DETROIT
Feb. 4
PRNewswire-USNewswire -- The Wayne County Medical Society Foundation will hold its annual Chinese New Year Fundraiser to benefit the foundation's Elder Abuse Prevention Program on Sunday, Feb. 15, at the Golden Harvest Restaurant at 6880 E. 12 Mile Road in Warren. A reception will begin at 5:30 p.m. with dinner at 6:30 p.m.
By Richard Lloyd Parry
February 03, 2009
Ten years ago, when Japanese interest rates sank close to zero, he withdrew his life's savings and took them home. The fear of fires and earthquakes made Mr Watanabe uncomfortable about keeping his cash in the house. So he buried it in the back garden.
Now and then he added to his hoard; every morning he checked that the earth above it was undisturbed, until one cold night this winter when thieves came and dug up the lot. None of this would be particularly surprising if it were not for the size of the old man's nest egg: 360 million yen, or £2.85 million. Mr Watanabe's savings were not just a buried biscuit tin: they filled several containers and weighed 36kg.
The sad story says much about Japanese attitudes to savings, risk, and crime. No nation is so assiduous in saving, as opposed to investing, than the Japanese. In 2007 they held an estimated 1,544 trillion yen of individual financial assets, and half of that went into savings accounts of different kinds.
Pacifica man gets 6 months in jail for embezzling from nursing home residents
By Michael Manekin
San Mateo County Times
02/02/2009
REDWOOD CITY — A former caregiver at a Menlo Park nursing home accused of stealing the checkbooks of two elderly residents in an embezzling scheme was sentenced Monday in San Mateo County Superior Court to six months in jail.
Ramil Panlaqui, 42, of Pacifica, pleaded no contest in October to three felony counts of financial elder abuse in a deal with prosecutors that limited his punishment to two years in prison. He had been facing up to 10 years in prison on multiple felony counts, including residential burglary and elder abuse.
Panlaqui, who worked at Atherton Healthcare, allegedly stole the checkbooks of an 88-year-old resident and a 75-year-old resident and then wrote multiple checks from one victim's account to the other's before withdrawing the transferred money from the second account. He stole about $4,000 in all, prosecutors said.
After Panlaqui's arrest, authorities found a completed check from a third victim, according to prosecutors.
In addition to his six-month prison sentence, Panlaqui was ordered by a Superior Court judge to serve three years' probation. He must also reimburse Wells Fargo and the Bank of America to replace the money stolen from the checking accounts.
Panlaqui, who has been allowed to live out of custody on his own recognizance, must surrender himself to authorities on April 4 to serve his jail sentence.
February 3, 2009
By BARRY ROCHE, Southern Correspondent
OVER 1,800 cases of alleged elder abuse were reported to the HSE last year, with the vast majority of cases occurring in homes and most abuse likely to be caused by a family member, according to new figures compiled by the Health Service Executive (HSE).
Some 859 alleged cases of elder report were reported in the HSE South, which extends from Kerry and Cork up to Kilkenny and Carlow, but this high figure is partly explained by the fact that the HSE South has a senior case worker in each local health area office.
Analysis of referrals of alleged elder abuse received by the HSE indicates that some 85 per cent of abuse occurs in the home, with a further 4 per cent occurring in a relative’s home, according to the Executive.
The analysis shows that some 4 per cent of abuse occurs in private nursing homes, 3 per cent in an acute hospital setting, 3 per cent in public continuing care units, with the remaining 1 per cent occurring in boarding or lodging facilities.
The HSE say that while elder abuse can be perpetrated by anyone, the figures indicate that some 82 per cent of abuse is by a family member, with other patients accounting for 6 per cent, carers accounting for 4 per cent and general others accounting for 7 per cent.
Anyone concerned about abuse, or suspicious that someone they know may be the victim of abuse, can contact the HSE elder abuse service through their GP, Public Health Nurse, Local Health Centre, their local Senior Case Workers or An Garda Síochána, he added.
Charities are calling for new laws to protect the elderly as a study shows that more than 300,000 cases of abuse go undetected each year
By Laura Donnelly, Health Correspondent
31 Jan 2009
More than 50 charities, backed by England's social care watchdog, are urging the Government to put abuse of the elderly on the same legal footing as child abuse, with the NHS, councils and the police obliged to investigate any threat reported.
The submission to ministers comes ahead of a major study which will say next week that more than 90 per cent of elderly people who suffer abuse go unnoticed by social services.
The report, by the charity Action on Elder Abuse, will estimate that more than 300,000 elderly people suffer mistreatment at the hands of carers, nurses, or relatives each year, without authorities ever stepping in.
Even this number is likely to be an underestimate, as it excludes people with dementia and those in residential homes.
The moves come as families across the country are struggling to find care home places for elderly relatives due to the recession increasing pressures on the social care system.
Action on Elder Abuse investigated local authority records and found that fewer than a tenth of that number of cases are ever investigated by social services.
The charity, together with the Alzheimer's Society, Age Concern, Mencap, and the Commission for Social Care Inspection, is calling for laws to be introduced which would place a duty on all agencies which work with vulnerable adults to log and investigate reports of abuse – either in residential care or in family homes – and to share information with other agencies.
Currently, different bodies set their own rules about how to protect the frail elderly, and disabled, from harm.
The charities made the plea as part of submissions to a Government consultation on the protection of vulnerable adults, which closed yesterday.
Neil Hunt of the Alzheimer's Society added: "We need to fight any abuse of people with dementia and that means putting systems in place early to avoid putting them at risk."
In July, a care worker was found guilty of abusing five elderly residents of Manor Care Home in Ilkeston, Derbyshire.’
Nina Strange, 48, of Heanor, Derbyshire, was sentenced to 200 hours community work after a court heard how she hit an 88-year-old wheelchair-bound woman across the back of the head, twice hit an 81-year-old man on the head and pulled the hair of an 81-year-old woman as she put her to bed.
Abridged
SOURCE: The Telegraph (UK)
(Article in Spanish)
The discovery of an older women found dead in her home for over a month without anyone knowing shocked the local region of Aragon in Spain. Currently, 19.7 % of the population has reached retirement age and over 6.2 % of the population are over the age of 80 years. The community is struggling to adapt to the new needs of these citizens. Plans put into action include, a better assessment of a patients' health, care after surgery taking place at the hospital as opposed to the home, and a recruitment campaign for more geriatric doctors.
SOURCE: Heraldo.es
'We would like Health Minister to see home for himself'
29 January 2009
By Staff reporter
Angry and upset over what they fear is a proposed closure, they are asking Mr. McGimpsey to see for himself the facilities on offer.
They speak of staff who go the extra mile, clean and pleasant surroundings, attractive
Today’s grave robbers exploit the dead, harm the living
January 28th, 2009
21st Century Grave Robbers: Exploit the Dead, Harm the Living, Part 1
By Lou Ann Anderson
January 28, 2009
www.EstateofDenial.com
Inheritance rights are becoming an increasingly contentious issue here in the U.S. as growing numbers of Involuntary Redistribution of Assets (IRA) cases surface. That is, efforts to divert assets (via wills, trusts or guardianships) in a manner contrary to the known wishes of a decedent or disabled/incapacitated person. This is not a problem confined to the U.S. as evidenced by Diarmuid Hannigan, an Australian businessman, whose book Lawyers or Grave Robbers? describes looting actions perpetrated on his late mother’s estate. These acts are often prompted by a disgruntled family member or wannabe heir, but they can also occur at the hand (or in concert) with an unscrupulous lawyer.
In a second part to this column, we’ll discuss perspectives on a legal system that Diarmuid Hannigan describes as “over the people, not for the people.” The impact on individual property rights and heirs’ rights of inheritance could be massive.
Forewarned is forearmed.
Lou Ann Anderson is an advocate working to create awareness (www.EstateofDenial.com) regarding the Texas probate system and its surrounding culture. She may be contacted at info@EstateofDenial.com
Source: Estate of Denial.com
30 January 2009
Mother-of-two Gail Blakeborough wept as a court heard how she had stolen cheques and used the PIN numbers of two men residing at Amethyst House in Rossington to get at their savings before she was caught.
The 43-year-old was saved from going to jail after a judge at Doncaster Crown Court heard she was depressed at the time and has promised to pay back all the money by selling her car and using a legacy.
Sadly the £6,915 she took from Clifford James, aged 81, will go to his estate because he has died since the police investigation was launched.
Another £988 was lost by 87-year-old Jack Shaw after Blakeborough accompanied him to the post office in Rossington and memorised his PIN before taking his bank card from his room afterwards.
The sentence was criticised as too lenient by her former employers, Southern Cross Healthcare, who own the Rossington care home and dismissed her when the crimes came to light.
A spokesman said: "We note the sentence of the court with some disappointment.
"The financial abuse of vulnerable elderly people cannot be tolerated. We took immediate action against this individual who no longer works for the home."
Carl Fitch, prosecuting, said Mr James trusted Blakeborough, who had undergone a criminal records check before starting work at Amethyst House, with his PIN when he wanted her to buy things for him.
But when he received his bank statement last summer he found his card had been used to make purchases at Next, H Samuel, Miss Selfridge, ToysRUs, petrol stations and other places he would not have visited because he could not leave the home due to ill health.
She also paid some of the cheques meant to pay his care fees into her own account, said Mr Fitch.
In October Blakeborough broke down in front of the manager and admitted what she had done, saying: "It's a terrible thing to do."
Mr James' bank card was found when her home on Holmes Carr Crescent, Rossington, was searched.
Blakeborough pleaded guilty to four offences of dishonestly making false representations to make gains for herself.
Richard Haigh, defending, said she had been at Amethyst House for nine years and enjoyed her job but last year suffered the devastating blow of her father's death in difficult circumstances and then her partner leaving her with two young children to look after.
"She was seeing her doctor for treatment before she started offending. She was feeling very alone, very depressed, and when suddenly she had access to a lot of money she took it.
"She accepts how despicable these offences are. She comes to court today staring down the barrel of custody and she understands that."
But the judge Recorder James Goss, QC, suspended a 26-weeks prison sentence for a year and placed her under supervision, with an order to pay £6,000 compensation now and £1,904 in six months.
He told Blakeborough: "I am satisfied you are now deeply ashamed of what you did and that you were not in your right mind at the time.
"In your favour I take into account that you volunteered your guilt, you co-operated with the police, no suspicion was thrown on to anyone else, you pleaded guilty at the first opportunity, you have shown genuine remorse and you are in a position to repay those from whom you stole.
"It has been a very close call in your case. There are some who might say you richly deserve immediate imprisonment."
SOURCE: The Star - Sheffield,England,UK
Care home criticised in report after 33 evacuated
