alleges that Stephen Pacheco, Mrs. Pacheco-Starks son from previous marriage, has successfully enlisted judge Cain, along with court appointed lawyer Michael Desmerais, Baugh and Lynn Searle of San Francisco, to fabricate court records in order to prevent her from being with Mr. Starks so as to ensure that her approximately 6-million dollars is secured only for them.

Court records alleges that judge Cain has used his own race, gender and age biases in deciding to side with her son and his lawyers and she demands that the judge recuse himself from making any further decisions or involvement in her future cases.

Mrs. Pacheco-Starks followed up on April 24, 2013 with an Emergency Petition to remove her son from being her conservator and seeks to terminate court appointed lawyer Desmerais, who she alleges not honestly making her wishes known to the court and otherwise siding with her son in order to unjustly enrich his law practice off of her multi-million dollar estate. The Petition also alleges that her son has not provided her the $500 per week allowance the he was ordered to provide her and once she sought to raise funds to hire her own lawyer by selling her car, he is alleged to have closed her checking account and assaulted her in an attempt to steal her car keys away from her.

Full Press Release:
Santa Clara Superior Court Judge Thomas Cain Allegedly Prevents 83 Year Old White Woman from Being with her 58 Year Old African-American Husband

Elder Abuse Leads to Jail for Nursing Director

California’s Attorney General announced that the former director of nursing at a hospital in the Kern Valley Healthcare District was sentenced to three years in state prison for the “convenience drugging” of elderly patients, including one who ended up dying.

Gwen D. Hughes, the former nursing director, was charged with the deaths of three patients in the original lawsuit. She pled no contest to a single felony count of elder abuse last October, with a special allegation that the abuse resulted in the death of a patient, according to a press release from the California Department of Justice.

The state’s Department of Justice alleges that Hughes ordered psychotropic medication — without any therapeutic reasons — for 23 elderly patients of the hospital’s skilled nursing facility. The drugs were given to keep quiet patients who were noisy, prone to wandering, or were argumentative.
The patients who were given the medication were mostly Alzheimer’s patients or suffering from dementia.

Hughes allegedly directed the hospital’s director of pharmacy to write doctor’s orders for the unnecessary psychotropic medications, according to the California Justice Department. The investigation by the state found that the drugs hastened the deaths of three patients and that all the patients who were inappropriately medicated suffered adverse physical reactions.

The Kern Valley case represents a rare instance in which a medical professional faced criminal charges and was sentenced under elder abuse laws for the illegal chemical restraint of patients.

Full Article and Source:
Sokolove Law:  Elder Abuse Leads to Jail for Nursing Director

Terri Schiavo’s Brother, Bobby Schindler, Petitions Court to Intervene in Guardianship Case

Attorney Christopher Johnson has filed with the Supreme Court of the State of New York, asking the court to allow Mr. Bobby Schindler, brother of Terri Schiavo to serve as Guardian for Mr. Gary Harvey.

In 2006, Mr. Harvey, a Chemung County resident, was involved in a home accident, which left him with a profound brain injury. His spouse, Mrs. Sara Harvey, sought guardianship only to be denied by the Chemung County Supreme Court who ultimately appointed the Chemung County Department of Social Services as Mr. Harvey’s guardian. Since that time, Mrs. Harvey has been in a prolonged court battle with Chemung County officials and the New York State Court System.

Indeed, it was in May of 2009 when the ethics committee from the hospital where Mr. Harvey was residing recommended the removal of his nutrition and hydration tube, and also issued a “do-not-resuscitate order” (DNR).

Fortunately, the court denied that request. However, inexplicably, the DNR stayed in place and Mr. Harvey remains under the control of Chemung County, despite the fact that the county tried to end his life.

“I have raised the question many times, ‘How can Chemung County, Guardian of Mr. Harvey, be acting in his best interest when they, in fact, tried to kill him?’ From all indications, it appears that Mr. Harvey has been warehoused and denied the opportunity to receive the care and rehabilitative services that would benefit his condition,” stated Bobby Schindler.

It is the hope that with this filing, the court will recognize that Mr. Harvey deserves the chance to receive aggressive therapy and rehabilitation. Certainly from Mr. Schindler’s experience with brain injured persons, he would afford Mr. Harvey the help he needs in the hopes to significantly improve his quality of life.

Source:
Schiavo’s Brother Petitions Court to Intervene in Guardianship Case

Press Release: Introduction of Legislation to Support Caregivers

We commend Senator Amy Klobuchar for reintroducing the Americans Giving care to Elders (AGE) Act as a manifestation of her commitment to caregivers and the elders that they serve. Caregivers are the backbone of service delivery for elders with chronic diseases. Thirty-one percent of U.S. households have at least one person that has served as an unpaid caregiver within the last 12 months.

Senator Klobuchar recognizes that a tax credit and increased funding for the National Family Caregiver Support Program (NFCSP) that funds adult day services and in-home care are cost effective approaches to help caregivers succeed in their goal of caring for a loved one in their own home. The National Family Caregiver Program has been an underfunded part of the Older Americans Act for many years. It pays for less costly long-term services and supports, and ultimately reduces the need for more expensive care. This important legislation also implements the National Resource Center on Family Caregiving that will be an important resource on best practices for states, agencies and caregivers concerning best practices for caring for an elder at home.

Full Article and Source:
LeadingAge Statement on Introduction of Legislation To Support Caregivers From Larry Minnix, President & CEO

Phoenix Arizona Press Conference: Clean Up the Courts!

Dear Concerned Citizens and Victims of Judicial Corruption,

You are invited to join us for a Press Conference:

Date: May 31, 2012

Time: 10:00 a.m.

Location: 1700 West Washington (the state Capitol) Phoenix, Arizona

Purpose: Andrew Thomas will discuss new judicial reform legislation SCR 1001. And some victims of the corruption in Maricopa County Probate Court will tell their stories.

If you have been a victim of judicial corruption, we want you to attend. Please bring banners and/or signs that read, “CLEAN UP THE COURTS!”

RSVP to: cporterkzoo@att.net

Read SCR 1001

MD Press Release: Daughter Pleads Guilty to Misappropriating Elderly Mother’s Funds

John J. McCarthy, State’s Attorney for Montgomery County, announced that Lynda LaTour pled guilty today to Misappropriation by a Fiduciary in front of the Honorable Judge Robert A. Greenberg, Circuit Court, Montgomery County, Maryland. The Defendant faces a maximum sentence of five years incarceration. LaTour will be sentenced on July 13, 2012 by the Honorable Robert A. Greenberg.

Starting in 2009, LaTour embezzled almost $250,000 from her mother, Yola Cardinali, by abusing the authority her mother gave her through a power of attorney. Mrs. Cardinali was born in 1926, and began showing signs of dementia in 2008 while she was living independently in New York City. In 2009, the Defendant obtained power of attorney to handle her mother’s finances and, in March of that year, moved her mother to Sunrise at Montgomery Village. In early September 2009, the Defendant signed a residency agreement with Sunrise of Rockville, as well as a responsible party contract under which she agreed to pay for her mother’s apartment, residential assisted living services, meals, medication,and respite care. The Defendant carried out her contractual obligations until she told Sunrise staff, in November 2010 that her mother was out of money. In fact, when attorneys for Sunrise contacted the State’s Attorney’s Office in April 2011, the Defendant owed Sunrise approximately $30,000. (In September 2011, when Sunrise filed a separate civil action against LaTour for breach of contract, she owed more than $52,000; in February 2012, Sunrise won a default judgment against LaTour for almost $76,000).

“Financial exploitation of vulnerable adults and seniors is serious crime in Maryland, and we are committed to aggressively prosecuting these offenses,” McCarthy said in reaction to the plea. “This was one of the first cases investigated under the special Senior Financial Exploitation Initiative that we started last year due to the rampant increase in this type of case in the County. The circumstances are especially egregious when, as here, family members abuse a trusted relationship to take advantage of their older relatives.”

Full Press Release and Source:
Daughter Pleads Guilty to Misappropriating Elderly Mother’s Funds

FBI Press Release: Nursing Home Abuse: Owner Cheats Government and Neglects Residents

Not enough food. Little air conditioning or heat. Roofs leaking to the point that barrels and plastic sheets were used to catch rain water. Trash that piled up in dumpsters. Flies and rodents everywhere, along with rampant mold and mildew.

These were just some of the horrible conditions that elderly residents of three Georgia nursing homes lived under for several years.

The primary culprit: the owner of these homes who, despite having received more than $32.9 million in payments from Medicare and Medicaid for residents’ care, elected to pocket much of the money instead.

But he didn’t get away with it. Earlier this month, George Dayln Houser was convicted in Atlanta of defrauding Medicare and Medicaid. Houser’s accomplice and wife, Rhonda Washington Houser, pled guilty last December.

To receive Medicare and Medicaid payments, Houser agreed to provide his residents with a safe and clean physical environment, nutritional meals, medical care, and other assistance. But as complaints began to roll in from residents, family members, nursing home staffers, and vendors hired to provide services, it became clear he had no intention of doing so.

These complaints led to an investigation by the FBI’s Atlanta office—in concert with the Department of Health and Human Services’ Office of Inspector General and the Internal Revenue Service’s Criminal Investigation. Evidence gathered by investigators and later introduced at trial showed that the services Houser provided to residents were so deficient that the judge determined them “worthless.” It was a precedent-setting case…the first time ever a defendant was federally convicted at trial for submitting payment claims for worthless services.

Full Press Release and Source:
Nursing Home Abuse – Owner Cheats Government and Neglects Residents

Elder Abuse Remains Hidden Problem as Baby Boomers Reach Old Age

Despite the 2010 passage of the Elder Justice Act, policy experts have found that combating widespread abuse of seniors is still not a top priority for care providers and governments alike. As many as one in 10 people age 60 and over are affected by this problem, according to the newest Public Policy & Aging Report (PPAR) from the National Academy on an Aging Society, the policy institute of The Gerontological Society of America. U.S. Senator Herb Kohl (D-WI) and U.S. Representative Peter King (R-NY), who have been heavily involved in legislation to address elder abuse, contributed introductory statements for the issue.

Elder abuse encompasses mistreatment, neglect, and exploitation of a physical, psychological, or sexual nature. The Elder Justice Act was signed into law as part of 2010’s Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, yet it has received no appropriations to date.

Full Article and Source:
Elder Abuse Remains Hidden Problem as Baby Boomers Reach Old Age

See Also:
Baby Boomers Beware of Guardianship Abuse

Senate Aging Committee Hearing Spotlights Need to End Fragmented SNF Policymaking

Emphasizing the need to end fragmented policymaking for the U.S. skilled nursing facility (SNF) sector to help sustain quality gains and boost cost efficiency, the Alliance for Quality Nursing Home Care (AQNHC) praised U.S. Senator Herb Kohl (D-WI) for convening today’s [4/18]Senate Special Committee on Aging hearing, and said repeated SNF Medicare funding cuts are no replacement for intelligent reforms that help coordinate care for an aging, increasingly disparate, higher acuity patient population.

“Because Medicare and Medicaid together pay for the care of three out of every four SNF patients, it is crucial to assess not just the impact both programs have on the ability of providers to continue delivering high quality patient care, but also how to improve cost savings by better coordinating today’s fragmented, siloed policymaking process,” said Alan G. Rosenbloom, President of the Alliance. “Funding reduction after funding reduction is no substitute for rational policymaking that can help patients and help stabilize a key U.S. health sector already slated to absorb $48 billion in funding cuts between FY 2012-21.”

Full Press Release and Source:
Senate Aging Committee Hearing Spotlights Need to End Fragmented SNF Policymaking

NASGA Press Release: NASGA Releases its Fourth Open Letter to Congress and the White House

Press Release
For Immediate Release
March 26, 2012

NASGA Releases its Fourth Open Letter to Congress and the White House

NASGA has addressed guardianship/conservatorship abuse by fiduciaries in three previous white papers to Congress and the White House; yet, when any legislator has come forward to champion the cause of guardianship reform and propose legislation, the focus of said reform continues to concentrate on family members as guardians and is limited to suggestions of grants for certification, training, background checks – none of which addresses the growing threat of professional for-profit and “not-for-profit” fiduciaries freely bleeding their victims into indigence and onto Medicaid, at the expense of the currently unsuspecting taxpayers.

In this, our fourth white paper, we continue to ask: How are thieves “trained” not to steal other than by enforcing existing law and sending them to jail?

The GAO’s 2010 report: “Guardianship: Cases of Financial Exploitation, Neglect and Abuse of Seniors” sounded a resounding alarm calling for Congress to step up and address the subject of court-sanctioned plunder of estates by court-appointed fiduciaries and professionals and compel them to MAKE GOOD THE FORGOTTEN PROMISE of 42 U.S.C. 3001 of The Public Health and Welfare Law: “(6) Retirement in health, honor, dignity – after years of contribution to the economy; ” and “(10) Freedom, independence, and the free exercise of individual initiative in planning and managing their own lives, full participation in the planning and operation of community-based services and programs provided for their benefit, and protection against abuse, neglect, and exploitation.”

See:
AnOpenLetterToCongress-4.info