The Abuse of Our Parents

By Cafe on Jan 10, 2008 in Featured Story, Irene Masiello

Our boomer generation has moved in ways no one could anticipate. But it’s not all for the best, because one of the novel phenomena with which many of us have to deal is the abuse of our parents, known as “elder abuse.” Studies suggest that as many as a third of us will go through it if we haven’t already. New York-based columnist Irene Masiello has. And now, she wants the rest of us to understand what we might have to expect, and what to do about it.

In the late 1990s, I was speeding down the highway of life, as many urban boomers do, and I was very much into the spirit of the times. The result was my brainchild: a cooperative network of alternative health care practitioners and those interested in attaining mind, body, and spirit balance through self-help and personal empowerment.

Like too many of us, though, I was ill-informed about an equally or maybe more imperative issue facing our generation, namely, elder abuse; I was ill-informed until it devastatingly struck home in 1999 when my own father became a victim. It was a painful and ugly way to get an education.

And I’m not the only one who needed it. The American Psychological Association, the National Center on Elder Abuse, and the National Committee to Prevent Elder Abuse estimate there may be more than 27 million victims of abuse, exploitation, or neglect annually, with $20 million a day being pilfered from seniors in California alone. One estimate says that the families of more than a third of America’s 78 million baby-boomers are victims.

But I took things a step further than just getting help; I learned how to give it. I created something called “reality writing;” it’s a way of telling a real-life drama with real documents to back it up … and with a pro-active outreach to readers to evaluate what they’ve read, and even join a movement if they agree. It was part of my effort to expose the nuances of elder abuse, raise consciousness, and give others tools for action. A group formed. A pro-active network and a collaborative spirit emerged with other boomers recognizing the common nature of the underlying issues in my family’s plight. And an up-close-and-personal exposé narrating Dad’s chilling “grandpa-napping” went into print in a book called Paradise Costs: A Victim’s Daughter Fights Back Against Elder Abuse.

Medical records are included; they clearly established my father’s diagnosis of severe Alzheimer’s back in 1996. Yet despite a monumental effort on my part and that of his physicians to protect Dad, control over his life was rapidly seized, his health and end-of-life wishes were disregarded, and his assets were eroded by strangers who took over his life.

Several neighbors and two home health aides got themselves named in Dad’s new will; two of the neighbors got themselves named as his Powers of Attorney. One nearby neighbor got his house. Others got expensive furniture. A home healthcare worker got his Cadillac and another got cash.

How did they do it? Paperwork was presented, Dad didn’t know what he was signing, these people were his helpers and his neighbors. The truth is, Dad was stalked, as many seniors are, for what he had.

More shocks came from a forensic toxicology report from a lab licensed by the U.S. Department of Justice. A lock of Dad’s hair, taken for sentimentality, was later analyzed. It indicated that my father, who had suffered a stroke in February 2001 and was subsequently bedridden and gastric tube-dependent, had illegal street drugs in his hair when he died that August.

As a result of this experience, I have been “called” to become a member of the Elder Justice Coalition. I am taking this terrifying reality to the nation and especially to Washington, DC. Furthermore there’s a website with networking ideas on how we, the most powerful generation ever, can stop elder abuse. To that end, free downloadable “reality” letters and petitions are available at www.paradisecosts.com.

Need more motivation? The Journal of the American Medical Association stated in a November 2002 article, it will take 30-40 years for awareness of elder abuse to reach the level of awareness child abuse has now. Which means this is the time to start.

©Copyright, January 2008-Irene A. Masiello/Starlight Network News, Inc. All rights reserved.

A. Masiello/Starlight Network News, Inc. All rights reserved.

According to Illinois Dept on Aging,Lois Moorman 1 out of 10 Cases Elder Abuse Reported!

By CHRIS DETTRO, STAFF WRITER

A continuing increase in reports of elder abuse may make people think maybe those “golden years” aren’t really all that precious.

“More than half the reports involve financial exploitation,” said Lois Moorman, program administrator in the Illinois Department on Aging. “But most cases involve more than one form of abuse.

“Our reports continue to increase,” Moorman said. “Right now we’ve responded to 12 percent more reports than at this point (about halfway) in fiscal 2007.”

She estimates only about one of every 10 instances of abuse is being reported.

“We had a unit that handled abuse in nursing homes, but it became apparent that abuse was much broader than just nursing homes,” he said. “We had a full-time investigator assigned to it.”
One of his Cook County cases was from Schiller Park, where the son “was keeping Mom and Dad in the basement and feeding them dog food,” Magnuson said.

“They both had Alzheimer’s and pensions,” he said. “She slept on a cement floor next to a furnace, and the rodents wouldn’t run when someone came into the room because they weren’t afraid of people.”The son ended up being sentenced to prison, Magnuson said.


“Some (state’s attorney’s) offices are reluctant to take on elder abuse cases,” Magnuson said. “But they definitely can have a deterrent effect. And the more information that gets out there, the more alert people are to the schemes.


“Isolation makes one more vulnerable to abuse,” she said. “That’s what makes them targets. We as a community must respond to that to make sure they remain active.”
Chris Dettro can be reached at 788-1510 or chris.dettro@sj-r.com

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We feel all elder abuse should be reported, but we at E.A. have met numerous victims and their families who have lost everything defending their parents, some have written books about the abuse , and some have lost their health, their homes, their dignity!

The un-spoken message out there today which speaks louder than words and is keeping a lot of victims from reporting is " Report Elder Abuse" and we will make a victim out of you also.

• 
  According to the Clark County Prosecuting Attorney Elder Abuse is Seldom Reported Because:
  
  they are afraid of retaliation,
  they think they will be put in an institution,
  they are ashamed that a family member mistreats them,
  they think that the police and social agencies cannot really help them, or
  they think that no one will believe them.
• 
  Sometimes people who believe that someone else is being abused do not report their suspicions because:
  
  
  they do not know who to speak to,
  they do not know what can be done,
  they think that no one will believe them, or
  they just do not want to get involved.

Friends and Loved Ones in Puerto Plata Wish Clara a Farewell Before Going Back to the U.S.

After a wonderful and relaxing two month stay in the Dominican Republic, neighbors come to say good bye to Clara and wish her farewell. Back to the U.S. from her brief break of continuing and never ending court hearings. Back to resume her four year long battle against her abusers, and ever since her family went public in regards to her plight, her case is gaining a head-wind.

Clara was allowed to travel to Puerto Plata, a vacation that was planed for many years.

The last two months she has been continually surrounded by people that keep her company and love having her with them, people who will do anything within their power to keep Clara out of a nursing home and make sure that she receives all of the loving care she deserves.

It was just heartbreaking to see our mother go from a dynamic business woman to an abused, duped, and finally incapacitated person by neglect, all of this in a matter of a very short time.

She was a wealthy, independent and proud lady that was turned into a broken shell of a person, mostly dependent on the generosity of those who love her deeply as a friend and they have taken care of her without any sort of remuneration.

This is Clara before she was removed from her home and broken, mentally, physically, emotionally and financially.

We, her family, are very emotional about returning back to the U.S. and having to fight for Clara's protection and security, and every elders right to remain and maintain their own home.

Police Break Into House To Take Child To the ER

by Ann Shibler ori-published 01-08-2008

Eleven-year-old Jon Shiflett, a typical boy, was horsing around and grabbed the door handle of a slowly moving car driven by his sister, a few doors down from the family home. He slipped and hit his head hard on the concrete. Jon's father, Tom, was first on the scene, assessed the situation, picked up his son, carried him home and applied ice to Jon's head. The elder Shiflett was a medic in Vietnam during the Tet Offensive. With that experience, he is quite capable of assessing a whole host of injuries and properly monitoring an injured patient. He reported that Jon's eyes were not dilated, and that the child appeared to be okay except for some cuts, the bump on his head and a developing black eye.

In the meantime, however, someone — a nosy neighbor, perhaps — had called a rescue squad. They arrived at the Shiflett home and examined the boy. The boy's parents, however, refused transport to the hospital for treatment. According to Mr. Shiflett, it wasn't necessary. "I told them I didn't call for an ambulance. We're taking care of it," he said.

Rebuffed, the paramedics retreated from the house, and contacted social services who made a surprise visit to the Shiflett home the next day. Two caseworkers were allowed to look at the boy but Shiflett again refused to let them take the child. They vowed to return with a court order. And so they did.

This time, heavily armed law enforcement officials arrived and without warning forcibly entered the house. Mom Tina Shiflett said they were wearing masks, broke down the door with a battering ram, and pointed a gun at their 20-year-old daughter's head. Both parents and one daughter were handcuffed.

"They didn't need to bash into my home and slam my kids to the floor," Mrs. Shiflett later said of the strong-arm tactics. "I think they get a kick out of this." Tom Shiflett added, saying: "I would have let them in. It was traumatic to my children, and it's quite unnecessary."

It didn't end with the violent home invasion. Eleven-year-old Jon was then forcibly taken from the home. His parents were told that if they tried to follow or otherwise find out where their son was being taken they would face criminal charges.

The raid on the family home and the kidnapping of the child at gunpoint occurred in the early evening.

"As natural parents therefore as legal custodians of the child , the parents had the right to refuse expensive medical treatment ,especially when they were already doing the right thing .Their right and liberties were trampled in a most despicable faction."Ann Shibler

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NEW CASTLE -Post Independent- The Garfield County All Hazards Response Team broke down Tom Shiflett's door Friday night and, following a court order, took his son for medical treatment. The doctor's recommendation: Take Tylenol and apply ice to the bruises. The boy was back home a few hours later.

"When American law allows federal and state agencies to come in a home and confiscate family, there is something wrong with our system"

Sorry Elders There Is No Money For Your Protection!

Assemblywoman Patty Berg From the state capitol Legislators aware of problem, but lack funds Contra Costa Times Article Launched: 01/12/2008

I want to commend Tammerlin Drummond and the Contra Costa Times/Bay Area Newspaper Group for its editorial series "Theft of Elder Nation," which movingly illustrates heartbreak and devastation caused by the growing problem of elder financial abuse.

Yet, while we have taken steps to increase awareness about such abuse, and have increased reporting requirements, we are fighting a growing problem with a system that has never been fully funded.

A wide range of experts concluded that we aren't doing enough to combat this crime. Not only are we unable to handle the current case load, we are woefully unprepared for the wave of aging baby boomers that will soon enter retirement.

Sadly, the governor vetoed the funding, with encouragement from Republican legislators. Again, the governor cut an additional $6 million for this year's budget. The result is a continued and chronic under funding of this vital safety net program.

I thank you for your call-to-action. I hope your efforts will yield an outpouring of letters, calls and media attention to federal and state lawmakers, including our governor, calling for investment for vital safety net programs like APS and legislative reforms so that our elders can live their golden years in peace.

Berg is chair of the Assembly Committee on Aging and Long-Term Care and the Budget

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The federal government spends $23 billion annually on special interest pork projects such as grants to the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, or funds to combat teenage “goth” culture in Blue Springs, Missouri.

Over one recent 18-month period, Air Force and Navy personnel used government-funded credit cards to charge at least $102,400 for admission to entertainment events, $48,250 for gambling, $69,300 for cruises, and $73,950 for exotic dance clubs and prostitutes.

The Advanced Technology Program spends $150 million annually subsidizing private businesses, and 40% of this goes to Fortune 500 companies.

The Defense Department wasted $100 million on unused flight tickets, and never bothered to collect refunds even though the tickets were reimbursable.

The Conservation Reserve program pays farmers $2 billion annually to not farm their land.

Massive farm subsidies also go to several members of Congress, and celebrity “hobby farmers” such as David Rockefeller, Ted Turner, Scottie Pippen, and former Enron CEO Ken Lay.

Opposition Sen. Panfilo Lacson on Friday belied Budget Sec. Rolando Andaya Jr's claim that the 30-billion pork in the budget is "imaginary," saying there may be far more than P30 billion in pork barrel funds hidden in the P1.227-trillion proposed national budget for 2008.

Sources: see Brian M. Riedl, “How to Get Federal Spending Under Control,” Heritage Foundation Backgrounder No. 1733, March 10, 2004, at http://www.heritage.org/Research/Budget/bg1733.cfm.

Brian Riedl is Grover M. Hermann Fellow in Federal Budgetary Affairs in the Thomas A. Roe Institute for Economic Policy Studies at The Heritage Foundation.

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How do we tells elders who have sacrifices their lives for us today?

"Sorry Elders There Is No Money to Guarantee Your Security, Dignity or Well Being into your Old Age."

Family's 'nightmare' Elder Abuse increases 80% !

by Jessica The Oregonian On Aging - Bernie Wilson's story of suffering is one of a growing number of elder abuse cases in Oregon Saturday, January 12, 2008JESSICA BRUDER The Oregonian Staff

By the time Bernie Wilson's children wrested their 86-year-old father from his caregivers in 2005, he weighed 111 pounds and "looked like a skeleton from a concentration camp."

The caregivers had moved Wilson from his Lake Oswego home without telling his family and stuffed him into the back of a doublewide in Welches. The retired Tektronix manager who'd taken up long-distance cycling in his 70s was now dirty and hungry, with sunken eyes. His $660,000 life savings was gone.

In 2006, Bernie Wilson died, one of a growing number of Oregonians haunted by neglect and abuse in their final years. Between 2002 and 2005, statewide reports of elder abuse in domestic settings increased 80 percent, from 3,056 to 5,489, according to the Oregon Department of Human Services. Experts expect the trend to continue as the elderly population grows.

"While the wheels of justice turned slowly, you and your husband were able to dominate the thinking of an elderly, confused man," Wilson's daughter, Melody Miller, 63, of Fairview, said in a voice that trembled. "You were even able to rob my dad of his dignity and his ability to pay his own way, but you did not destroy love."

To complicate matters, the most common perpetrators of elder abuse aren't outside caretakers but the victims' own children.

Some victims are too mentally or physically incapacitated to seek help. Others are paralyzed by "a sense of disbelief";

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Experts Say .- Elders Make Lucrative Targets

The Seattle Times .- Experts in crimes against the elderly say some older adults' mental and physical infirmities, social isolation and financial assets make them lucrative targets.

Bennett Blum, a forensic and geriatric psychiatrist from Arizona, who has testified before Congress about the financial abuse of the elderly, believes financial-abuse incidents are very common. He said they are seldom reported because the elderly victims fear retaliation and losing personal freedom, they're incapacitated or are intimidated by police or the justice system.

Rosemary Maxwell said she was reluctant to call police about her case because she feared seeming incompetent.

In Washington state, financial abuse is the most common form of elder abuse. The number of cases reported to Adult Protective Service (APS) has increased 22 percent from 2001 to 2006. They range in severity from the theft of a Social Security check to the theft of thousands of dollars, said Kathleen Birge, APS regional director.

"Our culture does not have a rich tradition of honoring our elders," King County Prosecutor Dan Satterberg said at an elder-abuse conference in Bellevue in September.

"If our culture is developing with an ethic to put our seniors out to pasture, is it any surprise that there are people in that pasture waiting to victimize them?"

— Nancy Bartley

Nursing Home Abuse Citations on the Rise

By Gordon Gibb

Washington, DC: As an aging population puts a greater importance and strain on nursing homes, seniors residences and assisted living, concern is mounting over nursing home safety, and the apparent rise in nursing home abuse.

Just prior to Christmas, it was revealed that serious reprimands for dangerous conditions at nursing homes had increased 22 per cent over a six-year period ending in 2006. These citations can run the gamut from not providing patients their necessary meds, to cases of physical and sexual abuse of residents.

The data, obtained through records from the US Centers of Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMMS, the authority which regulates nursing homes in the United States) for a study sponsored by the publication USA Today, does not specify if such cases of abuse are between residents, or between residents and staff.

What's more, according to data attributed to the CMMS, residents of nursing homes held by private equity suffer more from depression, loss of mobility and the loss of ability to bathe, and dress themselves. Federal and state regulators have said that citations for things such as restraining residents for long periods, and the serving of moldy food have increased at every nursing home owned, and controlled by a private equity firm.

It appears that the days of the small, family-run nursing home where residents are treated like family are few and far between, and their days may be numbered.

Meanwhile, nursing home abuse is on the rise. Many workers complain of long hours and short staffing—a definite disadvantage when dealing with some problematic residents. And while nursing homes have been cited for everything ranging from serving cold food, to not managing catheters properly to the detriment of the patient, there are other issues at play.

Some residents can be aggressive, especially those suffering from dementia. And this appears to be an increasing problem. In Canada, for example, expensive psychiatric beds are being shut down. Elderly psychiatric patients often wind up in nursing home beds, which are far less expensive.

One described the nursing home as a 'dumping ground.'

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Steady Rise of Cases Against the Elderly Are Ending in Death

By FELICIA THOMAS-LYNN fthomas-lynn@journalsentinel.com Jan 12 2008

Marian Witter was excited when the voice on the other end of her phone line said she would be mailed a new Medicare card in 20 days. "I was thinking, I would like a new card," said the 78-year-old retired retail merchandiser. "My card is looking a little shabby."

She immediately placed a call to Medicare and learned that the agency wasn't sending new Medicare cards. "It was a scam."

The steady rise in the number of cases against the elderly, particularly those ending in death, has led the department to join forces with the Medical College of Wisconsin's Center for Healthy Communities and other senior advocates in a new multilevel approach to protecting seniors.

Faces of Hope focuses on Milwaukee-area people who need a hand and the agencies that are helping them. Ideas? Call urban affairs reporter Felicia Thomas-Lynn at (414) 224-2073, or e-mail fthomas-lynn@journalsentinel.com

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Man uses Stool,Broom,Hammer to Kill Aunt faces Re-Trial

By Ruby Gonzales, Staff Writer Article Launched: 01/11/2008 10:25:39 PM PST

NORWALK - The District Attorney's Office will retry a La Mirada man for allegedly beating to death his 86-year-old great-aunt with a bar stool, bench, broomstick, toilet paper holder and a hammer.

But it has not yet been decided whether prosecutors will file a lesser charge such as second-degree murder or manslaughter against Eric Steve Caballero, 23, according to Sandi Gibbons, spokeswoman for the District Attorney's Office.

Last month, a jury deadlocked 11-1 in favor of acquitting Caballero of the March 4, 2005, first-degree murder of Adelina Garcia. They also acquitted him of robbery and grand theft auto.

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Poor People Happy; Rich People Scared

Many poor people happy; many rich people scared:

After years of secret preparation, the world’s cheapest car will be unveiled in Delhi this week - delighting millions of Indians as much as it is horrifying environmentalists.

At 100,000 rupees (£1,290), the People’s Car, designed and manufactured by Tata, is being marketed as a safer way of travelling for those who until now have had to transport their families balanced on the back of their motorbikes ...

Analysts say the project could revolutionise car prices, not just in India, but globally. Several other manufacturers have similar products in the pipeline. These figures alarm environmentalists ...

Lawsuit filed against Sun Mar over nursing practices

SANTA ANA Cal.USA Jan 10 2008

An attorney filed a lawsuit Thursday against Sun Mar Healthcare Inc., alleging that the skilled nursing company scrimps on staffing and training and misrepresented staffing levels to elderly residents.

Sun Mar operates 18 nursing homes in California, including six in Orange County and at least eight in the Los Angeles area.

"Residents of Sun Mar facilities are elder abuse victims waiting to happen ... It's just a matter of whose parents or grandparents are going to be the victims."

Garcia also cited dozens of deficiencies and warnings issued to various Sun Mar facilities by the California Department of Health Services.
Sun Mar was formed in 1981.