Allegations of Elder Abuse By Public Agencies

A recent post to my last entry raised an interesting issue about elder abuse by public agencies, i.e., the courts, court investigators, public defenders, court appointed attorneys, county counsel and public conservators. Apparently, this writer has some experience with the system to accurately name the majority of the players in a conservatorship process. Now, we have a topic to which I have expertise and can clarify some misunderstandings.

Most people have the misguided impression that the "State" comes in and scoops up old people for the purpose of stealing them blind and that is not the case. The law provides for a process to provide for the care and protection of the individual who has nobody able or willing to care for another. The courts provide oversight to the legal process, the court investigator goes out to provide a report back to the courts, and there is a system of follow up checks to see how the process is working and to insure due process to the individual who is the subject of the court's jurisdiction. If the proposed conservatee needs legal counsel and is indigent, then a public defender is appointed, and it is usually an attorney who has contracted with the county to provide legal services to the indigent of the community. If they have money to pay for their own attorney, then a court appointed attorney is selected but he is not paid until the court has reviewed his bill and issued approval and autorization to pay. The conservatee or his next of kin can review the proposed invoice and has opportunity to object. Payment is by court order. The public conservators is generally the Public Guardian who is a county employee and receives a county paycheck like everyone else including the road crews and social workers. The public conservator must have legal counsel in pursuing conservatorships, and that is where the county counsel comes in. County Counsel is the official county attorney who provides legal services to all county offices and officials. County Counsel also is a paid county employee who draws his paycheck like everyone else. None of these individuals are paid a commission or collect a percentage of the conservatee's estate. They all get paid the same regardless of whether they work or not so long as they are on the payroll. Any suggestion that they might be in a conspiracy to defraud an elderly person is so "out there" because that would suggest that everyone on public payroll is corrupt.
This is simply just not the case. You might find one person who is less than honest but to find a collection of individuals who come from different agencies but they all look the other way while someone pockets the estate of a vulnerable individual is not going to happen as a rule. I can think of one instance in Riverside California where a scandal did happen many years ago, but nobody got away with it. There are more honest public servants than there are dishonest ones. Is the entire conservatorship system perfect? Of course not. No system is perfect, but it does provide a method to remedy any problems that may arise. A system of checks and balances does exist that helps to protect the elderly and vulnerable.

The public conservatorship process which includes all of the above referenced agencies does not scout out clients. They often are accused of NOT doing anything more often than doing too much. When public agencies do charge, and they do because the taxpayers are entitled to be reimbursed for their tax dollars spend to help an individual. . . .the estate reimbursement goes back to the taxpayers in the form of a deposit into the county general fund. Yes, when the county agencies are called in to rescue someone, it is the rest of us, the tax payers who foot the bill.
If it is discovered that the person has a significant estate and can well afford to reimburse the taxpayers for services rendered, it should be done.

Now, why does the public agencies even get involved? Often because there is nobody else willing or able to do anything. Most often it is after numerous telephone calls, reports and complaints from friends, family and neighbors. Anyone who has dealt with a public agency knows that they are often slow. Most often the elderly do not provide a plan for their own care. They often do not want to deal with issues of old age or death. Often they have become estranged from family and the family simply won't step up to the plate because they think it might cost them money to do it so they prefer the taxpayers do their job of caring for their family member. Many times there may be an element of paranoia and family doesn't want to be accused of stealing money or property. Sometimes there is a fear that stepping foward to help will alienate the elder and they might get cut out of the Will. No matter what the excuse, the bottomline is that family could do something but they don't want to because of any one of several reasons but they expect the public should because "that is their job." However, once the public agency steps in, the family feels it is their duty and right to micro manage everything and criticize the county for charging a fee for services rendered. The objections is often that the charges reduce their anticipated inheritance. To be fair, sometimes folks just assume that all county services are free and everyone is entitled to those freebies. But nothing is free and we all pay for those services. Reimbursement where funds are available is fair, and if the family is worried about a reduction in their inheritance, they should step in and care for their own.

After working over 15 years in public conservatorships, this is an area that I am most familiar both inside and out. Are there incompetent county employees out there? Yes, they are everywhere from public guardians to county clerks and social workers but incompetency runs across the board from public to private sector. If we had enough time in this section of my blog, we could discuss attorneys but I will save that for another day.

How do we insure minimum in elder abuse of the elderly in our family or our community? Well, we take care of our own. Once you step up to the plate, you do all that work to provide for and protect someone and see how complicated it can be, how much work is involved, how many details you are required to do, and how exhausting some issues can be like sorting out the financial records that have been neglected for years, dealing with past due IRS and state taxes that may be 7 years in arrears, pending civil suits for unpaid debt, eviction for nonpayment of rents, sorting out the medical issues while overcoming the new HIPPA rules, or cleaning up their home that may have several feet of papers, garbage, feces and urine . . .maybe there is one recliner to sleep in and one single 12 inch pathway to walk in the entire home. I have worked under these conditions and worse. I have dealt with a houseful of dead rats, cats and chickens, mold and mildew, cobwebs that have an inch of dust and dirt collected, carpets so soaked with urine that the leather on the top of you shoes was permanently ruined, and you came out of this house smelling like the homeowner. If you have not seen a hoarding house that often the elderly can create, you have no idea what the term "hazmat" can really mean. This is a huge amount of work and effort to turn things around for an individual. Any public agency who takes this work on is doing it out of a sense of duty and concern. Not everyone is a thief. In fact, if you check the stats, most often the thief is within the family or the elderly's "circle of support" like the care giver, neighbor, the friend from church, or the nephew who shows up inbetween paydays.

Dishonesty comes in all forms but it isn't always a public servant. No, I am sorry to say often the public servant is the only one willing to do the job that nobody else will do. Unfortunately, by the time a public agency is aware of a situation, it is as bad as it can get. The people who always accuse the "State" or the "county" of stealing from the citizens has no idea how the process works and it is often part of the mentality that everyone, every State, every county government is bad. The solution is and should be that we take care of our own, and then we don't have to worry about honesty of others, public or private.

The thrill of total control over blog

The blog is a wonderful outlet for those of us who would like to "vent" and not worry about being "politically correct", not that I tend to worry about it much any ways! However, I never expect that anyone is actually reading anything that I blog, but nice when it happens. Well, let me qualify that statement. . .it is nice to have comments when those comments have something worthwhile to contribute. Every once in awhile, I get a comment from someone who is ignorant and thinks that some cheap shot might inflict some type of concern. The very best part about blogging is the "Reject" of any comments from morons who think that their thoughtless statements have some importance to me or anyone else. Now, I don't mind a comment from someone who displays intelligence, some experience with similar life experiences, or have some professional knowledge or experience to share. However, to get a comment from some bottom-dweller who has no life experience, no knowledge and no expertise to share isn't worth my time. In fact, it is thrilling to hit that reject key!

I don't expect any comments, but if you are going to comment, and you know who you are . . . please, please, please have something relevant to share. For example, what do you do that demonstrates your contributions to a better society, what significant problems have you tackled in your life that might be noteworthy, just what is your passion in life that might make this world a better place because you are here? Do you volunteer or work for charities or organizations that help others? Do you rescue animals, sea life or help to improve the environment? Do you work with or on behalf of chidren from abused homes? Do you get involved with domestic violence issues or help battered women find help and assistance? Do you work with the homeless, mentally ill or developmentally disabled? Do you assist the elderly in any social or medical issues? Do you volunteer or work for organizations that help the dying like hospice? Do you donate your time towards fighting crime in any form in your community? Do you even do something as simple as helping out in your neighborhood? Ever help your elderly neighbors by taking them shopping if they don't have transportation, mowing their yards, or just being there for them as a good listener. Just what is it that you do that makes your criticism of others so valid and worth consideration. . . or is your life so dull, meaningless and unproductive that the most empowering thing you can find to do is being critical, mean spirited and hollow. If you are not part of the solution in this life, you are part of the problem. Comment to my blog if you wish, but if it has no value to me or anyone else that might read this blog, then you are rejected with a smile.

Elder Fiduciary Abuse

I recently attended a full day conference regarding elder financial abuse hosted by our local adult protective services agency and with the opening speech by our local district attorney. The featured speaker was Paul Greenwood from the San Diego District Attorney Office who I have heard speak many times, and never get tired of this man. His passion for prosecuting and protecting the elderly is amazing. He shares with all of us who deal with the elderly regularly, a sense of pride in even the smallest of accomplishments on behalf of those most vulnerable in our communities. His color photos of victims is heartbreaking because it puts a face to the crimes we hear about but don't have to see. Both bruised, bloodied and the dead are offered so that we can appreciate the horrific details of each victims particular suffering, and often at the hands of a family member or close friend. Elder abuse is a special interest. . . not committing elder abuse but preventing it and protecting the elderly from it. Sadly, the victims often don't realize that they are being victimized until they suffer a loss or become physically abused and neglected.

I am co-conservator now for a precious pair of sisters who fell victim to the famous scrams that we are all warned about today. One sister is higher functioning than the other, but both are at risk. Both lost much as a result of telemarketing scams, the Nigeria scam, telephone tricksters, and losses to their personal checking accounts and credit card fraud due to a host of constant pitches. I have a stack of solicitations that are mindboggling and phoney checks that could fool even the
best of us. I have in my possession phoney "court orders" that someone might, at first glance, believe to be valid and respond with writing a check as ordered by this "court." During personal visits to the home, the ladies would receive a series of telephone calls soliciting for money for one sob story after the other, or pursuing promises of good health and everlasting life with the purchase of some pill, elixir, or gimmick. Once one of these scam artists was successful, he must sell the name to others who stand in line waiting to get through on the telephone.

By the time we got called in, both sisters were in debt, utilities were being shut off and they were being sued for nonpayment of credit card debts. Neither of these sisters could comprehend how they got to this point. Adult Protective Services did as much as they could, but then it was apparent someone needed to take more aggressive steps. One sister was a childless widow but the other had two daughters who lived outside the U.S. Both daughters made an emergency flight to the States to do what they could for their mother but the task was more time consuming and complex than they could handle in a few weeks. Never fear. . . the private professional conservators are here, and we stepped in to begin the process of making sure that the ladies were protected, placed in a safe setting and working with the local post office and authorities began sorting out the complex financial abuse which remains unfinished at this writing.

As the older adult begins to show some symptoms of cognitive decline whether it is simply early onset of dementia, a slight impairment of their judgment or they don't have a realistic grasp on their finances, it is so typical that pride gets in the way of helping them. I don't know how many times I have heard some senior citizen say that they can take care of themselves just fine.. . ."I have been doing just fine for the last 80 years and I think I know what I am doing without help from someone else. . ." Nobody ever wants to admit that they are being foolish or that they have been tricked. It is a humiliation and often, that is the reason why the elderly do not call for help. "How could I be so stupid as to believe. . . ."

I find that most of us are trusting, and the reason is that we have no hidden agendas, we don't plan to cheat anyone, and we deal with people honestly. We assume everyone has the same pure motives that we do in dealing with others every day. Some of us cannot even conceive of how we would go about stealing from another even if that was a goal. What do you do? What do you say and how do you say it if you wanted to trick someone into giving you hundreds of thousands of dollars? The majority of us don't think like the thief and liar so we cannot begin to formulate such a plan against another person. Likewise, we cannot see ourselves as being victim to someone else . . . .but it happens and it is epidemic.

"Undue influence" is the biggest obstacles I have seen. You cannot go into the house with a gun and a mask to rob the senior citizen of his social security check, but if you can talk him out of that social security check. . . .well, it was a gift, a loan, a small business transaction. . ..he was helping with another's emergency. . etc., you name it and I have heard it all. Most of the time the losses are to family members. It is amazing that family will do to each other the things that they would never consider doing to a stranger. It is not okay to go thru the neighbor's wallet and take $500 but it is okay for sonny boy to go through his 90 year old mother's purse and take $500. Sometimes we see that attitude of entitlement and sometimes not, but in the mind of the person who just took the $500, it is okay. . .it is just mom. If the guy gets caught, he can put the pressure on mom to tell the authorities that it was a gift and then refuse to press charges because this is, after all, the old woman's family. . . .who will take care of her if he is in jail. The fear might be . . .once in jail, the county will put the old lady in a nursing home because she can't take are of herself. Look at it from any angle and the issue of undue influence is present. And how do you help someone who is reluctant to help themselves? It is hard.

In the case of my new clients, the battle has just begun. It is important to cut the victims off from the scam artists, protect and preserve what they have left, and then begin the difficult task of going after the telemarketers, mail order scam artists, etc. Frankly, the chances of putting these criminals out of business is slim to none because they just move on to the next victim. However, I see one thing that is common among so many of these seniors who are victimized and that is the Publishing Clearhousing type of solicitations. . . .it begins with those little scams and grows out of control. Nobody gets anything for nothing so be wise and beware. Today the victim is our grandmothers and elderly parents, but tomorrow it will be us.