Psychiatric Medications Another Weapon IN The War On The Elderly

U.K. report says psychiatric medications weaponized against the elderly Posted: 09 Feb 2010 09:08 AM PST EXPOSED: “Scandalous Abuse” of the Elderly Being Killed With Psychiatric Medications David Gutierrez February 8, 2010 NaturalNews.com http://www.naturalnews.com/028116_psychiatric_drugs_elderly.html (NaturalNews) Elderly dementia patients are being subjected to “scandalous abuse” by being drugged with dangerous antipsychotic drugs, according to a letter by ten influential health organizations, published in The Daily Telegraph. “[One hundred thousand] people with dementia in care homes are being inappropriately prescribed a damaging chemical cosh of antipsychotic drugs and new research suggests that there is a significant problem in hospitals too,” the letter reads. “Antipsychotics should only ever be a last resort. This over prescription is abuse and it must stop. … We cannot stand by while this scandalous abuse of vulnerable citizens continues.” Although antipsychotic drugs are intended for people with medical conditions such as schizophrenia and bipolar disorder and are not approved for the treatment of dementia, studies show that nursing homes and hospitals regularly prescribe them to these patients as sedatives, in order to make them easier for doctors and nurses to handle. Research has shown, however, that antipsychotic drugs can double a patient’s risk of death if used for three years. Another study found that dementia patients are three times more likely to suffer a stroke if given antipsychotic drugs. A 2008 report by British Minister of Parliament Paul Burstow concluded that 23,500 dementia patients are being killed every year by inappropriate prescription of antipsychotics in nursing homes. However, a recent survey by the Alzheimer’s Society marks the first time that researchers have looked into the prevalence of the problem in hospitals. The trust found that three-quarters of nurses surveyed said they had seen antipsychotics used to sedate dementia patients, while one-quarter said they had seen the drugs used inappropriately. “The massive over prescription of antipsychotics to people with dementia is an abuse of human rights, causing serious side effects and increasing risk of death,” said Neil Hunt of the Alzheimer’s Society. “The government must take action to ensure that these drugs are only ever used as a last resort.” “While the Department of Health prevaricates, thousands of people are being put at risk through the misuse of antipsychotics,” said Rebecca Wood of the Alzheimer’s Research Trust. Sources for this story include: www.telegraph.co.uk.

Orwellian Tactics To Put an End to Elders Rights in Florida

Reposted from 8-21-09

Carol Kinnear, second from left, flanked by daughters Kellee Watt, left, and Kathy Howland, with grandson Matt Howland.

Drew Harwell, Times Staff Writer hat tip EstateOfDenial.Com
Original=>>tampabay.com

Her wish was clear: For the rest of her life, regardless of her health, she wanted to stay home.

CLEARWATER — Carol Kinnear, a retired Belleair Elementary teacher in the early stages of Alzheimer's disease, signed an update to her trust in June 2008.

She had lived there for more than 30 years, crossing the road to Clearwater Beach and reading Mary Higgins Clark mysteries on the wraparound porch. As long as she could afford the at-home care, she decided, she would stay and watch the sunset.

The trust provision, her daughters thought, would assure she could do that.

On Monday, Kinnear, 78, was taken from home and moved to an unnamed facility, the act of a court-appointed guardian. She would be treated there for “high anxiety and confusion,” the guardian wrote in an e-mail. Her children, blocked from contact, were told it was in their mother’s best interest.

Earlier this year, to safeguard their mother’s estate after money had come up missing, they had filed for guardianship in a Pinellas court.

Now they find themselves the victims of unintended consequences, guarded against by the person they had sought for help.

“My mother has means. She doesn’t need to be in a secret home,” said daughter Kathy Howland, 50, of Largo. “She set this up long ago to make sure this wouldn’t happen.”

Local attorneys, however, say the guardian has done nothing wrong. When Kinnear was deemed “incapacitated” in April, court records show, her rights to decide medical treatment, residence and “social environment” were transferred to the guardian.

“The guardian’s determination trumps whatever language was in a previous trust,” said Richard L. Pearse Jr., a Clearwater guardianship lawyer. “The home environment is not always the best suited to provide a high level of care, even if the money is there.”

Trusts cover the delegation of assets but not personal wellbeing, said Elizabeth Wall, a St. Petersburg attorney representing Kinnear’s guardian, Teri St. Hilaire. The documents are too unrestricted and inflexible to establish sound health decisions.

“A guardian is obligated to attempt to comply with a person’s wishes,” Wall said. “But you can’t anticipate the future. …

If following their wishes puts them at risk, then you have to do something different.”

Among some of the county’s 3,000 open guardianships, Kinnear’s situation is a common conflict. Irene Rausch, a former president of the Florida State Guardianship Association, said guardians and families often differ on what would be best for the ward.

“It’s kind of difficult when a professional guardian is appointed because family members say, ‘Who are you? I’m a family member. I’m entitled,’ ” Rausch said. “People are very fearful of guardianship. They try to avoid it.”

Kinnear’s daughters had thought it could help. A guardian would have the power to manage her health care and assets, including the beach home once appraised at $1.8 million.

Problems, they said, began soon after.

Kinnear’s first guardian, Sandra Scott, caused her to fall after giving too high a dose of medication, said Kellee Watt, 45, of Indian Rocks Beach.

St. Hilaire, who replaced Scott on July 1, didn’t return phone calls and e-mails from the daughters.

Requests for different aides after Kinnear complained of verbal abuse were ignored. The move on Monday was based on a doctor’s recommendation, St. Hilaire wrote in her e-mail, but neither Kinnear’s longtime physician nor her neurologist were consulted, Watt said.

Neither Scott nor St. Hilaire responded to messages this week from the St. Petersburg Times.

The statutes don’t clearly define how involved guardians must keep the family. Average caseloads of 40 to 50 wards, Rausch said, can make it tough for guardians to keep up.

The daughters have recourse to assess the guardian’s methods — filing for a court monitor. But that means more paperwork,

procedure and time while their mother waits away from home.

“What is concerning to me is the structure and lack of oversight for guardians,” Watt said. “They’re essentially without a boss.”

Source=>>

“The guardian’s determination trumps whatever language was in a previous trust,” Save your money, Trusts,Power of Attoneys, Surrogate Health Care Documents,
are all worthless they are " too unrestricted and inflexible to establish sound health decisions."

As has been my personal experience in my opinion these documents are a joke they do not hold up in court unless it benefits the guardian and or their attorneys who customarily charge upwards of $400 per hour up until the elder's assets are depleted to do tasks that family members here to performed out of love.

Furthermore do not be shocked or surprised when family members are demonized and for the elder's own good are blocked from contact from the elder as this is standard operating procedure in these cases, however they are kept separate and the media does NOT report on this blatant violations of civil rights since elders are not highly valued, an elders loss of contact with his children/grandchildren/loved ones and the subsequent draw down of the elders wealth, (Asset Consfiscation) (IRA)Involuntary Redistribution Assets is considered no big deal , as this only affects elderly people.....

Stealing Your Parents Blind 101

Ask Clara Philpot how she’s doing, and she’ll answer with a beaming smile and a hearty “Fantastic.” Ask the 87-year-old who is president or the name of the dog napping in her lap and she can’t say.

Philpot, who was diagnosed with Alzheimer’s disease in 2002, also can’t explain how or why she borrowed almost $1 million to finance a luxury home in Sherwood and immediately deeded half to Gayla and Jeff Ross, a daughter and son-in-law who took care of her.

After looking at the evidence, however, a Clackamas County jury took less than two hours to find Gayla Ross guilty of aggravated theft and first-degree criminal mistreatment.

Ross now faces prison. She will be sentenced Sept. 8 along with her husband, Jeff Ross, a former Washington County sheriff’s deputy who was convicted of first-degree criminal mistreatment.

Philpot’s net worth now is zero — she gets by on Social Security — and she could soon be homeless. The debt on the Molalla house she and her husband bought 43 years ago, and once owned free and clear, now exceeds the property’s value, and she hasn’t made a mortgage payment for two years.

Three years ago, Clara Philpot appeared to have the resources to comfortably live out her days at her Molalla home, cared for by her children and other loved ones.

Then Gayla Ross took command.

“It took Gayla less two months to squander a lifetime of work,” said Chris Farley, a court-appointed guardian who now manages the details of Philpot’s foggy life.

Sense of entitlement

The sad-but-true reality is that more people are preying on the elderly, according to prosecutors, police and adult protective service workers.

Two years ago, “there weren’t that many” cases and they didn’t go to trial, said Bryan Brock, a Clackamas County deputy district attorney who specializes in such crimes and prosecuted the Rosses. “Now I’ve got a dozen of them.”

Experts cite several reasons for the surge: the growing number of potential victims, the bad economy - and greed.

“I think there’s a larger sense of entitlement by adult children. Mom and Dad’s money is theirs even though Mom and Dad aren’t dead yet,” said Patricia Piazza, who oversees Philpot’s finances and operates a professional guardian and conservatorship business with Farley.

Parents who bail their adult children out of problems may “create a larger sense of entitlement,” Piazza said.

Clara and Hubert Philpot aided Gayla and Jeff Ross several times, once mortgaging their home so they could lend the Rosses $75,000. The Rosses filed bankruptcy in 2003, which erased their legal obligation to repay the loan.

In a similar Multnomah County case, two relatives of an 83-year-old Portland woman were charged with theft and criminal mistreatment after they gained power of attorney, took all the woman’s possessions and sold her house. The relatives thought Evelyn Roth was dying, but she made a remarkable recovery and last week testified against the relatives.

“They robbed me blind,” Roth said. “Everything was for money, just to get money, money, money.”

$5,600 house payments

Gayla and Jeff Ross don’t seem like people who would raid a feeble relative’s bank account. They are regular churchgoers.

He worked in law enforcement before retiring on disability.

Jurors heard conflicting stories told by Clara Philpot’s daughters, Ross and Bobbie Page.

After Hubert died in June 2006, Ross and Page stepped in to care for their mother. Their father had made all the money decisions. Now alone, Philpot granted her daughters the legal authority to make certain decisions on her behalf. A rift soon developed, and Ross assumed control of her mother’s affairs.

The Rosses used Philpot’s money to pay off a personal $3,300 debt and to occasionally replenish their bank account.

Under Ross’ direction, Clara Philpot took out a $352,000 mortgage on her Molalla home. Ross used that money as a down payment on a home in Sherwood and obtained a $609,000 mortgage in Philpot’s name.

The day after the deal closed, Philpot transferred a 50 percent interest to the Rosses. Legally, Philpot had sole responsibility for mortgage payments that exceeded $5,600 a month — more than four times her monthly income.

Within a week, one of Philpot’s relatives anonymously notified state welfare workers about the deals, and the Sherwood house was lost to foreclosure.

The transactions mystified Chris Farley, a court-appointed guardian, whose firm now has responsibility for Clara Philpot’s physical and financial well-being.

How was Philpot — a woman who doesn’t know what year it is and can’t remember her husband’s name — able to borrow almost $1 million with a monthly income of $1,272? Why would she give away half-ownership in a house that was her only asset?

“I wish I knew,” said Farley, who sued the Rosses and the mortgage companies involved in the transactions. The case is pending.

Financial crimes

Law enforcement officials increasingly view financial exploitation as a crime. They now share more information about potential criminal activity. Many Portland-area police agencies have special units that target financial crimes against older people.

Reports of elder financial abuse frequently “weren’t viewed as criminal by the police,” said Bob Hull, a Washington County senior deputy district attorney. “Officers viewed some of the abuse as a civil matter, so it never got sent to our office.”

“Often the bad guy is the son or daughter or some relative. For some reason law enforcement was hesitant to go after a family member who perhaps would have inherited the money or property anyway,” Farley said. “They’re not looking at it like that any more.”

Things started changing in Washington County 10 years ago when police, prosecutors and social workers started meeting to discuss cases, Hull said. The result: more criminal charges. Washington County now prosecutes 50 or 60 cases a year involving elderly victims of financial abuse.

Prosecuting elder financial abuse is challenging, Brock said.

“You often have victims who can’t tell you what’s happening to their money, because they don’t know.”

Investigators must sift through receipts and bank records to determine whether money was misappropriated.

“It’s not like you’ve got a victim with a bullet hole in the head,” Brock said.

Who decides?

The Rosses said they never tried to hide their actions.

They told jurors they love Philpot and want what is best for her. Ross said her mother was aware of and approved of the major financial decisions made on her behalf.

The Rosses said they devised a plan that would put Philpot in a beautiful home where they could watch over her while protecting her assets. Instead of spending $5,000 a month on a nursing home, the Rosses would pay the household bills and Philpot would own a home that would increase in value.

It was Philpot’s idea to give the Rosses half-interest in the house. “Mom wanted us to have the whole house,” Gayla Ross told jurors.

People who know Clara Philpot will tell you her smile can light up a room but she can’t remember what she ate for breakfast.

She certainly should not be deciding whether to give away her life savings, said Bobbie Page, Philpot’s older daughter.

“She’d answer ‘yes’ to anything you asked her.”

Source=>>The Oregonian

100 Top Scientists Call "Appalling" Current Level Funding for Alzeirmer's Pandemic

by BBC News

Author Terry Pratchett has handed in a petition to 10 Downing Street calling for an urgent increase in funds for dementia research.

The petition, which has been signed by 20,000 people, describes current level of funding as "appalling".

The campaign is backed by more than 100 top scientists. The Discworld creator, diagnosed with a rare form of Alzheimer's disease this year, also met Prime Minister Gordon Brown and Health Minister Phil Hope.

The petition, addressed to Mr Brown, highlights that Alzheimer's and related diseases, which affect 700,000 people in the UK, currently receives just 3% of research funding.
Mr Pratchett, 60, said: "We are facing, to use the term said to me by one of the leading US researchers, a worldwide tsunami of Alzheimer's and other dementia diseases.

"There's only two ways it can go: researchers, with as much help you can give them, may come up with something that reduces the effects of this dreadful, inhuman disease, or we will have to face the consequences of our failure to prevent the final years of many of us being a long bad dream.

"The strain on carers and their support is bad enough now; before very long the effects on the health service and society itself, will be unbearable." Following his hour-long meeting with Mr Brown, the author said: "We had a very long and frank meeting, and I have to say I was impressed.

"The Prime Minister joined us and he clearly recognises that dementia is a huge problem."
Huge impact
Rebecca Wood, chief executive of the Alzheimer's Research Trust, of which Mr Pratchett is a patron, said dementia cost the UK economy £17bn a year.
"If scientists could work out how to delay the condition by five years, we could halve the number of people who die with dementia.

"The support from across the political spectrum for an increase in dementia research funding is overwhelming; what other issue unites petition signatories like Lord Rees-Mogg and Tony Benn? "The prime minister must take radical action, and fast."

The Department of Health said the forthcoming national dementia strategy would set out plans to speed up diagnosis, and improve patient care.

It also pledged to increase investment in dementia research, which it said had already been boosted.

F.B.I. Law Enforcement Bulletin - "Protecting the Elderly from Financial Abuse."

The FBI Law Enforcement Bulletin -
"©2007 CNET Networks, Inc. All rights reserved. Used by permission."

Over the years, a shift in law enforcement priorities, as well as an increase in general awareness, has made most officers familiar with the concepts of spousal abuse and child abuse. Still, the term elder abuse raises questions among even the most seasoned law enforcement officers. From physical, emotional, or sexual abuse to financial exploitation, approximately 818,000 elderly individuals are victimized annually.

Furthermore, experts estimate that only 1 in 10 cases of elder abuse gets reported.(1) Many elderly citizens must contend with a variety of health problems that limit their physical or mental functioning. Some become bedridden and cut off from normal contact with the rest of the world. At the same time, mental limitations leave many older citizens highly vulnerable to various forms of abuse.

Please go to http://www.fbi.gov/publications/leb/1997/decleb.pdf

Close Legal Loopholes on Persuasion

THEFT OF ELDER NATION Elder financial abuse has become a hidden national epidemic

THE JURY DIDN'T BUY Ronald Brock's defense: That a 76-year-old-San Mateo man who had mental problems all of his life had voluntarily given his former legal adviser $661,000. We don't buy it either.

Brock flew Norman Roussey to New York to be evaluated by a psychiatrist - who happened to be his sister. She wrote a letter stating that Roussey had the mental capacity to change his will and leave everything to her brother.

He took a hypnotist to Roussey's house to perform "relaxation techniques" on the senior - prior to having him sign the new will, a will that Roussey later didn't even remember signing.

Roussey's self-professed close friend also convinced him to take out a mortgage on his late mother's house and give him $175,000 of the money. When Brock failed to make the mortgage payments like he'd promised, the bank foreclosed. Roussey lost his mother's house and wound up living in an apartment.

The jury looked at all that damning evidence and convicted Brock of elder abuse. A judge sentenced him to five years in prison. He also was ordered to repay the money.

But then, last October, the First District Court of Appeal in San Francisco threw out the conviction. Why? Because Superior Court Judge Joseph Bergeron had instructed the jurors that they could convict Brock if they believed he had taken advantage of Roussey's weakness of mind.

Under California law, intentionally exploiting the mental vulnerabilities of someone to steal their money or property - the legal term is using "undue influence-" isn't against the law.
That's right. So, the appellate court tossed out Brock's conviction. It ruled that Bergeron's instructions allowed a conviction for conduct that was "little more than overpersuasion."

The justices in effect followed the letter of the law. Undue influence is not listed as a crime under California's penal code.

Yet how can an elder consent to a financial transaction if he doesn't have the mental capacity to understand the implications? Most reasonable people - like those on the Brock jury - would say that he can't.

Consider this: Brock had met Roussey in the early '90s. At the time, he was a paralegal for attorney Hubert Forsyth whose firm was representing Roussey in a nasty fight with his brother over his mother's estate.

Roussey's mother died in 1991. He had lived with her his whole life because of mental problems. Roussey had never been able to hold down a job.

After his mother's death, he was worth $1 million and all alone for the first time in his life. Brock befriended him. The two men took trips to Hawaii. Then, once Roussey became dependent on him, Brock began asking for money.

"Asking" is a nice way of putting it.

When Roussey refused to sign checks over to Brock, Brock pursued him throughout the house until he relented. Brock told the senior that if he didn't give him the money, he would have to get a job and wouldn't be able to be his friend anymore.

Brock continued to pressure Roussey for money. He knew Roussey could not resist because of his dependency on Brock and his mental impairments.

Roussey's money bought Brock a Jeep and a Cadillac. That apparently wasn't enough. He successfully pressured Roussey to cancel an annuity that he had bought for his niece.

Many defense lawyers - and even some prosecutors - will argue that undue influence is a vague concept.

We strongly disagree.

It is a deliberate set of manipulative behaviors over a period of time that essentially brainwashes a weaker-willed person into doing things that are not in his or her best interest. Not unlike what happens in a cult.

Elder abusers seek out and "groom" vulnerable seniors. They target the lonely, the grief-stricken, the physically or mentally ill. They use deceitful tactics to loot their assets - all the while keeping victims in the dark about what is really going on.

The appellate court ruled that Brock's conduct was nothing more than "overpersuasion." However, we believe Brock crossed a line that went far, far beyond aggressive salesmanship.

San Mateo Deputy District Attorney Melissa McKowan who prosecuted Brock believes it's time that the Legislature changed the theft laws to help protect elderly victims of financial abuse. She is lobbying for a bill that would make undue influence a crime.

McKowan had convinced the jury to convict Brock on the grounds that he had knowingly taken advantage of Brock's mental impairments.

Many had hoped that McKowan's novel use of "undue influence" in a criminal case (it is already part of civil statute) would break ground for prosecutions of elder abusers across the state.

The victory was short-lived, though Brock did serve his full prison sentence before the appellate court reversal.

His attorney said Brock was guilty of nothing more than "aggressive panhandling," and that we can't create a crime to fit every behavior that we don't like.

Even some prosecutors are reluctant to tinker with the current theft laws. Yet we believe that using undue influence to commit a crime should itself be a crime.

It's time that the Legislature amended the penal code to make undue influence as prosecutable kind of theft.

The California District Attorneys Association is working on plans to introduce such a law.

Any law would first have to establish a clear definition for undue influence. It would also have to determine what kind of medical evidence would be required to establish that an alleged victim was susceptible to it, and establish what other conditions must be met.

We use such a process to determine if an accused defendant is mentally incompetent to stand trial. So why can't we do it to determine if an elder was incompetent when he gave consent?

If what Brock did to Roussey wasn't against the law, it certainly should be. There are far too many elderly Californians like Roussey who are being "overpersuaded" out of their life savings.

It's time to close the legal loophole that makes it so easy for elder predators to go scot free.

Related Articles:

Theft of Elder Nation: An editorial series
Place legal curbs on 'rescue' practice

Theft of Elder Nation: An editorial series
Requiring reporting

Theft of Elder Nation: An editorial series
State needs to revoke theft license

Theft of Elder Nation: An editorial series:
Getting involved early is critical

Theft of Elder Nation: An editorial series
Elder court is crucial

ENDANGERED SENIORS
Elder financial abuse has become a hidden national epidemic

Today a United Effort is Born Please Send Your Story of Elder Abuse, Exploitation or Neglect.

From this point forward, there will be news about Paradise Costs--A Victim's Daughter Fights Back Against Elder Abuse as there has been before, but as of today, a group called STOP GUARDIANSHIP ABUSE requested that I put up some of their stories.

This blog is about ELDER ABUSE.

For every case of guardianship abuse, an elder (or some other vulnerable person) has suffered and so has a family. Most people don't want to hear about Elder Abuse, maybe because they don't want to know the truth.

However, we are going to tell the truth.

Here's an excerpt from my book and the reason why "a small group of committed citizens" will change the world....Margaret Mead said many years ago that, a small group is the "only thing that has EVER changed the world."

Everyday, there will be a story of elder abuse posted here and the location of the story could be Anywhere, USA.

from PARADISE COSTS--A Victim's Daughter Fights Back Against Elder Abuse...

"Before, during and after my father’s death, lawyers and social workers repeatedly made requests—they urged me to take his story public. In what has been a staggering evolution of consciousness for me, I have done so. I could not allow grief to cripple me— the stakes are too high.

Seventy-eight million baby boomers are the next generation of potential victims. In telling this painful and harrowing story it is my hope that we, an empowered and educated generation, will act and advocate in many ways including using the letters and petitions contained in this book to put a stop the pandemic of elder abuse existing in this country.

We must act now for the statistics are staggering:

 The American Psychological Association estimates that each and every year over 2.1 million older Americans are victims of physical, psychological or other forms of neglect and abuse.

 The National Center on Elder Abuse estimates there may be as many as 5 million victims of financial exploitation a year in the U.S. It’s also estimated that actual numbers of victims may be 5 times as many. The Center acknowledges that because there is no comprehensive data collection nationwide many seniors remain uncounted and suffer in silence. Millions may hide their embarrassment or remain in denial while countless others don’t have the competency to comprehend that they are being abused, neglect or exploited.

 The National Committee to Prevent Elder Abuse (NCPEA) estimates that $20 million per day is pilfered from the elderly…in California alone.

 National Institute of Health estimates that 4.5 million Americans have Alzheimer's disease now.

 The Alzheimer’s Association estimates that 1 in 10 individuals over 65 and nearly half of those over 85 already have Alzheimer’s. It’s estimated that within the next 25 years the number of sufferers will triple.

 The Alzheimer’s Association states the number of Americans with Alzheimer's has more than doubled since 1980; it will continue to grow, and by 2050 the number of victims with Alzheimer's could range from 11.3 million to 16 million. Increasing age is the greatest risk factor for Alzheimer's.

 Every 72 seconds someone develops Alzheimer’s; the related costs of Alzheimer’s and other dementias exceed more than $148 billion annually.
The Alzheimer’s Association reiterates that Alzheimer’s disease is not a normal part of the aging process. It is a devastating disorder of the brain’s nerve cells that impairs memory, thinking and behavior. Obviously, victims of this ailment will be the most vulnerable among us.

An attorney who worked in an elder legal clinic told me, “An abused dog has more rights and will get more protection under the law than the elderly.”
If that is the case and, for my father’s it indeed was, immense changes are urgently needed to protect the elderly. Therefore, Paradise Costs is a wake-up call for action. We must change the laws now or millions will face victimization and too many with be casualties.

The emotional, physical and financial exploitation my parent suffered is all too common. Tragically, my father lacked the competency, as millions do, to recognize how he was being exploited.

It’s essential that the jury of public opinion—those reading this frightful story—be aware of what defines elder abuse, neglect and exploitation.
Our understanding needs to expand beyond the image of an elderly person tied to a bed or being beaten. As this story demonstrates more subtle forms of exploitation and abuse too often go undetected and are never identified or reported for what they are: crimes.

In the pages that follow, it will become dreadfully clear how vulnerable senior citizens are and perhaps in ways one could never imagine. My father’s story is not included in the ugly statistics; he fell through the cracks. Too many do.

Auschwitz survivor Elie Wiesel said societies are judged by how they treat the defenseless. He spoke to the unique needs of the elderly stating that our society “is too busy worshiping the culture of youth” to value them. Instead of ignoring the needs of the elderly, Wiesel said, people should consider it an opportunity and a privilege to extend a helping hand to them. “Why does our society try to do so much for children but so little for the old?” he asked.

Elder abuse, neglect and exploitation are not indigenous to any one area of this country. It is a multidimensional and pervasive collective ill that permeates throughout every layer of our society. It’s an issue that’s everyone’s business.

The Journal of the American Medical Association (appendix 2) has estimated that it will take 30-40 years before the awareness of elder abuse achieves the level of recognition that child abuse has now.

Can we wait that long?

Readers as participants in “reality writing” can change the future. It’s within the scope of the most enlightened and powerful generation of all time, the baby boomers, to use its huge political and economic clout on this crucial issue.

After you read this story, please make a decision about whether this cautionary, tragic tale has enough merit to motivate you to action remembering that as many as one-in-three baby boomers may be victims of some form of elder abuse.

If it does serve as a wake-up call, please “vote” your consentience by signing and mailing the prefabricated reality writing letters included in Chapter 10. Please pass around the petitions also included and mail or fax them to your U.S. Senators. Feel free to make copies of any part of the reality writing section of this book and pass it along to others.

The Elder Justice Act (EJA) came before both the U.S. House of Representatives and the U.S. Senate just as the finishing touches were put on this book in late March 2007. It is critical that the EJA, U.S. House of Representative Bill number HR-1783 and the U.S. Senate Bill number S-1070, be supported into law as soon as possible. And readers can help by imploring action now and in the future by becoming proactive immediately via reality writing.

After the EJA passes our task is not complete and, therefore, we must remain vigilant. It’s vital that the EJA be amended, as needed, and enforced to serve the welfare of the largest number of elderly.

We must, therefore, remain proactive demonstrating our ongoing interest and support for social reform on behalf of the elderly of this nation.

It’s obligatory for concerned citizens to continue to pressure Congress with reality writing letters enclosed in this book to drive home our imperative message.
We, as committed and watchful citizens, must demonstrate our steadfast interest by pledging to remain involved by continuing to telegraph our federal legislators that we want to stop elder abuse now.

It is to that end this book was written. This is a pro-active rally against the painful lessons taught by my own personal history, one many of us can relate to, and by other tragic world events that are remembered as blights upon humanity.
Apathy always costs in this “paradise” known as democracy or anywhere else on our planet.

As Martin Luther King, Jr. stated, “Justice denied anywhere diminishes justice everywhere.”

Thank you,
Irene A. Masiello
Member of the ELDER JUSTICE COALITION
April 2007 (and now on December 14, 2007)

SEND YOUR STORIES TO:
standing2gether@yahoo.com

Rules as of now (this will be checked with my attorneys on Monday)
1000 words (spell checked and properly punctuated, please)
no names (refer to yourself as a first name and a location only)
county and state only.

Another Day, Another Hearing in the Life of an Abused Elder.

- Hearing to Determine Residency. - Petition For appointment of Emergency Guardian. - Emergency Petition to Remove Ward From West Palm Beach. - County Hearing To Determine Capacity. - Hearing To Determine Venue. - Hearing for Motion to withdraw. - Petition to withdraw. - Hearing for Respondent. - Motion to Dismiss. - Hearing for Judicial Review of Continued Need for a Guardian.-Hearing for Petition for Court Order Permitting Clara to Travel.- ad infinite........

Welcome to the "Endless World of Hearings"!

For the benefit of people who have been "allegedly" abused, I say "allegedly", because in spite of all the facts documented, certified copies of documents published here, admitting to neglect, and conversion of an elders assets to personal use, this isn't enough for the authorities. (Who insist on calling Elder Abuse and Elder Financial Abuse, a "Civil" matter.)

Clara and her family attended another hearing today, the court gave me two weeks to reconsider stepping down as caregiver for Clara G. Fernandez.

Folks, I hope something changes soon, I already endured one embargo when they were trying to get my dad out of the family house before he died, because of the stress involved and I don't think that myself or my family are ready to face another embargo, and quite frankly, if we were barely getting by before the guardianship was established, with the benefit of her full Social Security income, it will now be next to impossible with guardian costs and the guardian's attorney billing Clara every month!

Well, I hope that her guardian and guardian's attorneys can move quickly to recover Clara's "disappeared" assets a lot faster than previous guardian's or their attorneys have because Clara doesn't have a whole lot of time, she has already out-lived one judge Richard Payne (retired) was subject to a 2nd(VonHof) and is working now on her third (Audlin) and a fourth in West Palm Beach.

But Wil she make it to a 5th One?

Please stay tuned to E.A. where abuse is de-glossed, exposed, discussed and reported in all it ugliest forms.

Are We as a Culture Ready to Sell Out Our Mother, Dump the Rule of Law over Dollars?

You can tell by looking at her picture my Grandmother is an artist. She was fortunate to be the only girl of five children, the oldest and most favored child. Blessed with living in a small town and growing up with an abundance of relatives, she had it all: family, intelligence, charm, style, looks, wit, strong pride and character. Despite growing up during two World Wars, raising two children and losing two husbands, she spent as much of her life as she could enjoying herself, singing or dancing, having lunch with her friends, working in her garden, reading, decorating. She loves flowers, music, sweets, colors and antiques. The artist that she is came out when she was in her 60's when she decided that although she couldn't draw a straight line, painting sure looked like fun. And paint she did. She painted what she loved and her family loved what she painted.

She is the keeper of the family history and stories from her wealth of relatives. Our family looks to her to know our roots.

She is a beautiful woman, with sparkling blue eyes that mirror her personality. She has lived a charmed life and she has charmed those who have been fortunate enough to know her.

My Grandmother, advancing in years, began to worry about what the future might hold for her. She was concerned about the physical and mental effects of old age - things beyond her control. She had no fear of what would happen to her financially because she had already established a secure financial and legal plan - something within her control.

She planned carefully. She gave my Mother her Power of Attorney and a copy of her Living Will with explicit instructions of what she wanted and didn't want if she should become incapacitated. She put my Mother on her checking account and her charge account. She gave my Mother all the tools that she thought would enable her daughter to care for her if needed. She set up her estate so the eventual distribution would be fair and equal to both of her children.

She gave herself peace of mind that no matter what happened, she'd be all right.

In February of 1994, the worst happened. My Grandmother suffered a massive stroke. The damage was extensive, she had brain surgery and wasn't expected to survive.

For over 10 years now, she is a person trapped inside her own body. She cannot speak at will, cannot move on her own, cannot swallow freely, is unable to eat and drink, and is incontinent. She requires 24 hour care.

Perhaps even a greater personal hurt to my Grandmother came after her stroke, when her son, much to everyone's surprise, began a campaign against my Mother and my Grandmother in an effort to get to his inheritance. My Grandmother hadn't protected herself against her own son, she didn't think she had to. She was wrong.

Because of my Uncle's legal harassment, my Mother's attorney advised her a guardianship should be set up to care for my Grandmother and protect her.

My Mother didn't know. She did what her attorney advised and began the guardianship process. It has turned out to be a nightmare. Since the appointment of a financial guardian (a bank) for my Grandmother almost four years ago, every financial decision and all the careful planning my Grandmother had made prior to her stroke has been reversed. The financial guardian, the Bank, and the Court have ignored all of my Grandmother's wishes and have in fact, acted against her wishes.

She had extensive investments with a broker she had dealt with for over 20 years. The first thing the Bank did was get started seizing those investments -- to bring all of my Grandmother's assets into their bank where they could also make money off of her money. They billed thousands of dollars for this and it was completely against my Grandmother's wishes. They have liquidated almost all of her investments and have re-invested in accounts that they preferred; and everybody knows the bank is making thousands of dollars off of her money.

Then they put my Grandmother on a budget for her "incidental" needs (clothing, food, medicine, transportation, supplies). $400 a month. They also put her on a budget for her care.

What they didn't do was put themselves, nor their two attorneys, on a budget and they are freely billing with no restrictions or accountability. To date, they have collectively billed my Grandmother nearly $75,000 for "managing" her estate for less than four years.

When I ask for my Grandmother's funds for her use, I get a big hassle. They treat her like an employee, not a customer. I have even had to pay for her medicine when they wouldn't give my Grandmother her own money. I ask for comfort items (such as an awning to shade her deck from the sun so she can sit outside and enjoy the fresh air) for my Grandmother and she is denied. The family is outraged and sends in letters and petitions requesting my Grandmother's money be spent on her comfort. The Bank doesn't even have the courtesy to respond to any of the 20+ family members. AND, they charge my Grandmother for asking for her own money. Do you have to pay when you go to the Bank and withdraw some of your own funds? No, you don't. But, my Grandmother, the "protected person" has to pay the Bank when I ask for her money and she has to pay them again when they deny her.

They are "protecting" my Grandmother's estate for their benefit. They pad their bill -- all the while withholding my Grandmother's money from her as much as they can. And the Court will approve of their enormous fees until all of the money is gone --- and then, the vultures at least will be gone as well.

But, then, what are we going to do? My Grandmother will still be alive and she'll still need care, medicine, and supplies only there won't be any of her money left for her.

The Bank, the cold, hard, institution and the Bank's lawyers make thousands of dollars profiting from my Grandmother's unfortunate disability. She can't speak for herself nor defend herself from them. I am fighting for her as hard as I can, but the Bank and the Court are still exploiting her.

Banks are making millions, perhaps billions, of dollars off of the defenseless elderly in this manner. We've got to stop abusive guardianships now. My Grandmother carefully planned, worked hard and saved for her old age. And now she finds herself controlled by a cold, hard institution who's priority is not her nor her care, but rather how much money they can keep from her for themselves.

You can write Elaine at mailto:ELAINE@ABUSIVEGUARDIANSHIPS

Related Articles : Stolen Lives ; Guardians! What an Outrage! ; From Judge to Ward of the Court! ; When did this Become Acceptable Behavior in the United States of America?
Elder Abuse - What to do When Authorities Refuse to Help ; Steal an Estate-Never Have to Work Again!

Illustrations by E.A. Story by Abusive Guardianship's of the Elderly share your story , help put an end to Legalized Elder Financial Abuse

Woman Sentenced In Elder Abuse Case

BURLINGTON, Ky. -- A Burlington woman was sentenced Wednesday on charges related to the death of an elderly person in her care.

A judge sentenced Mary Allen to 225 days in jail and five years’ probation after she pleaded guilty to abusing Joe Daniels, a mentally disabled man for whom she was paid to provide care.

Allen was indicted earlier this year on second-degree manslaughter and exploitation of an adult by a caregiver and two counts of abuse and neglect.

The judge also ordered that Allen, whose husband, Brian Graham, faces charges related to the sexual abuse of an 18-month-old girl, may not work again as a caregiver.

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Thanks Goodness this judge is tough on abuse and ordered Allen NOT to work again as a caregiver! We are thrilled to hear that, sounds like we are making real progress, here.

Man Punches Father for Having Dementia

San Jose, Caifornia- Contra Costa Times

A man angry at his 87-year-old father -- who suffers from dementia -- because he wandered away from his residence without telling him punched the elderly man in the face at the Harbor Bay Landing Shopping Center, leaving him with a black eye, police said.

Witnesses told police that the man, 49, also verbally abused and threatened them when they confronted him following the assault on Wednesday.

The elderly man was walking through the center when the suspect sped up in a vehicle, got out and shouted, "What the hell are you doing here?" and punched him, police said.
Investigators said other bruises on the victim's body may have stemmed from other incidents of abuse.

Along with arresting his son, police turned over the older man to Adult Protective Services.

Outraged , Another Wonders How an Elderly Couple Could Lose Their Home so Easily

SAN DIEGO -- A local woman broke no laws, but she was in a position where she could have stopped a terrible scam against an elderly couple. The couple’s family said it killed the husband, Pat Torano, and devastated his widow, Dorothy.

Authorities considered it one of the worst cases of elder abuse they have ever seen in San Diego County.

It began one year ago when the Toranos let down their guard.

The Toranos owned a home for 40 years, until a pair of scheming caretakers entered their lives and stole everything, including the house.

Steve Carver of the District Attorney’s Office said, “They were blind or near blind, and had no understanding of even where they were living.”

The thieves took full advantage of older, blind victims.

Gina Trevino and Robert Holman used the Torano’s good name to open more than 30 credit card accounts, going on a $50,000 shopping spree.

The pair bought a Jeep, stayed in hotels and wined and dined. They even spent $500 watching porno movies on cable, according to authorities.

However, their greed did not stop there. The pair took the Toranos to a notary at a Postal Annex in Carlsbad, where they forced the elderly couple to sign away their home.

All it took were a few strokes of a pen and stamp from a notary.

Dorothy Torano said, “Sometimes memories, well, they make me cry.”

She can’t remember much because she has Alzheimer’s disease. Dorothy Torano also does not remember being dumped at a motel after her home was stolen. She only knows her husband is gone and so is her home.

“We used to go here, we used to go there. We can’t do it anymore. It makes me said,” said Torano.

Torano’s daughter, Kim Collins, said, “It’s absolute financial rape, with all the emotional devastation that goes along with it.”

Collins is fighting for a law to protect elderly people like her parents. Outraged, she wonders how an elderly couple could lose their home so easily.

Paul Greenwood runs the District Attorney’s Office Elder Abuse Unit, and said notaries should be required to report suspicious activity.

“This would not only raise awareness, it would protect the elderly from being pressured into signing documents that they don’t understand,” said Greenwood.
Lorelei Mitchell, the notary who witnessed the Torano transaction where Trevino had Dorothy Torano sign away her home, said she “did not have to answer” when asked why she notarized the transaction.

10 News’ Marti Emerald asked Mitchell, “She brings in an elderly women who doesn’t know where she is, can’t sign her own name and you put your stamp on it?”
Mitchell replied, “No comment.”

Notaries have operated under the radar, but many hope the Torano’s story will change things.
10 News is in talks with the Secretary of State’s office -- where they regulate notaries -- as well as local legislators to require notaries to report suspected cases of elder abuse.
Trevino and Holman are both in prison, with Trevino sentenced to eight years, Holman serving two years.

A court returned the Torano’s home to the family just in time to sell it in order to support Dorothy Torano in a retirement home.

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This story is really sad and one can not help but feel for the victims and the circumstances that allowed this to happen , on the front line of this fight against abuse are notaries , without their cooperation a lot of cases of elder financial abuse would be stopped dead in their tracks.

With Clara suffering from Dementia and Alzheimer’s, clearly disoriented ( see report from Department of Elder Affairs here >> ) How in the world did a public notary , legalize the transfer of Clara's properties, a new Power of Attorney (POA) , and numerous other financial planning documents to be used for the agents' benefit during a period of time during which Clara was hospitalized 5 times, moves in and out of home as many times across 4 separate counties and kept isolated, drugged and confused ?

Clara is Victim of a Hit and Run Driver, Police Refuse to Press Charges

Key West,FLORIDA -click to enlarge documents-

On June 22 2004 barely a month before Clara was abducted and drugged by her older son, Adalberto J. Fernandez who kept Clara isolated for 11 months, while he emptied her Trust of all assets until a raid by West Palm Beach Sheriff Office returned Clara to her long term legally appointed caretakers and husband who died shortly after from the stress of the situation.

Clara was shopping and her car was impacted by a hit and run driver who damaged the rear of the vehicle.

We found a note that a good Samaritan who had witnessed the accident had left on Clara's car.

We went to the Police Department and asked that a report and a citation be written to the owner of the car for leaving the scene of an accident as well as a report of the accident for the insurance company.

The police officer ran the tag tru the computer and found out that the car belonged to an employee of the state attorneys office, and he refused to write the report or the citation.

As a result of the police officer refusal to write a police report, we wrote a complaint to the CRB Citizens Review Board, months later we received this letter informing us that the accident did indeed take place(Thank You ) .

The CRB report is quoted as saying that Clara would have been better served if an accident report was written. (thank you ) again. Just to know that an accident really did take place and that Clara's interest's could have been better served, was worth all the hours for the elder or her rep filling out complaints forms, going to the police Department, Etc.

Clara's family believes that CRB investigation disturbed the officer(s) involved and the State Attorneys office, after all some of us ordinary citizens look up to these people (or did) to set the example for others to follow.

Clara's family believed that as a result of this action Clara was blacklisted in the State Attorney's office and several days later when Clara was abducted, the State Attorneys office refused to even let us in and present the evidence or make the case that Clara , a person suffering from the offset of dementia and Alzheimer's , was missing and believed taken by surprise and involuntarily.

Abusing the Helpless

by Eric Wolff

In her day, Pilar Ladran, a Filipino immigrant, was quite the catch. She'd had two husbands who took care of her until the second one died in the 1990s. For decades she played bingo, cooked and raised her children out of her Imperial Beach home. When her grandson, Jay, needed a supplemental parent, she was there to bring him up.

Rolando, Jay's uncle, had been collecting Pilar's mail, and he started to notice the bank letters coming in with "Urgent" stamped all over them. By the time he figured out the problem, the mortgage company was preparing to foreclose on the house. Rolando recalls his confrontation with Jay.

"Jay said to me, ‘The money's gone.'" Rolando related the story through his attorney, Seth Bobroff. "I said, ‘What do you mean the money's gone?' He said, 'It's all gone.' I said, 'Why didn't you come to me earlier? I could have helped, now I can't help. This is crazy.' At that point he was very nonchalant about it, very condescending, almost."

Jay finally owned up to his crime when the Sheriff's Office called. He turned himself in on May 30 and pleaded guilty to charges of grand theft fraud and elder abuse on June 12. He now awaits sentencing and would not comment for this story.

When sheriff's detective Bridget Cartier discussed the Ladran case with CityBeat, she was impressed by the amount of money Jay stole, but not by his behavior. Apparently this kind of fraud has been happening to San Diego's elderly with increasing frequency.

"We're overwhelmed,"

in his 11 years working these cases, seen a jump from 16 prosecutions for elder abuse with financial fraud in 1996 to an anticipated 220 for 2007. And this figure represents a tiny fraction of the overall problem, he said.

The population both nationally and in San Diego is aging. San Diego's median age is projected to rise from 33.7 to 36.8 between now and 2020, while the percentage of people over 65 will rise from 10 percent to 15 percent. Many older people have lived in their homes for dozens of years, through an astonishing boom in housing prices, and they have accumulated equity. Increasingly, they are victims of fraud in general and real estate fraud in particular.

"The hard criminals who are out there, who have been caught several times, they're wondering, ‘How do I steal?' Well, they've figured it out," Greenwood said.

Kulinski and Cartier believe the current generation of elderly—the World War II survivors—are particularly susceptible to scams because of their "trusting nature."

"They come from a different era," Cartier said.

Greenwood argues that the problem lies partly in the difficulty of detecting the earliest symptoms of Alzheimer's Disease and other forms of dementia—symptoms so subtle we just refer to them as "getting old." Complicating matters, the elderly sense their loss of faculties, which makes them less likely to report their victimhood.

"We're fighting the crooks, but we're also fighting this wall of silence," Greenwood said.

"How could he do this to her?" he said. "He took advantage of his grandmother, who raised him, and that's just wrong."

Write to ericw@sdcitybeat.com and editor@sdcitybeat.com.

Abridged >>

Alzheimer’s Patients Decline Faster after Entering a Nursing Home

Most educated had most decline; day care experience lessened decline

June 1, 2007 – Alzheimer’s disease patients experienced a more rapid decline in their mental abilities after being placed in a nursing home, except for those that had prior experience in adult day care. These patients did not experience this faster rate of cognitive decline according to a new study by the Rush Alzheimer’s Disease Center.

Alternatively, the increased cognitive decline upon placement may reflect difficulty adapting to an unfamiliar environment, consistent with clinical reports of increased confusion and behavior problems in those with dementia during acute hospitalization or trips away from home. Patients who had prior adult day care services may have been better able to adjust to the unfamiliar environment.

Most educated had most decline; day care experience lessened decline
The research was supported by grants from the National Institutes on Aging, which leads the federal effort supporting and conducting research on aging and the medical, social and behavioral issues of older people, including Alzheimer’s disease and age-related cognitive decline.

The Rush Alzheimer's Disease Center is one of approximately 30 NIA-supported Alzheimer's Disease Centers across the U.S. which conduct basic science, clinical, and social and behavioral research on dementia and AD. General information on aging and aging research can be viewed at the NIA's home website, www.nia.nih.gov.

Abridged Senior Journal >>

Epicatechin And Exercise As Memory Boosters?

Epicatechin And Exercise As Memory Boosters?

WASHINGTON, DC May 29, 2007 – A natural compound found in blueberries, tea, grapes, and cocoa enhances memory in mice, according to newly published research. This effect increased further when mice also exercised regularly.

"This finding is an important advance because it identifies a single natural chemical with memory-enhancing effects, suggesting that it may be possible to optimize brain function by combining exercise and dietary supplementation," says Mark Mattson, PhD, at the National Institute on Aging.

The compound, epicatechin, is one of a group of chemicals known as flavonols and has been shown previously to improve cardiovascular function in people and increase blood flow in the brain. Flavonols are found in some chocolate. Henriette van Praag, PhD, of the Salk Institute, and colleagues there and at Mars, Inc., showed that the combination of exercise and a diet with epicatechin also promoted structural and functional changes in the dentate gyrus, a part of the brain involved in the formation of learning and memory. The findings, published in the May 30 issue of The Journal of Neuroscience, suggest that a diet rich in flavonols may help reduce the incidence or severity of neurodegenerative disease or cognitive disorders related to aging.

"Bones of the Homeless" Blogger of the Week

Courtesy of Judy Jones

When I moved to San Franscisco, seeing people eating out of garbage cans and dying on the cold concrete streets made me sit down and weep. I watched as people walked by pretending not to see their Mother, Father Sister and Brother in each soul crying for help.

I prayed with my heart, soul, mind, body and spirit to die before ever accepting fellow human beings eating out of garbage cans and dying from our neglect. I asked to be guided to open hearts through sharing what I see.

I am a painter and only bought a camera to take pictures of the homeless I see. One day as I was sitting in front of a store eating,and a homeless man across from me had tears in his eyes. It so overwhelmed me, that I left my camera on the bench and never bought another.

Please support Judy's work for the homeless and visit her site Judy Jones >>

Disposable Elders - Passive Euthanasia

Article by Ray Fernandez

The practice of putting infirm people out on the street and leaving them to their own luck, is similar to calling Financial Elder Abuse a 'Civilly Matter'. We know that many elders will not survive a long and expensive drawn out legal battle, to recover the assets that the elder needs to survive in their final days.

"Use of any acute ER as a free primary care clinic by a significantly large population places an incredible financial strain on that facility. There are hospitals on the west coast that have been forced to close because of this issue".

If this statement justifies 'Disposable Elders' can State Sponsored euthanasia be far behind ?

Then we have the moral question ? We put animals to sleep when they are sick to spare then any further suffering, why should we be less merciful with humans beings? .

When an infirm Elder who suffers from Dementia lacks the assets to pay for care because of Elder Financial Abuse , or other causes is left out out on the street, penniless and destitute, does this not constitute cruel and unusual punishment?

We would not do this to a dog, why would we do it to our elders"?

In Germany, Robert J. Lifton (1986) documents in 'The Nazi Doctors', how these doctors took the lives of thousands of their fellow citizens on orders from the government. These unfortunates were institutional residents who required shelter and care but were neither terminally ill nor in pain. They were labeled 'Useless Eaters' by their government.

Do elders of a government that fails to protect them in cases of "Financial Abuse" in which Independent Financial Elders are left destitute and dependent on government services fall under a category of 'Useless Eaters' ?

One of the most controversial issues centers on the use of 'active versus passive' euthanasia. Active euthanasia occurs when something is done with the specific intention of ending a person's life, such as injecting a lethal medication.
Passive euthanasia occurs when interventions that might prolong life are withheld, such as deciding against connecting a dying person to a life support or allowing a person assets to be distributed to younger recipients without due process or intervention.

What about the practice of separating married elders that have been together a long time, hastening their death, the taking of an elder out of their surroundings and moving them around strange settings with unknown caregivers? Are these all not practices of 'passive euthanasia' that are widely used today and documented in this web site?

No matter how they are disguised or justified, passive euthanasia of our elders is alive and well in the today's modern world.

As authorities turn their backs on Elder Abuse with 'Slaps on the Wrists' of the perpetrators and 'Shrug on the Shoulders' for others, and even encouraging the practice of Passive Euthanasia by neglecting our elders to the point of no return, the science fiction scenario of euthanasia for our elders being discussed behind closed doors might one day become a reality.

"WE NEED NON-VOLUNTARY EUTHANASIA", SAYS BRITISH EXPERT

An ethical adviser to the British Medical Association has firmly backed non-voluntary euthanasia for patients who are too ill to ask for death.

....to spare patients needless suffering, direct killing is preferable, presumably by a lethal injection. He contends that "regulated, intentional active killing can have a proper place in good medical practice"....

"What would be the moral point," he asks, "in expending such valuable resources on severely incompetent patients whose best interests will be served by a quick and painless death?"

Please join our fight against Elder Abuse in all it's forms, the elder you save might be your own or even yourself someday !

Are We Developing a Culture of Throwaway Elders ?

Thanks to Felica Curran who first blogged about this problem:

60 Minutes did a report on Sunday May 20, 2007 showing how some hospitals in the Los Angeles area, including HMO giant Kaiser Hospital, dump their disabled patients on Skid Row. Kaiser has an ad campaign that implies that its patients "thrive" with the care they provide.Take a look at this video, showing 62-year-old Carol Ann Reyes, who has dementia, walking around on the street in a hospital gown after she was dumped by Kaiser in the Los Angeles Skid Row area.

Carol Ann is walking around in her hospital gown, because Kaiser hospital lost her clothes, according to 60 Minutes. When Kaiser decided it was time for her to go, they put her in a taxicab, wearing nothing but a hospital gown, and told the taxi to head for a rescue mission on Skid Row. The taxi dumped her on the street. The head of the rescue mission saw the whole thing and came to her aid. Carol Ann was readmitted to another hospital, because she was not well enough to be discharged.

The 60 Minutes Report said that patient dumping by hospitals on Skid Row is commonplace: hospitals think they can get away with it because dumped homeless patients blend in with the other homeless. Homeless patients probably don’t have family to make a complaint on their behalf, and they may not even be able to reconstruct what happened to them if, like Carol Ann Reyes, they have a memory impairment such as dementia.

This is the same dynamic present in most cases of elder and dependent adult abuse, where the perpetrator exploits the victim’s impairments and vulnerabilities to get away with abuse.

Another attempted patient dumping of a paraplegic homeless man in LA was also caught on tape:

This story was originally reported by NPR in November of last year. To watch Anderson Cooper’s report from 60 Minutes, which discusses both incidents, click here.

Abridged >>

Something Needs to be Done to Protect My Grandmother !

Jenny Rodriguez said...

Something needs to be done to protect our elderly from abuse/exploitation. A few years ago, my grandmother was approached by her son with some papers. My grandmother, who has Alzheimer's and doesn’t read or speak English, unknowingly signed a Quit Claim Deed handing over her house to a corporation whose President, Vice-President, and Secretary are my uncle’s three children.

Of course, no one in the family was aware of this until my mother tried looking for cheaper house insurance for my grandparents when she learned that my grandmother and grandfather no longer owned the house. Since then, this has been a never ending battle in court.

Elder Affairs was contacted many years ago. They sent a case manager out to the house, yet nothing was done. My mother paid over $10,000 dollars to one attorney who didn’t do anything to resolve this case. This case was referred to Comprehensive Care who hasn’t done anything to settle this case. Worse yet, they recently asked the judge that they no longer want to represent my grandmother because they are having a difficult time reaching my uncle and his attorney.

How could this be happening? This has been in and out of court since 9/22/04. My grandmother is 90 years old and her memory has deteriorated greatly. What recourse do we have? What can we do when our legal system seems to be failing us? When my mom went to court yesterday, the judge did not have the case file, no longer remembered the case, and was pleased to hear that my uncle doesn’t mind my grandmother living in the house, “her own home!” Why hasn’t anyone been able to void the quick claim deed?

I hope that you will continue to write about this problem. We need to fight to protect our elderly from abuse/exploitation from strangers, family members, and the legal system. I have contacted my state representatives, and I will continue to write until something gets done.

Thank you for you time,

Jenny Rodriguez
JenJor1316@aol.com

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Dear Jenny;

I really feel for what you are going through, this is one of those things that is supposed to happen to 'other people' until you become a victim yourself. Elder Financial Abuse is being called the Crime of the 21st Century.

I am very well acquainted with the never ending battles in court Defense Lawyers Often Try to Delay Trial of Elder Abuse and Exploitation cases until the Victim is too Disabled to Testify, Experts Say

The reason you haven't been able to reverse the Quit Claim Deed gained by trickery is because you haven't paid the Legal Ramson in the way of Legal fees. $100,000.00 seems to be the going number for most of these type of cases that we at E.A. have heard about.

Elder abuse justice is for the rich! 85% to 96% of Elder Financial Abuse goes un reported , perhaps now you know why!

When Clara started getting Dementia, she wanted to sign the house,CD's, assets over to us, however we are old fashioned and we told her "No all those assets are yours until you die, you might need them, we are not here for that." As her mental abilities declined a group of opportunists saw the door swing wide enough for them to get control and vacate her trust of anything of value, including some unique personal jewelry, which Clara was wearing on the day she was taken and is un accounted for.

So until laws are changed to benefit the victims and their families, all I can say is when you notice someone in your family starting to get old and senile, you better transfer all their assets over 'pronto' because once the 'opportunists' get their foot through the door, you will never be able to shake them. After all they have nothing to lose and everything to gain, so if you end up spending all of your grandmother's assets in legal fees, that just fine with them as they have a 'Scorched Earth' mentality.

It seems that when it comes to our elders that possession is 9/10ths of the law, once the opportunists,elder abusers,lowlifes, what ever you want to call them get their greedy hands on your immediate family assets all they have to do to get off is accuse you of the same thing you are accusing them, this is usually good enough to throw up a smokescreen and confuse the investigators.

"Individuals 65 and older control over 70 percent of the nation's wealth," As Willie Sutton is famously known to have said, when explaining why he robbed banks: "That’s where the money is." It seems that a number of individuals, and some organized gangs, have realized that many single elderly persons have that in common with banks: they have money, and it is all too often available for the taking.As baby boomers begin to retire and their parents pass away, Americans are about to witness the largest transfer of wealth in the nation's history.

I suggest that you keep writing your congressman, although you are highly unlikely to get any sympathy from people who have never experienced Elder Abuse firsthand.
If you press the issue like we have , they are likely to tell you that your grandmother has the right to give her house to whomever she wants, and give the old 'shoulder shrug'.

The way (some) authorities thinks your grandmother is old and she is probably going to die anyways, what does she need a house, money for ? It's very kind that your uncle will allow her to live in her house, even the judge told you so .

Well my brother wasn't so kind and he put my mother, Clara Fernandez in 3 nursing homes totaling 5 addresses changes shortly after he executed a series of Quit Claim Deeds under similarly questionable circumstances .

Emergency Medicare Transport was used to keep Clara secreted from her family and during one of those shuffles and under what Dr. J. Aguinaga M.D. calls, " A dosis in excess of what is common for a person her age" , she was left alone in a hotel room, fell and struck her head

she was taken to Baptist Hospital for Emergency Neurosurgery and had been in wheelchair ever since , this incident triggered a downward spiral leading to loss of independence, a serious complicating illness and further falls.

Those of us who have experienced Elder Abuse first hand have a sneaking suspicion that
Who Are Public Agency Investigators Protecting: The Neglected Elder Or The Perpetrator of The Neglect?

Sorry I don't have better news for you, or the thousands of elders that are abused on a daily basis in Massachusetts alone , 43 new incidents of alleged elder abuse are reported each day. , the outlook for victims of elder abuse is pretty grim until people say , enough is enough and start demanding reform ,we as an aging population face an uphill battle.

Ray Fernandez