Congressman Michael C. Burgess, M.D. Writes Back.- Joins Effort

Dear Mrs. Manire:

Thank you for contacting me regarding your support of H.R. 1783, The Elder Justice Act. I appreciate hearing your views on this legislation.

As you may know, Congressman Rahm Emanuel (D-IL-5) introduced H.R. 1783 on March 29, 2007. If passed, H.R. 1783 would amend the Social Security Act to enhance the public-private entities' ability to prevent, detect, intervene in, and prosecute elder abuse, neglect, and exploitation.

I strongly agree that the generations before us must be provided safety and security in their latter years. We must dramatically reduce the abuse and neglect that is suffered by our seniors. H.R. 1783 has been referred to the House Energy and Commerce Committee. As a member of this committee, I will keep your views in mind should it be brought before the committee for consideration.

Again, thank you for taking the time to contact me. I appreciate having the opportunity to represent you in the U.S. House of Representatives. Please feel free to visit my website (www.house.gov/burgess) or contact me with any future concerns.

Sincerely,Michael C. Burgess, M.D.Member of Congress

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Now that our voices are being heard, now that we are being noticed, now that our collective pain is being felt, Now that there are brave young men dying for our right to say so !

This is NO time to let up.

If only for selfish reasons, we all ought to care about fighting elder abuse — because one day, if we live long enough, it might just happen to us.

It is time to 2x our efforts, you can find the letters that Mrs Manire sent

Reality Writing LettersPlease Support the Elder Justice Act:
DOWNLOAD & TAKE ACTION NOW: Be heard in Washington, DC

Please click here to download & print prefabricated letters to your Senators and mail them today.

Instructions are included – thank you

It's happening more than you know.

WITI-TV, MILWAUKEE -- Most people couldn't imagine stealing from their parents. The Milwaukee County Sheriff's Department says it's happening more than you know.

Fifty-year old Cynthia Blackmon pleaded not-guilty in Milwaukee County Court to 21 counts of elder abuse. She allegedly stole a total of $116,000 from her 79-year old mother, writing unauthorized checks and using fraudulent credit cards for two years.

Elder abuse, both physical and financial, has risen 78-percent in Wisconsin since 2000. Baby boomers are living longer with more money saved for retirement. They rarely suspect their own family members or caregivers would steal from them, so the crimes are rarely reported.

The Milwaukee County Sheriff's Department formed an elder abuse unit in January of 2007. It has investigated almost 50 cases. It works with and gets many tips from The Milwaukee County Department on Aging.

If you suspect a crime against the elderly call The Department on Aging Elder Abuse Hotline at 414-289-6874 or detectives in The Sheriff's Elderly Abuse Unit at 414-278-4788.our
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Yet another major metropolis city raises the alarm "It's happening more than you know." and a 78% increase in elder abuse incidents. Yet by ignoring the issue, it will not simply go away.

Thieves Love POA's When it Comes to Elders

Chatham Daily,Canada 01/06/08 A Tilbury couple accused of defrauding a Riverview Gardens resident out of approximately $110,000 will be in court later this month.

Officials with the Chatham nursing home contacted the Chatham-Kent Police Service last March citing concerns over the misuse of power-of-attorney.

It is alleged the money had been misappropriated from the victim’s community bank account by the couple, who are in their 50s.

The names of the accused — who were arrested Dec. 20 — weren’t released. Neither was their relationship to the victim.

Police say the couple held the power-of-attorney designation for the past several years.

The accused face charges of theft by person with power-of-attorney and criminal breach of trust.

Det. Jim Niven, of the criminal investigation branch, was on the case. However, he couldn’t be reached for comment Sunday and no further information was available.

The couple will appear in court Jan. 16 to speak to the charges.

A media release issued by Deputy Chief Dennis Poole stated that elder abuse of all forms — be it physical, emotional or financial — is a growing concern to police and the long-term care community.

As their residents are often vulnerable citizens, nursing homes report all suspicious activities to police, as well as the Office of the Public Guardian and Trustee (OPGT) of Ontario.

Anyone concerned about potential elder abuse can call police or the OPGT at 1-800-366-0335.

Related Posts

Power Of Attorney - A Theft License

Butterworth Making Changes in DCF

By Stephen D. Price FLORIDA CAPITAL BUREAU

Since he took charge of the Department of Children and Family Services almost a year ago, Secretary Bob Butterworth has vowed to change the culture of the agency some say has been failing for decades.

So far he's made the agency more transparent while trying to make it more helpful to children.

Earlier this year, 2-year-old Courtney Clark disappeared. The foster child was taken from her Central Florida home but was not reported missing for four months. The case received national attention and the girl was eventually found in squalid conditions in Wisconsin.

In addition to that latest individual case crisis, at the beginning of the year the agency itself was reeling from fines and criminal contempt charges for keeping mentally ill inmates in jail — rather than a state hospital — longer than Florida law allows.

Child advocates gave Butterworth high marks for his crisis management skills, his overall handling of the sprawling agency and making information easier to access.

"I think the secretary is working hard to change the culture and especially in transparency," said Sen. Nan Rich, D-Sunrise, and a member of the Children, Families and Elder Affairs committee. "In previous administrations, that was not the case."

But children advocates say the system is far from fixed.

"It has been decades in the tearing down in the Department of Children and Families in the state of Florida," said Andrea Moore, executive director of Florida Children Services Council. "It will not be fixed in two or three years. (Butterworth is) trying to re-engineer the system that's been so fractured for the last two decades."

When Courtney Clark was found, Butterworth made no excuses.

"We do not sometimes use common sense when common sense was needed," Butterworth said at a news conference at the time.

He formed a task force to investigate Clark's case and how the system can be improved. It determined a lack of communication and poor oversight as reasons for the girl's unnoticed disappearance.

In November, the department hired Ed Hardy to serve as director of Criminal Justice Services to act as a liaison between the department and law enforcement, the courts and juvenile justice.

Despite the gains, critics maintain there is still too much bureaucracy. Butterworth agrees and said much of the ongoing difficulty is with contractors for the department. He said he's addressing it.

"I believe they're on board," Butterworth said. "But it hasn't gotten down to the people. That takes time."

Butterworth said he wants the agency to work faster, placing children in homes within days instead of months.

"Time is one of the biggest issues I'm dealing with," he said. "(The children) get bounced around a lot. We want to reduce that. I want to get that down to seven days instead of months and months."

This could mean placing children in homes outside of Florida, Butterworth said.

Department officials hope to help make the agency more efficient if the Legislature approves a reorganization plan it has to align its districts with those of circuit courts.

"It allows more local input at the local level," Butterworth said.

As with all state agencies, dwindling state funds will be a challenge next year.

"We will need more money," Butterworth said. "It appears the Legislature won't have much left, (so) we may not be getting the increase we need."

But by being more transparent, the agency could be saving money anyway.

"Money that could be spent on lawsuits (to gain access to public records), is being spent on children," Moore said.

Blogger of Honor - A Fallen Warrior-

Blogger of Honor this week goes to Major Andy Olmsted, his friend hilzoy was left the difficult task of posting his last article.

Andy was killed on Thursday in Irak and will always have a place of honor amonst our true brothers. Andy thank you for walking your talk and laying down your life for defending ours.

Thanks for reminding us just how ephemereal this life really is... sharing your life with us, You lived free and died well ! Andy would have wanted you to read the article he wrote =>>

Automatic Defibrillators Should Be Used More

By DENISE GRADY Published: January 3, 2008

In nearly a third of cases of sudden cardiac arrest in the hospital, the staff takes too long to respond, increasing the risk of brain damage and death, a new study finds.

Researchers estimate that the delays contribute to thousands of deaths a year in the United States. The study was based on the records of 6,789 patients at 369 hospitals whose hearts stopped because of conditions that could be reversed with an electrical shock from a defibrillator
In the real world, doctors and nurses do not always run fast enough. Expert guidelines say the shock should be given within two minutes after the heart stops, but the study found that it took longer in 30 percent of the cases.

The consequences were striking. When the defibrillation was delayed, only 22.2 percent of patients survived long enough to be discharged from the hospital, as opposed to 39.3 percent when the shock was given on time.

The study, being published Thursday in The New England Journal of Medicine, is the largest ever to look at what happened to patients with “shockable” abnormalities in heart rhythm, and to correlate their outcomes with the time it took to deliver the needed shock.

By contrast, the automatic defibrillators that have come into use in public places like airports and casinos during the last decade or so are meant to be used by laymen: trained employees or even bystanders. Connected to the chest of someone who has collapsed, the machine senses electrical activity in the heart and delivers a shock only if it is needed. These devices are designed to be essentially foolproof, making it impossible to harm someone by firing off an unnecessary shock. But so far they have not been used much in the care of hospitalized patients.

Dr. Saxon said the automatic defibrillators should be used more, along with the type of heart monitoring now given mostly to cardiac patients. Not everyone needs such monitoring, she said, but it may be in order for those who are very ill with kidney problems, diabetes or pneumonia, even if they have no history of heart problems. Their information would be transmitted to a computer network that would send out an alert if needed. In addition, she said, automatic defibrillators could be installed in every hospital room.

“You can get them for $500 on eBay,” she said. “It wouldn’t even take a nurse. You could train the cafeteria workers if you wanted to.”

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POA'S "You Don't Ask" and " I Won't Tell"

Statues and Laws govern how a POA is to be used, specifically the laws states that a POA has to be constructively served.

In principle this is a good law to protect our elders.

By constructively serving a new POA the elder person serves to notify the world that he/she has changed agents if this is indeed his/her intentions.

However in practice whenever Elder Financial abuse is performed, which is very often, according to statistics , this is often done in secret, usually a Power of Attorney form can be picked up at a stationary store, and excecuted in secret with or without the elder's consent who might be suffering from dementia or subject to manipulation and or undue influence and often times not remember even signing it..

To constructively serve a Power of Attorney would defeat the purpose that it is being used for by swindlers , and would tip off the victim's family/attorneys of what you intend to do,usually liquidate and convert the elder's assets.

So that the original agent of a Power of Attorneys does not often find out about the new POA until the elder's assets have all been vacated.

We all know the perpetrators have long since disappeared the money and the trail has grown cold by then.

I my case I had POA that my parents had given me in the year 2000, I never used it for anything other than for what it was intended for . It was never used to transfer property,close accounts or to benefit the agent.

In October 2004 a sibling, Al Fernandez, Jr. ( A social worker) and his partner William A. Hart had decided to appoint themselves to assume control of the elder's finances and acquired a new POA form and somehow had the elder sign it . The Elder who was being treated for dementia would later tell on record that she did not remember sign it.

The sibling and his partner went on a spending orgy and liquidated Certificate of Deposits, Bonds, Stock accounts,Bank accounts, transferred Real estate, jewelry , in short, most any asset that was within reach.

As being the original agent empowered by the POA given by the elders and their estate planning attorneys the new POA was not constructively served and it was not found out until it was time to file for the elder's taxes and was told that there was a POA with a newer date , causing the elders Income taxes to go deliquent as there was no body authorized or versed to file the elder's taxes.

In addition to creating a huge Tax liability for the elder by the liquidating of the elders's funds during the same time frame, and in a lump sum the elder's trust and equity was wiped out.

Is there any legal remedy to recover his assets from the Financial Institutions that held the elder's assets ?

Or is this a case of " I don't ask" and " You don't Tell " from the financial instition that held the elder's assets.

Since POA Statues regarding how POA are to be used stipulate that a POA must be constructively served, is this one of those laws that looks good on the books, but is in-effective in preventing elder theft?

Is this a case of tough luck for the elder, and better luck next time ?

Related articles....... POA a Theft License

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this discussion will remain an open thread.......

Police in Palm Springs Look for Couple After 38 Counts Of Elder Financial Abuse

Palm Springs Police Detectives are looking for help located a mother and son team wanted for 38 counts of Financial Elder Abuse and Contractor Fraud.

An extraditable warrant has been issued for the arrest of MARY AGNES STEWART, age 62 and her son, JOSEPH CUNNINGHAM, age 44

Both were Palm Springs residents until recently, and it is unknown where they might be at this time.

According to reports, STEWART and CUNNINGHAM allegedly required the victims to pay large quantities of money in installments. They started demolition of the couple's home, and then fled without providing any materials or construction work.

CUNNINGHAM is described as 6'1" tall, 185 pounds, brown hair, green eyes.

He is a contractor and normally wears his hair in a ponytail. STEWART is also a contractor. She is described as 4'11" tall, 135 pounds, with blond hair and green eyes.

Police are asking for the public's help in locating these two suspects. Anyone with information is asked to call the Palm Springs Police Department Watch Commander at (760) 323-8115 or Crimestoppers at (760) 341-STOP.

Care homes criticised for restraints on residents

John Carvel, social affairs editor The Guardian

Older people are being tied to their beds and drugged with unnecessary sedatives to avoid disturbance in understaffed care homes, government inspectors said yesterday.

The Commission for Social Care inspection said all care homes had to balance residents' humans rights against the occasional need to use restraints to protect individuals from harm. But inspectors found abuses where unjustifiable force was used to make life easier for an overstretched staff.

They visited homes where older people were "cocooned", a form of restraint using converted bed linen, which was passed under the mattress and zipped tightly to the covers to stop residents from getting up. Other homes used straps to tie residents in wheelchairs where they might sit for hours in soiled incontinence pads.

The commission said care workers and families caring for relatives needed clearer guidelines to resolve ethical dilemmas over when it could be acceptable to restrict an older person's freedom of choice. Restraint could never be justified as a substitute for adequate staffing, it added. The commission said it could not estimate how many homes infringed people's human rights by using unjustifiable restraint. But a survey of more than 250 older people and carers found 74% knew someone who had been restrained.

Gary FitzGerald, chief executive of Action on Elder Abuse, called for action by regulators and care providers to stamp out intolerable treatment of older people. He said: "Restraint turns care into imprisonment and we should not accept it. If we were talking about the doping of children, we would demand immediate action ... so why is it unacceptable for a seven-year-old, but acceptable for a 70-year-old?"

Paul Cann, policy director of Help the Aged, said although care homes might use restraint it was imperative that the dignity of older people was maintained at all times.

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Out With the Old?

A 108-year-old woman has died after it was claimed she starved herself to death because she was unhappy about moving to a new care-home.

“The family of Alice Knight said she lost the will to live and stopped eating after the move …”

Such vicious aggression against old people is not limited to the family unit. It has long spread to society, worse than any period in history. Old people are considered easy targets and are regularly robbed and mugged.

The U.S. and Britain have sunk to such a lamentable moral low that the majority of less developed, even primitive societies demonstrate more respect for the elderly than we do. Aborigines pay great respect to old persons. The whiter a teacher’s hair in China, the more honor he receives. In Japan, it is considered a natural duty of the family to care for grandparents in their old age. In Middle European countries, one of the offspring traditionally stays at home to care for the aging parents. Grandparents take a leading role in instructing the young in the Bantu tribe of Kenya. Young Arabs will tell you that there is no greater disgrace than to abandon the old. Even in the U.S., there are proportionately few Latinos in old people’s homes.

We have come a long way from the days when God-fearing families cared for their eldest members, and honored and respected them. This is the main reason so many old people are suffering now! In the social game of tinkering around with the moral mainstay of society—the family—and turning away from the traditional, God-ordained family structure, the aged have become big losers!

“Age is the crowning culmination of life, the golden years. It should be looked upon with honor, respect, even awe. It should be an experience made pleasant by the warm attention and support of family members, especially children and grandchildren” (Plain Truth, May 1980).

God the Father Himself goes by the name Ancient of Days! (Daniel 7:9).

A timely warning for any of us guilty of ageism!

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AARP Report Shows How States Can Help Prevent Abuse Of Older Americans, Identifies Better Ways For Courts To Oversee Guardianships

A new report by AARP's Public Policy Institute (PPI) identifies effective practices for monitoring court-appointed adult guardians, reducing the chances for abuses that occur when oversight is lax.

Conducted with the American Bar Association (ABA) Commission on Law and Aging, the report follows a 2006 AARP survey showing that a large number of state courts around the country fail to assign a monitor to visit vulnerable individuals under guardianship, leaving many Americans open to physical neglect and financial abuse. The 2006 survey also found that, in many jurisdictions, no one verifies the information in guardianship reports.

Read the entire article=>>

It's Time For Strong Action Against Elder Abuse

By Tammerlin Drummond, STAFF WRITER

FOR THE last eight days, Theft of Elder Nation has detailed the widespread financial exploitation of California seniors.

We hope that this editorial investigation has opened your eyes to a disgraceful national epidemic that has caused, and continues to cause, widespread suffering.

We also hope that reading these stomach-churning stories about the rampant mistreatment of defenseless old people has made you angry and that you will add your voice to our call for the reforms. We urge readers to write, e-mail, fax or call their local, state and federal elected officials.

We all realize legislation alone can't possibly solve such a complex, social problem. That we've got to get more serious about enforcing laws that we already have on the books and being more alert to the problem.

But we believe that fixing weaknesses in existing laws and drafting new ones is a good place to start.

One of the biggest problems is there is nothing illegal about intentionally exploiting the mental or physical weakness of an elderly person and taking his or her money — so long as there is no fraud or misrepresentation involved.

As far as the law is concerned, if a senior consents to a financial transaction, there is no crime. But in many cases, it should be a crime. Seniors who have diminished mental capacity are as incapable of understanding the implications of a financial transaction as a child.

Norman Roussey agreed to take out a mortgage on his house to give a man he thought was his friend $175,000. But he clearly didn't comprehend that by doing so, he could lose his house — which he did — when his friend broke his promise to make the payments.

It's time that the Legislature recognized using undue influence for the crime that it is and amended the theft codes to make it a prosecutable offense.

Until it does, our prosecutors will be powerless to act in many elder financial abuse cases, and these serial abusers will be free to continue their criminal assaults.

It's not as though the concept of undue influence is something out of left field. It's already enshrined in California civil code, and victims of elder financial abuse can sue their abusers for damages.

It's time that lawmakers rolled up their sleeves and began to address an issue that is crucial to so many of their constituents. Let us not forget that California, with 4 million seniors and counting, is home to the nation's largest elderly population. Here are our suggestions:

On the state level:

Lawmakers need to convene a panel of experts to address ways to repair California's broken power of attorney laws. Right now, a power of attorney is a blanket license to steal. There is no government oversight over these powerful documents that give one individual instant access to all of another person's assets.

We must find a way to make power of attorneys available to those who truly have an elderly person's best interests at heart but limit the amount of damage that elder abusers can cause, armed with this powerful document.

The Legislature should consider expanding the list of people required to report suspected elder financial abuse, to include title officers and others who, through their contact with elders, are likely to detect abuse.

It should pass a law that would make foreclosure rescuers spell out in plain, bold language that when a person signs an equity sales contract, he or she becomes a renter and will no longer own his home. The law should require the recording of equity sales contracts with the county. And people who want to sell their equity ought to be required by law to have credit counseling with a HUD certified adviser.

On the federal level:

Congress must stop wasting time and pass the Elder Justice Act that has been languishing in the Finance Committee. The vital legislation, supported by the AARP and other elder justice advocates would guarantee federal funds to Adult Protective Services and others who are fighting elder financial abuse on the front lines, and it would help increase national awareness of elder financial abuse.

On the county level:

Alameda County Superior Court Judge Julie Conger's innovative Elder Protection Court is a model for the nation. Her court, the only one in the country that deals solely with elder and dependent adult abuse, has helped thousands of elder abuse victims get justice.

Every county, including Contra Costa, ought to create an elder court.

The Office of the Public Guardian is responsible for protecting seniors who are unable to provide for their own basic needs and/or unable to handle their finances.

In these cases, the public guardian is appointed for those who don't have a family member able or willing to care for them — or in instances when that relative is accused of abusing the senior.

Yet in Contra Costa County, the office hasn't been able to accept new clients since April. Why? Because the agency is operating with a skeleton staff, and frantic warnings from public guardian staff about the looming crisis went unheeded for years.

The fastest-growing segment of the county's population is people 85 and older. Where are they supposed to go when the Office of the Public Guardian, through no fault of its own, has to turn them away?

Because of changes in the probate code, beginning July 1, all public guardian agencies will be legally required to request an appointment for an elder if there is an imminent threat to a person's health or estate.

If Contra Costa keeps on its current path, it will be in violation of state law.

The Contra Costa Board of Supervisors — and specifically the board's Family and Human Services Committee — must act now to increase staffing levels at the Office of the Public Guardian and provide funding for this critical agency.

It is an outrage that county supervisors have let the situation deteriorate to the point that it has.
Our elders worked hard and sacrificed to care for us. Yet rather than expressing gratitude, too many of us treat our seniors with disrespect and deceit.

If only for selfish reasons, we all ought to care about fighting elder abuse — because one day, if we live long enough, it might just happen to us.

Tammerlin Drummond is an editorial writer for the Bay Area News Group-East Bay. Her e-mail is tdrummond@bayareanewsgroup.com

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