Aging sex offender dies after latest charges dropped

5-15-17 Iowa:

INDEPENDENCE – A man who was at the heart of the issues over caring for aging sex offenders has died.

William Russell Cubbage died Friday at the Mental Health Institute in Independence, according to Buchanan County Attorney Shawn Harden. He was 88.

Cubbage’s death came almost two weeks after a district court judge dropped criminal charges against him for allegedly grabbing a female MHI employee between the legs in January 2016.

In ruling issued May 2, Judge Brad Harris found that Cubbage was incompetent to stand trial on a charge of assault with intent to commit sexual abuse. There was also no substantial probability that Cubbage could be restored to competency within a reasonable amount of time, Harris’s ruling continued.

Clarinda mental hospital patient dies after transfer

4-14-15 Iowa:

One of the first patients transferred out of the state mental hospital at Clarinda in preparation for its closure died less than three weeks later, his family confirmed Tuesday.

Richard Webb, 87, was a longtime resident of the institution, which is one of two that the state is shuttering. Critics say the swift closures could endanger vulnerable Iowans who have severe mental problems.

Webb had an advanced case of Alzheimer's disease, his family said. He was admitted to the Clarinda facility several years ago after private nursing homes determined he was too agitated to handle.

He was transferred to a Shenandoah nursing home March 25, and he died Sunday.

His daughter-in-law, Paula Webb of Kellerton, said he had suffered repeated bouts of pneumonia, which might have recurred recently. When asked whether she believed his transfer hastened his death, she replied: "It's really hard to say." However, she said that as a retired nurse, she knows firsthand that moving to a new place can be especially stressful for frail, elderly people.

Inmate's family becomes latest to sue over prison shower death

11-15-2014 Florida:

Darren Rainey was burned over 90 percent of his body, and his temperature registered over 104 degrees after he was found dead in a scalding shower at Dade Correctional Institution in 2012, according to a federal civil rights lawsuit filed against the state Department of Corrections by Rainey's family.

The lawsuit, filed Wednesday, alleges that Rainey — diagnosed with severe schizophrenia — was tortured by corrections officers who used a "shower treatment'' against him and other mentally ill inmates at the prison. It also alleges that the Florida Department of Corrections and Corizon, the private company responsible for the prison's health care at the time of Rainey's death, not only knew that mentally ill inmates were being abused in the prison, but allowed staff to cover it up.

Medical Causes of Death in State Prisons, 2001-2004

January 21, 2007 NCJ 216340

Describes the specific medical conditions causing deaths in state prisons nationwide during a four-year period. For the leading medical causes of death, mortality rates are presented by gender, age, race and Hispanic origin, and the length of time served in prison.

The report includes detailed statistics on cancer deaths. Mortality among older prisoners is examined in detail. Prisoner death rates are compared with rates in the general U.S. resident population. Data on medical treatments provided for these fatal illnesses are presented, along with findings on the presence of medical problems at time of admission to prison.

State-by-state mortality rates are presented for the leading causes of illness deaths in appendix tables. Detailed data tables are included in the electronic version. ..Source.. by Christopher J. Mumola

Suicide and Homicide in State Prisons and Local Jails

August 21, 2005 NCJ 210036

Key Report: Specifically Tables 4-5 in PDF file: Shows how many sex offenders (Rpe and Other Sexual Assaults) have suicided or been murdered in jails and prisons.

Describes historical trends in State prison and local jail inmate mortality rates based on inmate death records submitted by local jails (for 2000-2002) and State prisons (for 2001-2002). The report also compares current prison and jail mortality rates by demographic characteristics, offense types, and facility size and jurisdiction and compares the general population mortality rates with mortality rates in correctional facilities. Comparisons are made to both the raw mortality rates for the general population and those standardized to match the demographic makeup of the inmate populations.

This report presents the first findings from the Deaths in Custody Reporting Program, which implements the Death in Custody Reporting Act of 2000 (P.L. 106-297). This new program involves the collection of individual records for every inmate death in the Nation s local jails and State prisons. The program also includes the collection of death records from State juvenile correctional authorities (begun in 2002) and State and local law enforcement agencies (begun in 2003). ..Source.. by Christopher J. Mumola

My right to --death with dignity-- at 29

10-8-2014 National:

On New Year's Day, after months of suffering from debilitating headaches, I learned that I had brain cancer.

I was 29 years old. I'd been married for just over a year. My husband and I were trying for a family.

Our lives devolved into hospital stays, doctor consultations and medical research. Nine days after my initial diagnoses, I had a partial craniotomy and a partial resection of my temporal lobe. Both surgeries were an effort to stop the growth of my tumor.

In April, I learned that not only had my tumor come back, but it was more aggressive. Doctors gave me a prognosis of six months to live.

Because my tumor is so large, doctors prescribed full brain radiation. I read about the side effects: The hair on my scalp would have been singed off. My scalp would be left covered with first-degree burns. My quality of life, as I knew it, would be gone.

Elderly inmates cared for at SCI-Laurel Highlands

9-13-2014 Pennsylvania:

SOMERSET, Pennsylvania — Though he doesn't like to dwell on it, Charles is fully aware of the fact that he could die within the sterile walls of the Somerset prison where he is confined.

The 67-year-old spent the last four years at SCI-Laurel Highlands because of failing health. He's lost his vision, his right leg and often prays for death.

"I would never hurt myself," he said. "But there's nothing here and there's nothing on the streets."

Charles isn't alone. He's one of hundreds of inmates assigned to SCI-Laurel Highlands because of poor health or rehabilitative needs who will more than likely die while serving their prison sentence. The state Department of Corrections does not allow media reports to include inmate's last names, their crimes or certain personal information, but did allow a reporter and photographer inside the walls of the prison for elderly inmates earlier this summer.

More than 10 percent of the state's prison population is considered "elderly," with anyone 55 years or older being grouped into the category, according to the Department of Corrections.

Many, like Charles, are in poor health as a result of a preexisting condition. Others are recovering from injuries sustained while committing their crimes.

Two men arraigned in case of Lamoreaux shooting

Dec 2013 Oregon:

Uriah Michael Dean McKinley, 22, and Andrew James Slover, 23, were in court Dec. 16 to face a Marion County grand jury indictment on murder charges related to the death of Jeffrey Lamoreaux, 30, in Silverton.

Both men are being held without bail and now are scheduled to be in court again on Dec. 23.

Lamoreaux was found dead in his home Dec. 2 on the 200 block of Olson Road in Silverton. His death was initially deemed suspicious; autopsy results indicated he died of a gunshot wound to the head.

The suspects had been held in jail since the day after Lamoreaux’s death: McKinley for possession of methamphetamine, and Slover for a felony robbery charge in which Lamoreaux was listed as the victim.

Slover faces charges of murder and robbery. McKinley was indicted on additional charges of murder with a firearm, robbery with a firearm, felon in possession of a firearm and unlawful possession of a short-barreled rifle.

Lawsuit: Disabled man was killed by inmate in overcrowded Cahokia jail cell

9-18-2013 Illinois:

A federal lawsuit alleges Cahokia jailers failed to protect a defenseless man killed by a dangerous felon in a crowded cell, according to court documents.

Mark E. Luster, 42, of Cahokia, is charged with killing Timothy Johnson, 25, of Granite City, while the two were inmates at the Cahokia jail. The federal suit alleges jailers placed Johnson, Luster and another inmate in a two-person cell at the Cahokia jail on May 12, 2012, then ignored Luster’s threats to harm his fellow inmates.

Johnson, who suffered from cerebral palsy, was found beaten and strangled on May 13, 2012. Court-appointed administrators of his estate, Beverly Hills and Eddie Ricks, seek more than $1 million from the Village of Cahokia and 11 law enforcement officers.

Cahokia officials could not be reached for comment. The attorney for the estate administrators, David Cates with the law firm Cates Mahoney in Swansea, could not be reached for comment.

Attorneys representing the village say jailers were “neither the cause in fact nor the legal cause of Mr. Johnson’s death” and state law grants the village “absolute immunity from liability for claims arising out of any inadequacy in jail … operations,” according to court documents.

Johnson was arrested on May 12 on suspicion of stealing a motorized cart from a Walmart next to his home, according to court documents. Due to his disability, Johnson needed crutches to walk.

Johnson was placed in the cell at about 6:17 p.m., Luster was placed in the cell a few minutes later. A third inmate joined the two at about 9:26 p.m.

At some point, Johnson tried to get the attention of guards to help the third inmate who was having asthma-related health issues. Luster allegedly became angry with Johnson for requesting help, then killed him in the cell.

Prior to Johnson’s death, Luster allegedly told jailers he intended to hurt his cellmates, according to court documents. Luster has faced a litany of criminal charges since 1989, according to St. Clair County court records. He has been convicted of aggravated assault, theft, burglary and battery charges.

The lawsuit alleges Cahokia jailers were responsible because they knew Luster’s “propensity for physical violence, his communicated threat that he would become violent towards Timothy Johnson. … Johnson was disabled and unable to defend himself.”

The cameras monitoring the cell were not working and jailers did not perform any well-being checks on the inmates on May 13, according to court documents.

A related civil lawsuit had been filed with the St. Clair County Circuit Court, but was transferred to federal court on Friday. ..Source.. by CONUS TOC

The Best Watchdog Journalism on Elderly Care

8-20-2012 National:

This week, we launched Nursing Home Inspect, an interactive tool that lets you search more than 20,000 inspection reports from nursing homes nationwide. Below is a sampling of the types of stories that could be buried in those reports. If you know about more great watchdog journalism on nursing homes, leave a link in the comments.

A Rampant Prescription, A Hidden Peril, Boston Globe, April 2012
Nursing homes nationwide are giving antipsychotics to residents who don't need the potent pill. Side effects include stupor and, for those with dementia, potentially death. Administrators say the data exaggerate the issue, and industry executives maintain that the 20-year-old regulations are out of date. The second half of the series looked at alternatives to antipsychotics. (A search for "antipsychotic" in our nursing home app led to 2,310 results.)

Trust and Neglect, Detroit Free Press, December 2011
Between 2008 and 2011, three quarters of Michigan's nursing homes received serious violations — nearly twice the national average. The best homes, according to the last piece in the series, had managed to hire and retain good staff, involved families in decisions and developed individualized programs. (An administrator of a Michigan nursing home also told us that the state's inspectors find more problems, and issue steeper fines, than in other states.)

Violated: "Broken" System Fails Elderly Abuse Victims, Star Tribune, October 2011
As Minnesota's regulators struggled to meet federal benchmarks, elderly residents and their families became frustrated with the lack of punishment for abusive caretakers. State Department of Health officials said they were aware of their own shortcomings, and pointed out that their strategy emphasized correcting problems, rather than punishment. They had also added staff in an effort to improve investigations.

Falsified Patient Records Are Untold Story of California Nursing Home Care, Sacramento Bee, September 2011
Spanning two decades, 150 alleged falsification cases give some insight into how California caregivers altered records to cover up lapses in care that put patients at risk and sometimes led to death. Though citations declined between 2000 and 2010, officials, attorneys and advocates said it's because falsification is not a priority; regulators often discover violations during investigations into other issues.

Neglected to Death, The Miami Herald, April 2011
Though not exactly nursing homes, Florida's assisted-living facilities, created as a safe space for the state's elderly and mentally ill, were wracked with problems — like neglected residents who wander off only to be eaten by an alligator or drown in a pond. Facilities that also housed the mentally ill had an abuse rate twice that of normal facilities.

Nursing Homes Received Millions While Cutting Staff, Wages, California Watch, April 2010
A 2004 California law gave $880 million in additional funding for nursing homes to hire caregivers and boost wages. But by 2008, several homes had cut staffing and wages in an attempt to boost profits. Meanwhile, complaints filed by patients, families and advocates increased 23 percent.

Compromised Care, Chicago Tribune, September 2009
In 2009, Illinois housed psychiatric patients, some of whom were convicted felons, next to the elderly. They accounted for 15 percent of Illinois' nursing home population, and lax oversight and understaffing allowed rapes and assaults. Though this investigation prompted state reform in 2010, nursing homes have struggled to implement the changes. ..Source.. by Blair Hickman

Florida Parole Commission releases dying inmate

1-6-2011 Florida:

TALLAHASSEE, Fla. -- A 27-year-old prison inmate born with AIDS in Haiti and now dying of cancer will be released to a hospice after supporters, including three state lawmakers, spoke on her behalf Wednesday to the Florida Parole Commission.

The panel voted 2-1 to approve a medical release for Betsie Gallardo with conditions that amount to house arrest. Last week, she was moved from prison to a secure area of the Kendall Regional Medical Center where family visits are limited to two hours a day.

"A miracle has happened," said Jessica Bussert, one of Gallardo's adoptive parents. "I look forward to finally having her out of shackles."

Gallardo has served slightly more than a year of a five-year sentence, the maximum possible, for biting a Collier County sheriff's deputy and kicking another while intoxicated. It happened after her 2008 arrest in Naples on a child neglect charge that later was dropped.

Four months into her sentence, Gallardo was diagnosed with gall bladder cancer. It has since spread to her liver, lungs and ovaries. She's not expected to live more than 30 days, said HIV-AIDS activist Michael Emanuel Rajner of Fort Lauderdale.

Study Cites Dangers of Some Painkillers to Elderly

12-14-2010 National:

Older patients with arthritis who take narcotic-based drugs to relieve pain face a higher risk of bone fracture, heart attack and death when compared to those taking non-narcotic drugs, according to a government-financed study published Monday.

The study, in a medical journal, The Archives of Internal Medicine, appears to be the first large-scale effort to look at the comparative safety risks for the elderly taking different classes of painkillers. It comes amid a large increase in the use of narcotic painkillers in recent years because of a prevailing belief that such drugs were safer for older patients than non-narcotic drugs like Advil and Motrin.

The review, financed by the federal Agency for Healthcare Quality and Research, appears to undercut that assumption. The report, which was based on an analysis of patient health care records, was conducted by researchers at Brigham and Womens Hospital in Boston.

“Doctors should not assume that opioids are a safer alternative,” to other painkillers, said Daniel H. Solomon, the study’s researcher, said in a telephone interview on Monday. “They seem to carry profound risks to cardiovascular system as well as increased risk fractures and appear to be associated with increased risk of death.”

The study does not raise questions about the use of powerful narcotics like OxyContin to treat severe pain resulting from cancer or other conditions.

To conduct the study, Dr. Solomon reviewed the experience of Medicare recipients in both New Jersey and Pennsylvania who were found during a six-year period to have osteoarthritis or rheumatoid arthritis. Using statistical methods, researchers divided those patients, predominantly women with a mean age of 80 years, into three groups based on their pain medications.

One group comprised patients who received a narcotic-based painkiller. The second group comprised those who took a nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drug like Advil or Aleve. The third group comprised patients who took another class of pain drugs called coxibs, which include Celebrex and Vioxx, a drug that is no longer on the market.

Because the study was based on records, it could not identify all the factors that might have contributed to a patient’s problems. But in following their experiences, researchers found that the overall risk of death was twice as high for patients taking a narcotic painkiller when compared to those taking a nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drug.

More specifically, patients in the narcotic group were four times more likely to experience a compound bone fracture, apparently as a result of a fall, and they were twice as likely to have a heart attack. The cardiovascular risks posed by narcotics were the same as for drugs like Celebrex and Vioxx, medications that have come under scrutiny for that hazard.

The review also found that the rate of gastrointestinal bleeding among patients taking narcotics was about the same as those taking drugs like Advil and Aleve. One principal reason that medical experts have advocated using narcotics in older patients is the belief that they reduce such problems.

In an commentary accompanying the new report, two physicians at Yale University Medical School, Dr. William C. Becker and Dr. Patrick G. O’Connor, wrote that the study’s findings, like those regarding bleeding ulcers, could be skewed by undocumented patient use of over-the-counter painkillers.

Dr. Becker and Dr. O’Conner added, however, that the high incidence of bone fractures, which often lead to fatal complications in the elderly, were particularly troublesome.

In a related study that was also published Monday in The Archives of Internal Medicine, Dr. Solomon and other researchers looked at the comparative risks posed by different types of narcotics.

Using the same patient records, they reported that cardiovascular risks were highest for codeine and that codeine and oxycodone, the active ingredient in drugs like OxyContin, posed higher mortality-related risks than hydrocodone, the active ingredient in drugs like Vicodin. ..Source.. by BARRY MEIER

Deaths in adult homes hidden and ignored

9-12-2010 Washington:

The deaths of hundreds of seniors at adult family homes may have been the result of neglect or abuse, but were never investigated.

Some fell to the floor and bled to death internally. Others choked on food and suffocated. Still others languished for weeks as bedsores burrowed to the bone, ultimately killing them.

In neighborhoods throughout Seattle and across the state, hundreds have died prematurely, many in avoidable misery, while living at state-licensed adult family homes.

A Seattle Times investigation has uncovered at least 236 deaths that indicate neglect or abuse in these homes but were not reported to the state or investigated.

Dozens of suspicious deaths occurred in adult homes with long histories of violations, including some whose owners employed caregivers with little training or forged credentials.

In the first accounting of such deaths, The Times identified these cases by analyzing death certificates of 4,703 Washington residents who died at adult homes from 2003 through 2008.

Adult homes are a less-regulated, less-expensive elder-care option than nursing homes, and are touted as providing personalized care in cozy, neighborhood settings.

Sex and the Nursing Home

11-23-2008 National:

Charles Bukowski once said that having sexual intercourse was like kicking death in the butt while singing. But for many older Americans in nursing homes, that joy is often hindered both because of the lack of privacy at some facilities and the negative attitude from staff on the topic of sexual activity among the elderly.

Before joining AAHSA, I can honestly say I never thought about the issue of sexual activity in nursing homes or how staff members deal with sexually active residents. But after reading a new study from Kansas State University, I say let’s make nursing homes more comfortable and private places for older adults to have safe, consensual sexual intercourse. After all, many of us may spend some time in one at some point in our lives.

For that to happen, says Gayle Doll, author of the study and director of the university’s Center on Aging, nursing home staff need to be educated on how best to accommodate the sexual needs of residents. Many nursing home staff do not receive education in this area, which, the researchers say, tends to cause a dismissive attitude toward residents’ sexual needs.

“We just want people to start talking about these issues,” Doll explains. “Once you start talking about it with nursing home staff, everyone has a story.”

For their research, which was presented in at our 2008 Annual Meeting in Philadelphia, Doll and colleagues surveyed staff from three Kansas nursing homes about their attitudes toward sexuality. Their goal was to find ways to make nursing home staff more comfortable accommodating the sexual needs of residents.

Majka Jankowiak and Laci Cornelison, research assistants at the Center on Aging, found that after a workshop on the topic, survey participants showed a notable change in their attitudes.
“Part of it is that American society is not supportive of older people and sex. It’s been a taboo, and it’s an even bigger taboo in nursing homes,” says Jankowiak. “After the presentation, the participants felt more confident talking about it and dealing with sexual expression of residents.”
Whether or not the general public likes to think about it, older Americans are engaging in sexual activity. According to a survey published in the August 2007 issue of the New England Journal of Medicine, roughly 53 percent of respondents aged 65 to 74, and 26 percent of respondents aged 75 to 85 years of age said they were sexually active.

However, some concerns exist about sexual activity in nursing homes. For example, the issue of consent is one that needs to be addressed as many residents live with Alzheimer’s or dementia. Beyond the possibility of these residents being victims, those conditions can alter the brain, causing a person to act in a sexually inappropriate and, sometimes, a sexually aggressive manner.

Because of that, many nursing homes err on the side of caution, Daniel Engber, an editor at Slate, writes in his article Naughty Nursing Homes. According to Engber, “The most liberal institutional policies on sexual contact (pdf) call for psychiatrists or social workers to review each situation and decide whether the participants are capable of saying no. Another approach uses a standardized test of mental state, with a minimum score required for consensual sexual activity.

As a result, a patient with advanced dementia can summarily lose her right to have any sex whatsoever.”

In the film Freedom of Sexual Expression: Dementia and Resident Rights in Long-Term Care Facilities, Dan Reingold, executive director of Hebrew Home for the Aged at Riverdale, says, “It’s absolutely critical that long-term facilities have written policies and procedures regarding sexual expression, particularly dealing with residents who have dementia because there are so many ethical issues that arise in connection with persons with dementia.”

Focusing on the education aspect of the issue, the Kansas State researchers suggest that staff must be able to deal with both appropriate and inappropriate sexual situations “without residents feeling embarrassed.”

According to Doll, the researchers are advocating for federal guidelines to help all nursing homes deal with sexuality in a positive way. In addition, they are developing materials to help family members deal with questions about their parents’ safety or how a new relationship will affect the family or their inheritance.

Education efforts like these, along with a little Viagra, perhaps, will allow America’s nursing home residents to kick death in the butt, while singing…as much as they like. ..Source..

Compare hospitals on heart attack, heart failure and pneumonia

8-20-2008 National:

Welcome to a new era of openness in medical care.

In this interactive USA TODAY graphic, you'll find medicine's best-kept secret revealed: death rates for heart attack, heart failure and pneumonia for every hospital in the nation.

USA TODAY created this graphic using data compiled by the federal government's Center for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS). The agency also has supplied the information to the more than 4,000 hospitals included and posted them on a government website called Hospital Compare.

ON THE WEB: Compare hospitals in your ZIP code

STANDOUTS: Hospitals with highest and lowest death rates

USA TODAY has used the information to create an easy-to-navigate database that allows you to compare the performance of the hospital next door with the hospital across town. Want to check the performance of every hospital in your state? See the 100 hospitals that performed the best? The worst? We've put the information at your fingertips.

You can view the hospitals on a map, chart or several lists. When you click on a hospital, you'll see an estimate of the hospital's average death rate for one of the three conditions, bracketed by a high-end estimate or a low-end estimate. By presenting the information in this way, we can say with 95% confidence that the hospital falls in that range. We've included separate estimates for 2005-06 and 2006-07.

Underlying the calculations is a complicated "risk-adjustment" formula for ironing out differences in hospitals' patient mix, so the comparison will be fair.

The formula focuses on all deaths of heart attack, heart failure and pneumonia patients that occur within 30 days of a patient's admission to a hospital. If a patient is admitted more than once, one admission is randomly plucked out for analysis. CMS chose to include all deaths for any cause so that no death is missed that might be meaningful.

CMS picked 30-day mortality as its main benchmark of performance so it can include in the analysis patterns of deaths that might have escaped hospitals' notice because the patients didn't die until several days after they were discharged.

Finally, patients who were transferred from one hospital to another for more sophisticated care were credited to the first hospital. That's to avoid penalizing hospitals that receive the sickest patients. ..News Source.. by USA Today