http://www.elderadvocacyblog.com/index.php Copyright 2010, Felicia Curran Felicia Curran en-US SPHPBLOG 0.4.8 http://www.elderadvocacyblog.com/index.php?entry=entry100731-174359 from Harold Scull, his partner of 20 years, has obtained a settlement of his lawsuit from defendant County of Sonoma, for six hundred and fifty thousand dollars ($650,000). The case, which was filed in Sonoma County Superior Court more than a year ago, was scheduled to go to jury trial this month. The timing of the settlement, right up against the trial date, indicates that the County only settled due to the pressure of the looming trial date. (Thank goodness for trial dates!)

The National Center for Lesbian Rights, which brought the lawsuit on Clay's behalf (together with The Law Office of Anne N. Dennis, and Stephen O'Neill and Margaret Flynn of Tarkington, O'Neill, Barrack & Chong) issued a press release that struck a cautionary note:

"What Clay and Harold lost can never be replaced, but this settlement brings a measure of justice to their story," said Amy Todd-Gher, Senior Staff Attorney for the National Center for Lesbian Rights,.... This victory sends an unmistakable message that all elders must be treated with respect and dignity, regardless of their sexual orientation, and that those who mistreat elders must be held accountable. Even as we celebrate this victory, however, we are deeply troubled that the County of Sonoma continues to refuse to take responsibility for their egregious misconduct and violations of the law in this case. We urge every citizen of Sonoma County to demand more oversight of the Public Guardian’s office. They need to be watched."

They need to be watched indeed. If you read the County of Sonoma's website, it says that the reason it settled the lawsuit was "to avoid costs associated with a lengthy trial." They added, "The County must manage taxpayer money prudently." Hey, did you forget about justice and doing the right thing? The only errors that the County acknowledges relate to Clay Greene and Harold Stull's property:

"The County acknowledges that some administrative errors occurred in the handling and disposition of the plaintiffs’ property, which led to improvements in Public Guardian policies with respect to procedures for property disposition and case management. The County remains confident in its position that there was no discrimination in this case....."

They apologize for violating property rights but can't bring themselves to acknowledge they violated Clay's civil rights, as an elder and as a gay man. Sonoma County could have brought this episode to a more satisfactory resolution by admitting its mistake and promising it won't happen again. Instead, this case concludes with Sonoma County, which used to known just for fine wine, taking its place in the history of civil rights violators, alongside places such as Little Rock, Arkansas and Birmingham, Alabama.

However, by paying Clay Green a very large settlement, that is as close as they come to admitting the magnitude of their mistakes. A large settlement for a huge injustice.

To read the press release by the National Center for Lesbian Rights, click here.

To read the press release by Sonoma County, click here.

Felicia Curran
www.ElderAdvocacyLaw.com
www.ElderAdvocacyBlog.com
]]> Lawsuits, Heros & Heroines, If You're Not Outraged . . . http://www.elderadvocacyblog.com/index.php?entry=entry100731-174359 Felicia Curran Sun, 01 Aug 2010 00:43:59 GMT http://www.elderadvocacyblog.com/index.php?entry=entry100715-171559 diagnosis of Alzheimer’s disease some ten years before symptoms begin to appear, the National Institute of Health (NIH) is proposing to change the diagnostic criteria of Alzheimer’s disease, to permit diagnosis of the disease before a patient has started to exhibit the telltale signs of memory loss that are the hallmark of the disease. Scientists believe that the brain of patients who will go on to develop Alzheimer’s disease start to exhibit detectable changes in the brain (such as plaque or amyloid) some 10 years before the patient exhibits symptoms such as memory loss and confusion. Recent scientific advances, such as a PET scan of the brain developed by Dr. Daniel Skovronsky M.D. (recently reported on in The New York Times) allow scientists to detect these changes in the brain that are the precursors of Alzheimer’s disease. The NIH is proposing that doctors be able to diagnosis Alzheimer’s disease when these biomarker tests show the brain changes associated with Alzheimer, even if the person has not yet exhibited clinical symptoms. Within the next few years, it is expected that these tests will be available to the general public.

That means that you or your family members will be able to be tested before you have become impaired. Right now, the prospect of being tested when there is no cure seems like a scary one. But doctor’s ability to diagnose Alzheimer’s disease before a patient has started to exhibit memory loss carries with it the promise of being able to treat the disease and prevent it from progressing to the stage where memory loss is present. Scientists are optimistic for the first time that treatment will be available in the coming years to diagnose and treat Alzheimer’s disease before impairment sets in.

What the NIH is doing is important, to assure that patients receive early treatment for the disease. Insurance companies are not big on paying for preventive treatment, and by labeling certain persons as having Alzheimer’s, before memory loss appears, it will be easier for such persons to qualify for insurance coverage for whatever pre-memory loss treatment that becomes available.

To read the New York Times article (Promise Seen For Detection of Alzheimer's) about Dr. Skovronsky’s test for Alzheimer’s disease, click here.

To read the Times article ("Rules Seek to Expand Diagnosis of Alzheimer's) about the proposed change in diagnostic criteria for Alzheimer’s disease, click here.

Felicia Curran
www.ElderAdvocacyLaw.com
www.ElderAdvocacyBlog.com
]]> Medical Issues, Memory Loss http://www.elderadvocacyblog.com/index.php?entry=entry100715-171559 Felicia Curran Fri, 16 Jul 2010 00:15:59 GMT http://www.elderadvocacyblog.com/index.php?entry=entry100618-141456



Why would a care giver walk away like that? As part of a cover up of her own involvement in the lady's fall. She hopes that someone else at the nursing home will "find her on the floor" and it will get reported as an "unwitnessed fall." The elderly victim herself will often be too impaired to speak for herself and tell what happened.

This scenario is repeated every day in nursing homes across the country, but this time it was caught on tape. Does the tape force this nursing home to take responsibility? You'd think, but instead the clip shows how the nursing home tries to use the "blame the victim" approach so typical in these cases. The nursing home lawyer (the guy in the suit) is quoted as saying that the elderly 85 year old lady -- who had dementia -- "caused her own fall." Is it also her fault that she can't get up from the floor or that she is old and frail?

Felicia Curran
www.ElderAdvocacyBlog.com
www.ElderAdvocacyLaw.com]]> Nursing Homes http://www.elderadvocacyblog.com/index.php?entry=entry100618-141456 Felicia Curran Fri, 18 Jun 2010 21:14:56 GMT http://www.elderadvocacyblog.com/index.php?entry=entry100605-122326
"Next Tuesday, June 8, at 11:15 a.m. EDT, President Obama and Kathleen Sebelius, Secretary of Health and Human Services, will host a "tele-town hall" event with older adults in Wheaton, MD. The purpose of the event is to answer questions from older adults in person and by phone about how the Affordable Care Act will affect Medicare. NAELA is co-sponsoring the event along with other national organizations which represent older adults.

Individuals interested in viewing the town hall may do so through the White House website or at a regional viewing events. The town hall will also likely be broadcast on C-SPAN. Obama Administration officials will be present at some of the regional viewing events in order to answer questions from participants. The list of regional events includes some private events highlighted in yellow. The rest of the events on the list are open to the public and include the location and contact information for the person organizing the event.

Individuals interested in asking a question of President Obama or Secretary Sebelius can call in during Tuesday's town hall at 1-800-837-1935, pass code: 80272058."

Felicia Curran
www.ElderAdvocacyBlog.com
www.ElderAdvocacyLaw.com ]]> Healthcare Insurance, Medicare http://www.elderadvocacyblog.com/index.php?entry=entry100605-122326 Felicia Curran Sat, 05 Jun 2010 19:23:26 GMT http://www.elderadvocacyblog.com/index.php?entry=entry100508-162957 gentlemen, Clay Greene and Harold Scull, pictured here in happier times. Clay Greene was living in his home in Sonoma County, with his partner of 20 years, Harold Scull. Harold, then 88 years old, fell and was hospitalized. What happened then is every elder person’s – and gay person’s – worse nightmare. The County sprung into action, removing Clay from his home, and sending Clay and Harold, against their will, to separate nursing homes.

Although Clay and Harold had wills, powers of attorney, and medical directives, all naming each other as their responsible persons, the County even obtained court orders preventing Clay and Harold from seeing each other. The County sold their belongings at auction, and as reported by Scott James of the New York Times, removed the men’s cats from their home, right in front of Clay Green. Clay is still haunted by the scene. “When Clay M. Greene remembered the events of June 2008, he clenched his teeth, his hands tightened into fists and his body shook. They grabbed them by their necks and tossed them in a car,’ he said last week, recalling the fate of his beloved cats, Sassy and Tiger. He never saw them again.” Harold died in the nursing home, a few months later. With the assistance of a court-appointed attorney, Anne Dennis, of Santa Rosa, Clay was finally released from the nursing home

According to Kay Kendall of the Bilerico Project, all Clay has left from his life together with Harold is a photograph. The rest was destroyed by the County.

Clay Greene has decided to strike back against this despicable and egregious conduct, and is suing Sonoma County for violation of his civil rights – as an elder and as a gay man – in a lawsuit that will go to trial in July. Clay is from a generation that was forced to live their lives behind closed doors, so he does not use the term “gay” to describe himself, or the term “same sex partner” to describe his relationship with Harold. By standing up for himself, though, he will vindicate the rights of senior citizens in general and gay senior citizens in particular who live in fear that the same thing could happen to themselves.

To read the New York Times article about Clay Greene, click here. To read Kay Kendall’s article in Bilerico, click here.

You can learn more about the lawsuit, by visiting a Facebook page set up by Clay's supporters: www.facebook.com/JusticeForClay?v=app_2347471856

Felicia Curran
www.ElderAdvocacyLaw.com]]> Lawsuits, Elder Abuse Laws, Heros & Heroines, If You're Not Outraged . . . http://www.elderadvocacyblog.com/index.php?entry=entry100508-162957 Felicia Curran Sat, 08 May 2010 23:29:57 GMT http://www.elderadvocacyblog.com/index.php?entry=entry100430-122444 aspiration and its signs and symptoms. When a patient aspirates, food, drink or even saliva that should be channeled from the mouth into the stomach instead gets channeled into the lungs, causing a pneumonia in the lungs. Aspiration is usually, but not always, a life threatening situation, compromising the person’s ability to breathe on their own.

When my Dad landed in the hospital in 2002, after having a fall at home and breaking his hip, I had heard of aspiration, but that was the furthest thing from my mind. After all, how could a broken bone lead to aspiration? My Dad was aging amazingly well – he was mentally and physically intact, sharp as a tact, with normal blood pressure and no health troubles other than a bad back. My main concern was that the hip surgery go well, which it did. Without a hitch in fact.

The night before he was to be discharged from the hospital, I visited him at night after work. We were looking forward to the next day, when he would be discharged to a rehab center for physical therapy, and after that, to go home. He had already eaten dinner when I arrived at 8 pm. He had told me that earlier that day he had become confused and thought that the furniture was flying around the hospital room, and realized that it must be the pain medication. I noticed that he was wheezing off and on -- something he had never done before. Dad said that the wheezing had started just before I arrived. I asked the nurse what that meant, and she said that he “might just have a little congestion.” I asked her to ask the doctor about it and get back to me. Other than the intermittent wheezing, Dad seemed fine, so I left at 11 pm without having heard back from the doctor.

The hospital called me at 2 a.m. and said that my Dad was transferred to the ICU. I rushed to the hospital and was told that he had aspiration pneumonia -– most likely caused by aspirating his dinner the night before. That’s what that wheezing meant. When I spoke to Dad’s doctor, he said that most likely the pain medication Dad was on for the hip fracture (the Oxycontin and Vicodin) interfered with his swallow mechanism, causing the food Dad ate at dinner to go down his windpipe instead of into his stomach.

My Dad never regained consciousness, and within 48 hours he was dead from complications of the aspiration.

There are many other unlikely causes of aspiration. For example, patients who became malnourished are at risk of aspirating. Safe swallowing depends on working swallowing muscles, and drastic weight loss diminishes the swallowing muscles’ ability to function properly. A malnourished elderly patient can be at risk for aspirating simply because their swallow muscle has atrophied due to malnutrition. Because malnutrition is so prevalent in nursing home residents (for many reasons, most of which are preventable), that's one reason why nursing home residents are vulnerable to aspirating in a nursing home.

The New York Times New Old Age Blog has just posted an article on swallowing disorders, When The Meal Won't Go Down. It is an excellent introduction to swallowing issues in the elderly and will refer you to other resources on the web, such as the American Speech-Language-Hearing Association website.

Felicia Curran
www.ElderAdvocacyLaw.com]]> Nursing Homes, Medical Issues http://www.elderadvocacyblog.com/index.php?entry=entry100430-122444 Felicia Curran Fri, 30 Apr 2010 19:24:44 GMT http://www.elderadvocacyblog.com/index.php?entry=entry100423-110858 Do you have a veteran in your family? The Veterans Administration has many programs that might help your family, including the seniors in your family. You should read an article the AARP has posted, called Giving Back to Vets, that describes the veteran benefits available.

Click here to read the article.

Felicia Curran
www.ElderAdvocacyLaw.com]]> http://www.elderadvocacyblog.com/index.php?entry=entry100423-110858 Felicia Curran Fri, 23 Apr 2010 18:08:58 GMT http://www.elderadvocacyblog.com/index.php?entry=entry100422-141444 "Why Is State Only Collecting One Third of Nursing Home Fines?" Jewett (pictured to the right) analyzed data from the State that shows that the California Department of Public Health -- the agency that licenses and has oversight over California nursing homes -- is letting nursing homes avoid or delay payment of fines imposed for breaking state law. Fines are the price the nursing home must pay for violating the law -- hence no fine, no penalty.

Jewett connects the trend in decreased collection of fines (In 2005 the state collected 60% of fines against nursing homes but by 2008 they only collected 30% of the fines) to a 2004 change in the law (AB 1629) which lets the nursing homes hire lawyers to fight the fines and bill the State for the cost of their legal fees. The nursing home can delay paying the fine by filing a legal challenge and if they lose, bill the State for the cost of their legal fees. The 2004 thus gave nursing homes an incentive to challenge and delay payment.

To locate and contact your State Senator and State Assemblyperson, and demand a change, click here.

To read Jewett's article, click here.


Felicia Curran
www.ElderAdvocacyLaw.com
]]> Nursing Homes, If You're Not Outraged . . . http://www.elderadvocacyblog.com/index.php?entry=entry100422-141444 Felicia Curran Thu, 22 Apr 2010 21:14:44 GMT http://www.elderadvocacyblog.com/index.php?entry=entry100420-173821 posted on the door, stating that the home was going to be sold at auction or that the home residents were being evicted? Suppose further that this was the first notice you had that the rest home was in financial trouble, and that your parents might have just a few days, or less, to find a new home?

According to a recent New York Times article, When Foreclosure Threatens Elder Care Homes, that is the situation that Brenda Wing, pictured here, found herself in when she went to visit her 84-year-old father in the Northstar Manor care home in Woodland, here in Northern California. Records show that the home was in foreclosure but the homes owners gave their elderly residents no warning that eviction could be imminent, and they even lied to Brenda Wing when she asked them about it, telling her that there was nothing to worry about, and when she persisted, that it was none of her business.

How big of a problem is this? The New York Times analysis shows that here in the San Francisco Bay Area there are 1,600 board and care homes -- small residential care homes for elderly who need simple “custodial” care or assistance with activities of daily living such as eating, bathing, dressing and grooming – and that 16 percent of them have been in some stage of foreclosure since June 2006. That includes more than 100 homes under foreclosure in the last six months, with as many as 700 elderly residents affected.

Board and care home owners are taking advantage of a gap in California law, which lets them keep their elderly residents in the dark as to the care home’s financial troubles, even when foreclosure of the care home or eviction from the home is imminent. The board and care home owners involved would rather hide the foreclosure than take the chance that their elderly residents would move before the property was sold.


Anthony Chicotel, a Staff Attorney with advocacy group California Advocates for Nursing Home Reform (CANHR), who is working on changing the law, is quoted by the Times as pointing out that the elderly can be evicted “without any notice, without preparation, without any arrangements for an alternative residence. Not only are they losing their home, but they are losing the services that allow them to live.” To rectify that, CANHR has asked State Senator Mark Leno, to introduce legislation that would require care home owners to notify the licensing authority, and the elderly residents and their families, within 24 hours of notification of foreclosure, bankruptcy, missing a mortgage payment or the prospect of a utility cutoff. The proposed law would also fine owners who failed to do so $100 a day, and permanently disqualify them from operating elder-care homes in California.

The bill won’t be voted on until June. California Governor Schwarzenegger may need a push to sign this legislature, assuming it passes the California legislature. Click here to email him to support the change in the law and protect the elderly from unexpected foreclosures.

What can you do to protect yourself from this type of situation or if you are in this type of situation?

1. Check the property address on a real estate website
such as www.zillow.com, which may list whether they
are current on their mortgage, whether the
property is in foreclosure or preforeclosure.

2. Ask the owner of the board and care if they are
behind on their mortagage, in pre-foreclosure or
foreclosure, whether they are any plans for the
property to change hands in the next year, and
whether they are having any financial
difficulties. Bring someone with you as a witness
so it won't be just your word against theirs.

3. Get the owner's commitment to inform you of any
difficulties that could force the sale of the
property, as soon as they materialize.

4. If you learn of foreclosure, contact the bank
(the name will be posted on the eviction
notice)directly and try to negotiate a delay
of the sale until you can relocate.

5. Consult a lawyer and call the state licensing
office, the Department of Social Services
Community Care licensing. Their website is
www.ccld.ca.gov.


Click here to read the Times article.

Felicia Curran
www.ElderAdvocacyLaw.com]]> Residential Care, Elder Abuse Laws, Proposed Laws http://www.elderadvocacyblog.com/index.php?entry=entry100420-173821 Felicia Curran Wed, 21 Apr 2010 00:38:21 GMT http://www.elderadvocacyblog.com/index.php?entry=entry100418-174318
Remember a law California passed in 2004, designed to provide California nursing homes with additional MediCal money? This law -- The Nursing Home Quality Care Act -- was passed to address nursing homes’ complaint that the homes are understaffed because they simply cannot afford to hire more staff or to pay more wages. Under this law, the state’s 1,100 nursing homes received an additional $880 million in funding during 2004-2008, to hire more staff and pay better wages. Reporter Christina Jewett (pictured at the right) of California Watch has done a study, Nursing Homes Received Millions While Cutting Staff, Wages to see whether the additional funding to nursing homes has resulted in better staffing and salary levels. Jewett reports that 232 of 645 nursing homes receiving the extra funding either cut staffing, reduced wages, or violated state law minimum staffing level laws. These same nursing homes had fatter profit margins than other California nursing homes.

Jewett was also able to show a further correlation – the nursing homes receiving the extra funds that made the steepest staffing cuts also had about 30% more “deficiencies” (violations of State Title 22 licensing regulations) than the average California nursing home.

One other interesting fact in the article, “Nursing homes are allowed to bill the state for legal fees spent fighting abuse and neglect citations and lawsuits. They can bill for legal fees spent fighting audit findings they disagree with.” In other words, your tax dollars are going to help nursing homes hire lawyers to defeat elder abuse lawsuits and to challenge state officials who find the nursing home to be breaking the law.

The California Watch articles are mandatory reading for anyone with a family member in a California nursing home or anyone with a lawsuit against a California nursing home. The California Watch website contains data for each of the 232 nursing homes on the list (organized by county and by facility name). Check to see if your nursing home is on the list -- if it is, it should be a red flag to you that the nursing home is compromising staffing or wages for the sake of corporate profits. If you are prosecuting a lawsuit against a nursing home who has fattened its profit margin while cutting its staff, the data will help you build your case that the nursing home was reckless, willful or malicious under the California Elder Abuse and Dependent Adult Civil Protection Act.

Felicia Curran
www.ElderAdvocacyLaw.com
]]> Nursing Homes, If You're Not Outraged . . . http://www.elderadvocacyblog.com/index.php?entry=entry100418-174318 Felicia Curran Mon, 19 Apr 2010 00:43:18 GMT