In September 2011, the Greenpark Villa, Inc. assisted living facility in Torrance, California was ordered to pay over $1.3 million in a judgment of an elder abuse case. The plaintiff was a victim of elder abuse and a client of Garcia, Artigliere & Schadrack.  Among the allegations in the case were those of elder abuse and wrongful death.

Greenpark Villa is an assisted living facility for the elderly, and defined by California law as a voluntary housing arrangement for an individual 60 years or older. The living facility is expected and obligated by law to provide a certain amount of care and supervision to its patient.

Plaintiff Walters, an elderly woman suffering from Alzheimer’s, had fallen twice during her stay at Greenpark Villa, and was not sent to the hospital. After five months of severe pain and at her family’s insistence that she receive medical attention, it was found that she had fractured her hip in the second fall. Plaintiff also alleges that due to underfunding and understaffing, Walters’ Stage I pressure sore evolved into a stage IV pressure sore that became infected.

Elder care abuse and allegations of elder care abuse in assisted living facilities throughout California and the United States have grown alarmingly high. The country’s growing elderly population faces more risks today than ever before as elder abuse continues to be on the rise. Yet, support is available for those who have fallen prey to various forms of elder abuse. For a free and confidential consultation in California, contact the Evans Law Firm.

Charges of Elder Abuse, Negligence After Dementia Patient Dies of Exposure
Bay City News

The family of Kenneth Chin, an elderly dementia patient who died last February, filed a wrongful death suit against his conservator Jewish Family and Children’s Services and the transit agencies responsible for his transportation: MEDSAM Enterprises.  

After not returning home to his assisted living facility in San Francisco’s Richmond District on February 25, 2011, 73-year-old Chin was reported missing. His body was discovered on March 6 in Lincoln Park, and autopsy results indicated that he died from hypothermia.

Chin’s living relatives, represented by Ingrid Evans of the Evans Law Firm, gathered at a press conference on February 8, 2012. His niece Jennifer Chin said she remembered “lying awake at night, it was pouring and freezing… praying that he was indoors somewhere.”

Plaintiff alleges that the MEDSAM shuttle van negligently dropped Chin off at the wrong location, causing him to wander around San Francisco for days before succumbing to the elements in Lincoln Park. In addition, the conservator Jewish Family and Children’s Services did not notify Chin’s family that he was missing until three hours after the event – during which time it had grown dark, cold, and stormy. The family began a search immediately, but was significantly hindered by the delay and its consequences.

Chin says he brings this complaint in order to ensure that such wrongful negligence and tragedy never happen again.

In A Stupor: What California's Antipsychotic Drug Collaborative Reveals About Illegal Nursing Home Drugging -- A special report by California Advocates for Nursing Home Reform

A new report by CANHR, the California Advocates for Nursing Home Reform, has found 147 violations of state rules regarding the use of antipsychhotics in residents in 24 nursing homes throughout California. CANHR characterizes the misuse of antipsychotic drugs as "rampant" and states that immediate reform is urgently necessary.

The agency claims that the overprescription and misuse of these antipsychotic drugs is one of the leading instances of elder abuse in nursing homes. The majority of the prescribed drugs are "off-label," meaning that they have not been FDA-approved to combat dementia. Several of the prescribed drugs can increase and almost double the risk of death in an elderly patient -- a fact that leads CANHR to say that these practices directly jeopardize the health and lives of elderly patients in nursing homes. After a drawn-out campaign by CANHR to stop the use of these drugs in nursing homes, the California Department of Public Health launched an investigation and recently published their results: 147 violations in 24 facilities across the state.

Although there was a variety of violations, most fell into one of three categories: failure to obtain informed consent from the residents or their responsible parties before prescribing medication; unnecessary and/or excessive use of drugs; and defiecient pharmaceutical consultant services.

According to CANHR, these findings reveal a "terrible problem" with regards to nursing home medical prescriptions. The investigation is a step in the right direction, but the Department of Public Health has more work to do to ensure that nursing homes provide the highest quality of care to their patients.

For more information on nursing home abuse, or if you or a family member has been the victim of nursing home abuse, contact the Evans Law Firm in California for a free and confidential consultation.

Lawsuit alleges that dementia patient Kenneth Chin wandered the streets of San Francisco for ten days and died as a result of negligence by a shuttle bus company and its driver.

http://www.prweb.com/releases/the-evans-law-firm/elder-abuse-chin-case/prweb9160123.htm

San Francisco, CA (PRWEB) February 08, 2012

San Francisco elder abuse attorney Ingrid Evans, The Evans Law Firm, has filed a wrongful death lawsuit (San Francisco County Superior Court, Case #CGC-12-518046) alleging that a shuttle bus company and its driver were negligent in the transport, care and death of an elderly dementia patient who went missing for ten days.

The lawsuit alleges that MEDSAM Enterprises, its driver, San Francisco Paratransit and Jewish Family and Children's Services (JFCS) engaged in elder abuse and negligence in the death of 73-year old dementia patient Kenneth Chin, who went missing for ten days after he was allegedly dropped off in the wrong location and not taken directly to his assisted living facility.

According to the complaint, on February 24, 2011, Chin allegedly boarded a MEDSAM shuttle van, driven by Eugene Pearlman, for his regular shuttle ride from Irene Swindell’s Center for Adult Day Services to his home at Nacario’s Home #5. The complaint states that when Chin did not arrive at the assisted living facility at his scheduled time, his conservator, JFCS, was notified as required. However the lawsuit is alleging that JFCS hampered search efforts by negligently delaying notification to Chin's family.

"The three-hour notification delay by JFCS was critical to Chin's safety especially since his dead body was found approximately one mile from his house," said Evans. "By the time the family was notified that Chin was missing, darkness had already set in and an approaching storm made search conditions extremely difficult," added Evans.

The lawsuit states that despite an alleged awareness that Chin required special attention due to his dementia, the bus driver allegedly failed to ensure Chin's safe delivery to his home in a manner consistent with Chin's special needs. Chin suffered from debilitating mental and emotional conditions that required him to be escorted from his transportation to his residence.

"The bus driver had an obligation and a duty of care to walk Chin to the door and ensure his safe arrival due to Chin's dementia," said Evans. "Instead, no one knows for sure where Chin was dropped off. All we know is that he was left stranded in the freezing cold and wandered around San Francisco for days and died," added Evans.

Chin suffered from dementia and required adult care, supervision and special transportation. The family believes that Chin was left to aimlessly wander for days without food or shelter and, as a result, he suffered a horrible death. Ten days after he disappeared, a man walking his dog found Chin's body lying face down off the side of a path near the VA Hospital.

MEDSAM Enterprises, Inc. is a private shuttle van provider.

About Ingrid M. Evans
San Francisco elder abuse attorney Ingrid Evans, http://www.evanslaw.com, is an aggressive advocate protecting the elderly from consumer fraud along with physical and insurance, banking and financial abuse. In more than ten years protecting senior citizens, Evans has litigated and successfully resolved multiple cases involving senior citizen financial abuse, particularly for the sale of insurance products.

Evans was honored by Consumer Attorneys of California (CAOC) for recovering approximately $5 million in restitution for 750 senior victims that were sold deferred annuities by AIG and its agents, and also recovered an estimated $100 million dollars in compensation for other senior victims against insurance companies in other legal actions.

As the quality of healthcare and the average life expectancy in the United States has gone up, so too unfortunately has the incidence of elder abuse. The demographic of people 85 years and older is the fastest growing age group in the United States, and many of those people require various degrees and forms of elder care. To meet this demand, both honest and alleged elder care institutions have cropped up all across the country. As cases of fraud and abuse are on the rise because of these alleged elder care institutions, it is becoming more and more imperative for elders and their loved ones to learn how to prevent elder abuse and how to distinguish between legitimate and fraudulent elder care providers.  

 Some examples of elder abuse in recent news and local headlines include caregiver theft, exploitation, and substandard care that puts the elder in physical danger. According to the National Center on Elder Abuse, reported instances of abuse towards elders have increased by 20% from 2000 to 2006. Yet an even bigger issue – according to the Dr. Mark Lachs of the New York-Presbyterian Healthcare system, is that most problems related to elder abuse are not even reported. An interview he conducted with 4,000 elders showed that only one out of thirteen incidences of elder abuse is detected and documented.

This is why, in today’s increasingly predatory climate, elder abuse prevention and awareness is as important as litigation and response. Not only elders, but their families, friends, and acquaintances should be on the lookout for signs of physical and financial abuse and neglect. These signs include but are not limited to: behavioral changes, unusual financial activity, or deteriorating healthcare with new caregivers or care providing institutions.

In Northern California, seven citizens have brought a class action suit against eBay and PayPal corporations. In April 2010, a group of eBay online auction sellers filed a complaint against eBay and PayPal with allegations that the two corporations committed abuses of monopoly power, attempted monopolization for online payment, improper collection of shipping fees, and improper tying of two corporations. The result of these alleged actions are unfair and unavoidable fees for both sellers and buyers who use eBay.

The plaintiffs allege that since eBay acquired PayPal in 2002, the online auction site has rendered it effectively impossible for buyers and sellers to purchase items using any format other than PayPal. This effective impossibility – combined with the fact that eBay currently holds 90% of the national online auction market – leads the plaintiffs to claim that eBay and PayPal hold an unfair monopoly over online payment for auctions. These alleged facts also contribute to the allegation that eBay attempted to tie the use of its online services to PayPal’s online payment services.

According to allegations, after eBay acquired PayPal in 2002 the company moved to tightly restrict other acceptable forms of payment by doubling PayPal buyer protection and instituting a policy of paperless payments in 2008. The sellers who brought the case say that increased buyer protection for PayPal effectively removes buyer protection for all other methods of online payment – such as Google checkout, which survived for only three days after offering lower fees than PayPal. The paperless policy rendered cash, checks, and other forms of non-online payment inappropriate for transactions on eBay.

Plaintiffs claim that a result of these effective monopoly policies is the institution of high transaction and shipping fees without any alternative. With no choice but to use PayPal, eBay sellers must continue to pay high costs to sustain their markets, while buyers are made to pay higher fees for services than they might if they were allowed to use other forms of payment. The plaintiff sellers allege that they were required to pay additional fees of up to 3% and 30 cents per transaction. The tying claim relates to the fact that the PayPal is a subsidiary of eBay.

The case is ongoing in the United States District Court Northern District of California, San Francisco division. The class action nature of this suit means that thousands of eBay users in California and across the nation could be affected by the outcome. The Evans Law Firm has recently been retained as local counsel in this action. If you live in California and want to talk to a lawyer about these or other issues with eBay and PayPal, contact The Evans Law Firm by email at info@evanslaw.com or call at 888-503-8267.

A New Year, New Laws
Camarillo Acorn

Among the hundreds of new state laws that will take effect in 2012 are a series that increase the punishment for elder abuse.

This effort to crackdown on elder abuse is an extremely important development in the ongoing struggle to eliminate elder abuse practices in California and the rest of the country. California has long been a pioneer in the area of elder law, and these recent laws are further indications of the state’s commitment to its elderly residents.

A list of the state laws is available at www.leginfo.ca.gov

Hundreds of Elder Abuse Cases in 2011
KULR-TV

Sarah Gravlee in Billings, Montana reports that the number of elder abuse cases is on the rise and will skyrocket over the next two decades. As the baby boomer generation enters into retirement, the number of senior citizens will rise, as will the number of senior citizens who fall prey to elder abuse.

These instances of abuse include physical and financial abuse. Examples of physical abuse include the refusal of family members or caregivers to pay for heat or electricity, leaving elder citizens cold and without power for months on end. In financial abuse cases, younger family members steal money from the elder’s Social Security checks.

According to this article, more than 1 million Americans over the age of 65 have been injured, exploited, or mistreated at some point by someone on whom they depended for care or protection.

While legal recourse is available for victims of elder abuse, a significant hurdle is the reluctance of victims to report the abuse. Denise Armstrong of Big Sky Senior Services says that only one in ten cases of elder abuse are reported; 90% are not. To respond to this crisis of secrecy, Big Sky Senior Services has begun educating the general public on issues of elder abuse. They have trained gatekeepers, bank tellers, meter readers, and mail carriers to detect and report instances of possible elder abuse. This new method of prevention provides allies in the community for potential victims of elder abuse, but does not diminish the importance of reporting abuse and seeking help. Instead, elderly victims should work with the community to report abuse in order to reduce the future number of abuses and victims.

Clayton Real Estate Agent Arrested for Financial Elder Abuse & Forgery
San Francisco Chronicle 

In Contra Costa last month, 63-year old real estate agent Walter Roberts was arrested and accused of forging his 92 and 85-year-old parents’ signatures on a Grant Deed. His parents neither knew about nor gave Roberts permission to sign their names on any document or check. The title in question is a home rental property in Concord, CA valued at over $300,000.

Roberts’ arrest was aided largely by the new “Fraud Notification Program” in Contra Costa County: a notification system that alerts homeowners as soon as title has been transferred. As part of the system, the County Recorder sends a letter to each homeowner in English and Spanish, and includes a hotline for the District Attorney’s Real Estate Fraud Unit. The Program is the first of its kind in Northern California.

This instance of elder abuse and forgery is just one more in a series of troubling cases in California and across the country. Yet, the publicity of this case is a testament to the success of the Fraud Notification Program. As more measures are instituted to inform home and property owners – especially the elderly – of the status changes to their property, it becomes easier for these individuals to take action to prevent and recover from theft, fraud, and abuse. For inquiries regarding financial or physical elder abuse in California, contact the Evans Law Firm for a free consultation.

Elder Abuse Pair Prepare for Hearing, Jury Trial in Bakersfield
Kern Valley Sun

In Kern County, 30-year-old Joseph McCoy and his 54-year-old mother Darlene Green took part in a Readiness Hearing at which they faced charges of causing harm or death to an elderly person. The person in question was Margaret Gray, Green’s mother and McCoy’s grandmother, who died on April 1, 2011.

On February 11, 2011 paramedics found Gray in her home suffering from bed sores and grade four ulcers, lying in her own bodily fluids with areas of her skin stuck to her bed sheets. Gray was then taken to the Kern Valley Hospital and treated in the emergency room for what the director, Dr. Manual Sacapano, called “the worst case of elder abuse I have ever seen.” Two months later, Gray died from cardio respiratory arrest, sepsis, and Alzheimer’s disease.

McCoy had been Gray’s primary caregiver since 1999. He and his mother are being held at the Lerdo pre-trial facility.

Deceptively passive in nature, neglect is one of the most harmful forms of elder abuse. To be designated a primary caregiver is to take on moral and legal responsibility for the healthcare and wellbeing of the elderly citizen. This and other tragic cases highlight the urgent necessity for legal recourse against caregiver abuse. With legal action, we can prevent further abuses and promote proper methods to ensure safety and comfort of the elderly. The Evans Law Firm in San Francisco, California represents elder victims of neglect and other physical and financial abuse.