Retired US justice rules for MI inmate

I love the reason they denied him appointed counsel: "Finally, we deny Mingus’s motion for appointment of counsel pursuant to 6th Cir. R. 34(j)(2)(C). Although the issues raised by this appeal are complex, we find that Mingus has more than adequately represented himself." Love a good jailhouse lawyer...

1-10-2010 Michigan:

Sandra Day O'Connor on 3-judge panel

JACKSON, Mich. (AP) - A lawsuit over a cell for a Michigan prison inmate remains alive, thanks to a retired U.S. Supreme Court justice.

Sandra Day O'Connor was on the three-judge panel that handled an appeal in a lawsuit by inmate Ned Mingus. He says his constitutional rights were violated when he wasn't given a one-man cell to accommodate his bad eyesight.

The 6th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals said Tuesday that a portion of Mingus' lawsuit can proceed against a nurse who was a health manager at the G. Robert Cotton prison in Jackson.

Mingus acted as his own lawyer. O'Connor and two other judges say he "more than adequately represented himself" and denied a request for court-appointed counsel.

The 72-year-old Mingus is serving a life sentence for criminal sexual conduct in Berrien County. ..Source.. WOOD Tv

Fault Lines - Dying Inside: Elderly in prison

6-6-2010 National:

The US' massive prison population is getting older.

Long sentences that were handed out decades ago are catching up with the American justice system.

Prisons across the country are dedicating entire units just to house the elderly.

During difficult economic times, the issue has hit a crisis point. Estimates are that locking up an older inmate costs three times as much as a younger one.

How are prisons dealing with this issue? Who are the prisoners that are turning gray behind bars?

Josh Rushing gains exclusive and unprecedented access to jails and prisons across the country to tell the story. ..Source.. by Fault Lines

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Dying on the State's Dime

6-3-2010 Texas:

A gaunt old man, thick with whiskers and stricken with dementia, writhes under the covers of his bed. Down the hall, doctors monitor elderly diabetics with recently amputated limbs, medicate terminal cancer patients shuffling by with walkers and tether shivering dialysis patients to blood-cleaning machines.

Despite the pacing guards, the handcuffs and the bars on the windows, the geriatric and medical wing at the Estelle Unit in Huntsville looks more like a nursing home than a maximum-security prison.

Prison doctors routinely offer up the oldest and sickest of these inmates for medical parole, a way to get those who are too incapacitated to be a public threat and have just months to live out of medical beds that Texas’ quickly aging prison population needs. They’ve recommended parole for 4,000 such inmates within the last decade. But the state parole board, which makes the final decision on “medically recommended intensive supervision,” has only agreed in a quarter of these cases, leaving the others to die in prison — and on the state’s dime.

Texas’ “geriatric” inmates, classified as those 55 and older, make up just 7.3 percent of Texas’ 160,000-offender prison population. But they account for nearly a third of the system’s hospital costs and make three times as many visits to prison medical departments as younger inmates. Elderly inmates have average annual hospitalization costs of $4,700, compared to $765 for inmates under 55. In total, providing inmate medical care costs the state correctional health care system — already facing hundreds of employee layoffs amid a budget shortfall — nearly half a billion dollars a year.

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

ADAAA litigation "goes live."

12-1-2010 National:

The ADAAA sleeping giant is finally awake . . . and he's not a morning person. The Americans with Disabilities Act Amendments Act, which dramatically expanded the definition of "disability" in the Americans with Disabilities Act, was signed into law by President George W. Bush in September 2008 and took effect in January 2009. However, it has taken until now for some of the cases applying the new law to bubble up through the court system. Recently, the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission announced that it was filing suits against three employers, and a federal court in Indiana denied summary judgment to an employer who sought to defend itself based on the ground of "no disability," formerly a strong defense under the ADA.

The EEOC suits include one against a drug store chain that allegedly refused to provide a stool to an employee who had arthritis in her knees, one against a surveying company that terminated two individuals in a reduction in force -- one of whom had hypertension, and the other of whom had diabetes, and one against a printing company that allegedly refused to allow an employee a part-time schedule so that he could receive chemotherapy.

In Hoffman v. Carefirst, one of the first known summary judgment decisions involving the ADAAA, the court found that the plaintiff - who had Stage III renal cancer which was in remission - was disabled and denied the company's motion for summary judgment on that ground. This means that the plaintiff's disability discrimination case will go to trial if it does not settle.

We expect the expanded definition of "disability" under the ADAAA to breathe new life into disability discrimination claims. Before the ADAAA, courts were routinely dismissing disability discrimination lawsuits on the ground that the plaintiffs were not "disabled" within the meaning of the law. If the plaintiff could "mitigate" the disability through medication or other means, then the plaintiff was not disabled. If the plaintiff was not substantially more impaired than the general population, then the plaintiff was not disabled. If the plaintiff had a condition that was in remission, then the plaintiff was not disabled.

That's all changed now. Under the ADAAA, if a condition would be disabling without mitigating measures or when not in remission, then it is a disability. This means that treatable but chronic conditions like hypertension, diabetes, and seizure disorders will now render a person disabled. The old ADA required that an individual be substantially limited in a "major life activity." The ADAAA adds new "major life activities" to the list and also provides that an impairment in a "major bodily function" will create a disability.

Does this mean that employers will now have to go to trial in all of their disability discrimination cases? Let us hope not. But what it does mean is that employers will have to be very careful that they do not discriminate against individuals based on their medical conditions, and that they appropriately consider reasonable accommodations. In a future post, I'll talk about best practices for employers in light of the ADAAA. ..Source.. by Robin E. Shea (See also: How to Survive the ADAAA: Seven Best Practices for Employers )

New lawsuit filed in case over abuse at Minn. nursing home

11-11-2010 Missouri:

A seventh lawsuit has been filed in U.S. District Court in South Dakota on behalf of a deceased victim in a high-profile Minnesota elder abuse case.

Kenneth Hojberg's family filed a lawsuit Monday against the Evangelical Good Samaritan Society of South Dakota about abuse that occurred in 2008 at the company's Albert Lea home.

Hojberg died Oct. 15.

Civil lawsuits in Minnesota die with the victim, but the claims remain open for litigation in South Dakota.

Albert Lea residents Brianna Broitzman and Ashton Larson, both 20, were charged with assault, abuse of vulnerable adults, disorderly conduct by a caregiver and failure to report abuse. Four other women were charged as juveniles with failure to report.

Broitzman was sentenced Oct. 22 to 180 days in jail. Larson will be sentenced in December.

A 2008 investigation by the Minnesota Department of Health states that Broitzman and Larson were leaders of a group of young employees who poked residents in the breasts, rubbed their genitals, held them down until they screamed, hit them with canes and exposed their buttocks to other residents.

Hojberg's lawsuit, like the six filed in South Dakota before it, claims that Good Samaraitan failed to properly screen or monitor its employees.

The company cooperated with law enforcement once the incident was reported, however, according to police and court records.

Sioux Falls is home to the corporate offices of the Good Samaritan Society. ..Source.. by John Hult

IPad Opens World to a Disabled Boy

Related Topic: Are there ways such technology can assist disabled adults?

11-5-2010 New York:

OWEN CAIN depends on a respirator and struggles to make even the slightest movements — he has had a debilitating motor-neuron disease since infancy.

Owen, 7, does not have the strength to maneuver a computer mouse, but when a nurse propped her boyfriend’s iPad within reach in June, he did something his mother had never seen before.

He aimed his left pointer finger at an icon on the screen, touched it — just barely — and opened the application Gravitarium, which plays music as users create landscapes of stars on the screen. Over the years, Owen’s parents had tried several computerized communications contraptions to give him an escape from his disability, but the iPad was the first that worked on the first try.

“We have spent all this time keeping him alive, and now we owe him more than that,” said his mother, Ellen Goldstein, a vice president at the Times Square Alliance business association. “I see his ability to communicate and to learn as a big part of that challenge — not all of it, but a big part of it. And so, that’s my responsibility.” ..See NYT for remainder of article: by EMILY B. HAGER

Financial exploitation of seniors estimated at $2.6 billion a year

10-30-2010 Ohio:

A bank called Montgomery County Adult Protective Services concerning unusual activity in a 92-year-old man’s bank account. It was discovered he was writing checks totaling $2,000 a day to neighbors. He had signed the checks, but the neighbors were writing out the rest of them. More than $700,000 was lost. Stories like this happen in our community daily.

Financial exploitation is one of the fastest growing forms of elder abuse. A study estimates there is $2.6 billion in senior financial fraud annually. An Ohio Department of Jobs and Family Services report estimated more than 2,500 reports of senior exploitation in Ohio and APS reported more than 210 local cases in 2009.

Exploitation is the unlawful or improper act of obtaining or using a vulnerable adult’s funds, credit, assets or other property with intent to deprive them for the benefit of someone other than the vulnerable adult. Signs of exploitation include:

•Sudden changes in bank accounts or banking practices, including unexplained withdrawals by people accompanying seniors.

• Suspicious activity on credit cards.

• Abrupt changes in wills or financial documents.

• Forged signatures for financial transactions.

Seniors are targeted because they account for 70 percent of U.S. households’ net worth. They’re polite, trusting, fear losing their freedom and physical harm. Many are ashamed of being scammed or don’t know they’ve been scammed.

The best defense is knowledge. The Better Business Bureau advises seniors to:

• Get advice from trusted family members, friends, lawyers or bankers.

• Never give out personal information to unfamiliar people or companies.

• Get everything in writing.

• Be sure blanks are completed and review and understand contracts before signing.

• Use direct deposit for checks to prevent interception.

• Beware of unsolicited notifications with phony checks claiming you’ve won.

• Avoid high-pressure or scare tactics.

• Review bank, insurance, credit card and medical bill statements regularly.

Locally, the BBB is represented on the Collaboration Against Abuse, Neglect and Exploitation, a multi-disciplinary team formed to prevent and eliminate elder abuse, neglect and the exploitation of older and vulnerable adults through education, advocacy, intervention and services. Contact the BBB for more information on elderly fraud. Visit www.bbb.org or call (937) 222-5825 or (800) 776-5301.

John North is president and CEO of the Dayton Better Business Bureau. ..Source.. by John North, Better Business 
Bureau

Former Albert Lea nursing home worker sentenced to 180 days in jail

10-22-2010 Minnesota:

ALBERT LEA, Minn. -- A woman who entered a plea deal in August on charges she abused elderly women at an Albert Lea nursing home was sentenced Friday.

A Freeborn County District Court judge sentence Brianna Broitzman, 21, to 180 days in jail as a staggered sentence.

Boitzman will serve the first 60 days of the sentence immediately in the custody of the Freeborn County Sheriff's Department. The next 60 days are scheduled to be served in May of 2011, and the last 60 will be in October of 2011.

RELATED: Minn. woman makes plea deal in nursing home abuse case

RELATED: 6 teens charged in Albert Lea nursing home abuse

Broitzman was among several nursing aides accused of mistreating residents at the Good Samaritan Society in 2008 by groping, poking, taunting and simulating sex acts on them. The women are also accused of spanking and spitting on patients at the nursing home.

Broitzman can petition the court to remove her final 120 days pending her initial 60 days in jail. She was also sentenced to two years probation, during which she is not allowed to be in a caregiving role, she's not allowed to have contact with vulnerable adults without the permission of the court and is required to make herself available to meet with victim's families if they so request.

Four other aides were charged in juvenile court with not reporting the alleged abuse. ..Source.. by KARE11.com

Family sues S.D.-based company in elder abuse case

10-4-2010 Minnesota:

Another lawsuit stemming from a high-profile elder abuse case at a Minnesota nursing home has been filed in U.S. District Court of South Dakota.

The family of Sylvia Wulff, a deceased victim of the alleged abuse at the Evangelical Good Samaritan Society in Albert Lea, Minn., filed the lawsuit against the South Dakota-based company on Sept. 29 in Sioux Falls.

Albert Lea residents Brianna Broitzman and Ashton Larson, both 20, were charged with assault, abuse of vulnerable adults, disorderly conduct by a caregiver, failure to report abuse and other charges. Broitzman pleaded guilty in August to three counts of disorderly conduct by a caregiver.

Four other women were charged as juveniles with failure to report.

A Minnesota Department of Health investigation in 2008 concluded that the two led a group of young employees at the facility who poked residents in the breasts, rubbed their genitals, held them down until they screamed, hit them with canes and exposed their buttocks to other residents.

The lawsuit claims the company failed to properly screen or monitor the employees at the Albert Lea facility. Court documents show that the company cooperated with law enforcement once the incident was reported.

Civil suits in Minnesota die with the victim, but the claims are still open for litigation in South Dakota. Sioux Falls is home to the corporate offices of the Good Samaritan Society.

Wulff is the sixth deceased victim whose case has migrated to South Dakota. Previous suits were filed in April and June. ..Source.. by John Hult

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.