This conference is geared toward care providers and other front line workers or volunteers that have routine contact with older adults. Participants will explore the challenges and complexities of financial abuse and exploitation. They will become aware of warning signs and acquire strategies for prevention and intervention related to financial abuse and exploitation of older adults says California Financial Elder Abuse Attorney Steven Peck who may be contacted toll free at 1.866.999.9085.

Laura Mosqueda, M.D., University of California Irvine School of Medicine, will open the conference with the keynote presentation on "Elder Mistreatment -- Issues and Solutions." Dr. Mosqueda will provide an overview of elder mistreatment in the United States. She will discuss the barriers to identification and diagnosis, the challenges to good research, and the importance of education on the topics.

Breakout sessions will cover how culture, family dynamics and trust relationships impact this topic.
Participants will have the opportunity to hear how financial institutions and other agencies are responding to
this issue and how services are being coordinated in Colorado.

The capstone presentation, "Taking the Next Step -- Putting Today Into Practice," by Tammi Vacha-Haase, Ph.D., Colorado State University Department of Psychology, will provide concrete ideas on how to implement conference information, resources and tools, overcome challenges, and be proactive to reduce financial abuse and exploitation of older adults.

The Rocky Mountain Conference on Aging is presented through a partnership between Colorado State University Extension, Colorado State University Center on Aging and the University of Northern Colorado's College of Natural and Health Sciences Gerontology Program. The conference is sponsored in part by AARP.

Attorney Margaret Draper will give the presentation. She is a member of the California Bar Association's Trust and Estate Section speakers bureau.

"Valuable information will be offered to identify and prevent the growing array of financial scams aimed at seniors" said Carol Kinser, president of Fortuna Senior Services. Several informative state bar publications will be available.

The Fortuna Senior Services monthly meetings are open to all current and prospective members of the nonprofit organization. Membership requirements are being over age 50 and living in the Eel River Valley area. Dues can be pro-rated for the remainder of the year.

Senator Denham kicked off the SAFE seminar and talked about the importance of seniors learning how to protect themselves from financial abuse.

The SAFE seminar was sponsored by the Stanislaus Elder Abuse Prevention Alliance (SEAPA). The event will included a panel of speakers that shared with seniors personal strategies they can immediately begin using to help them avoid becoming a victim of financial abuse. Approximately two dozen organizations were on hand with information aimed at helping senior citizens remain safe says California Elder Abuse Attorney Steven C. Peck.

Other speakers included Sheriff Adam Christianson and Karla Von Hungen, with the Modesto Police Department's Economic Crimes Unit.

Elder Law Issues have become complex and take time and a lot of time and patience. We all need to understand the many rights that Elders have in our society and to do everything possible to protect the rights of Elders. Take the time to spend with your parents and always repsect them. As we all get older, we too will have to experience the issues of Elder Law, including social security, wills and trusts, nursing home abuse and neglect, financial abuse, estate planning, etc.. Thank You.

Steven C. Peck
Law Offices of Steven C. Peck
6454 Van Nuys Boulevard, # 150
Van Nuys, California 91401
(818) 908-0509-Telephone
(818) 908-1158-Facsimile
(866) 999-9085-Toll Free
stevenpeck@premierlegal.org
www.premierlegal.org
www.californiaeldercarelaw.com
www.californiaelderlawattorneyblog.com
www.californiabusinesslawyerblog.com

The keynote address will given by Philip Marshall, grandson of Brooke Astor, whose inquiries into his grandmother's situation would eventually result in the most publicized case of elder abuse in America. read more

The Elder financial protection network abuse Brooke Astor Call to Action 2010 will highlight the elder financial abuse case of philanthropist Brooke Astor and discuss the increased risk of financial exploitation of seniors and the national movement toward the passage of the Elder Justice Act.
The keynote address will given by Philip Marshall, grandson of Brooke Astor, whose inquiries into his grandmother's situation would eventually result in the most publicized case of elder abuse in America.

"It's usually someone who is taking advantage of the trust and also taking advantage of the vulnerabilities," California Elder Law Attorney Steven Peck says. "Preying on someone's financial situation."

While statistics aren't always available at the local level, that doesn't mean it's not an issue.

"The one thing you don't want to do is put your head in the sand and pretend this thing doesn't exist, because this is happening all across the country," according to Peck, a Los Angeles area elder abuse attorney with offices in Van Nuys, California who may be contacted toll free at 1.866.999.9085.

Many older adults are afraid to report abuse, They might be reliant on the perpetrator for their independence, or they might just not know who to tell.

"We're always hoping we can connect with seniors to tell them there are resources here for them." says Peck.

Even when elder abuse cases are reported, they're often difficult to investigate. For example, if children are charged with taking care of their parent, it's common to share a bank account so the children can eventually make funeral arrangements.

Once that happens, the temptation grows to start taking money out for personal use, maybe even thinking of it as an early inheritance, which seems to be happening quite often in our society.

"It is difficult because you have to sort through those trust issues and get to the facts," Peck says. "You have to prove that these people are being taken advantage of."

The investigations can be time consuming, even when advocates help the victim.

"Like most of us, the elderly don't keep the best records, so pouring through records is really very difficult to do,".

But the very things that make uncovering elder abuse difficult makes it very important that it be reported and investigated.

The nursing home industry quickly signaled displeasure with the bill, saying the proposal "goes way beyond" issues addressed by Gov. Pat Quinn's nursing home safety task force. But one of the bill's sponsors, Sen. Jacqueline Collins, D-Chicago, said her coalition is ready for a fight.

"We are here to say quite boldly and courageously that we're willing to take on the nursing home industry," Collins said at a news conference in Springfield. "For too long they've had the influence and power in this state and I want to say that we can mount a strong coalition to stand together to fight for policy changes that truly address the disparities in care and the lack of care."

The proposal targets a pattern of violence in Illinois nursing homes stemming from the state's long reliance on the facilities to house younger adults with serious mental illness. Assaults, rapes and murders reported in a series of news articles sparked the formation of the governor's task force.

The nursing home industry has been taking part in talks in Springfield with members of the task force working toward legislation, said Terry Sullivan of the Health Care Council of Illinois, the state's largest nursing home trade group.

So too have advocates who broke out of the talks Tuesday to announce their proposal and press the points on higher staffing and fines.

Sen. Heather Steans, D-Chicago, is sponsoring the legislation with Collins. It's backed by groups such as AARP, unions representing health care workers, the Supportive Housing Providers Association and Illinois Citizens for Better Care.

"Thousands of nursing home residents across this state are victims of abuse, of assault and inadequate care," said Nancy Funk, an AARP volunteer from Decatur, at the press conference. "It kind of looks like it's becoming the norm in this state rather than the exception."

The proposal calls for a database of nursing home assaults that would be kept by the Illinois Department of Public Health and a new tax on nursing homes to increase funding for the state long-term care ombudsman program, which sends trained advocates into nursing homes to help residents.

Sullivan of the nursing home group said raising taxes would take money away from what's available to care for patients. He said increased staffing for every nursing home isn't reasonable.

The bill "goes way beyond issues raised in the governor's task force," Sullivan said. "For years and years, the state has been cutting back on the ombudsman program and public health surveyors and now suddenly they say, 'We need more people. Let's make nursing homes pay for that.'"

More care must be taken to protect elderly residents from unscrupulous people who are hired to help them.

As recently as March 4, a 59-year-old Santa Maria man was arrested for bilking an elderly woman out of hundreds of thousands of dollars in a fraudulent real estate deal, the Santa Barbara County sheriff office reported.

Deputies said the man convinced the 69-year-old victim to invest $300,000 for the purchase of a commercial property and promised the woman 12 percent interest on her investment. He even paid the first six months interest up front.

Sheriff's detectives began investigating the incident last year. At that time, the woman reported that aside from receiving a payment for the first six months of interest, which was pulled from the $300,000 she had invested, the man had never paid her anything.

Deputies said the woman trusted the man because he is a Realtor whom she had worked with before.

The man was booked into county jail on suspicion of fiduciary elder abuse, and authorities said more charges could be filed before the investigation is finished.

On Feb. 12, sheriff's detectives responded to a tip from an 80-year-old Goleta woman's accountant who indicated that a caregiver may have been taking advantage of her employer.

The caregiver - who was on probation for another crime - was arrested and faces charges of commercial burglary, forgery and financial elder abuse of the older woman.

The suspected thief, who worked for the woman for two months, is accused of having stolen and cashed checks worth a total of $10,580 from multiple bank accounts.

To prevent financial elder abuse, a statement issued by the sheriff's department recommended people looking to hire a caregiver conduct a background check and ask for references, which should be thoroughly verified.
As founder and president of Santa Barbara-based Senior Planning Services, I whole-heartedly agree with the sheriff's department.

We have seen a rise in elder abuse during the 20 years Senior Planning Services has operated in Santa Barbara County.

Many times the abuse can be prevented by providing proper support and advocacy for elders who want to stay in their own home but who may need a caregiver to assist him. However, the caregiver should not be a "stranger in the house" who has not gone through the proper background checks.

Checking references is not enough. Senior Planning Services requires criminal and Department of Motor Vehicle checks personality and integrity testing on all our caregivers.

You are taking many potential risks when hiring a caregiver on your own. The keys to preventing financial exploitation are: prevention, protection and intervention.

As professional fiduciary organization, Senior Planning Services is often called in to provide protection of senior citizens who may have been victimized by an abuser and to assist in the recovery of their assets.

Senior Planning Services fiduciary Jackie Quinn also has seen the rising trend in elder abuse cases. She has a great deal of experience acting as both a private trustee and executor.

Quinn noted one case in which a licensed insurance agent in Santa Barbara pleaded guilty in July 2009 in a $2.1 million grand theft case involving theft from senior citizens by churning annuities. The agent spent 90 days in jail and was placed on five years probation.

And in Santa Maria, a landscaper pleaded no contest to charges he charged elderly clients for services he never performed. He was ordered to pay $50,000 in restitution and sentenced to eight years in prison.

To seek more ways to prevent this crime, Quinn noted that the Elder & Dependent Adult Abuse Prevention Council of Santa Barbara County will hold its annual training conference "Safeguarding Elders and Dependent Adults Against Abuse" from 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. May 25, 2010 at Fe Bland Auditorium, Santa Barbara City College, 721 Cliff Drive.

Meanwhile in California, Villa Valencia confronted another nursing home abuse lawsuit when Theresa Sperry, a 91-year old woman died due to Alzheimer's and painful pressure ulcers on her feet. The family of Sperry cited negligence and excessive profit-orientation of the said nursing home as main reasons why Theresa Sperry died.

These two cases are two examples of nursing home abuse which is becoming prevalent in many nursing homes across the United States. Nursing home abuse has become a pressing issue nationwide as reports show that thirty percent of the facilities in the United States are cited for cases of abuse. What is more alarming is that nursing home abuse statistics shows that these instances of nursing home abuses are never reported to the authorities.

If your loved one is elderly and is currently confined to a nursing home, it is imperative that you should look into his or her welfare. One way of ensuring the welfare of elders is knowing some of the caveats of nursing home abuse. Here are some of the most commonly observed signs of physical abuse.

Assault
Battery
Rape
Sexual Assault
Unreasonable physical restraint
Elder reports incidences of being slapped, ridiculed or mistreated
Deprivation of food or water
Giving improper medication
Unexplained injuries
Caretaker cannot sufficiently explain condition of the elder
Open wounds, cuts, bruises or welts
Slapping, pushing, shaking, beating

Other indication of nursing home abuse is negligence of caretakers or nursing home personnel. In addition, some signs of neglect on the part of caretakers include disregarding the needs of elders, neglecting medical problems, failing to help in personal hygiene, failing to maintain clean and safe conditions and failing to protect from health and safety hazards.

Sometimes, physical abuse and negligence are not the only abusive things that take place in our nursing homes. Verbal and emotional abuse is also common. Let us take a look at some signs that might tell you that your loved one in nursing home is experiencing verbal and emotional abuse.

Agitated or upset elder
Strange behavior like non-communicative or withdrawn
Frightened
Wanting isolation from the people

What gets far less attention is perhaps the most prevalent form of elder abuse--the sort perpetrated by stockbrokers. The Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA), Wall Street's governing and enforcement body, defines financial elder abuse as the "misuse of an older adult's money or belongings by a relative or person in a position of trust."

A clear-cut example recently made headlines in a number of financial trade publications. Stockbrokers Thomas B. Cooper and Peter L. Boorn at Beverly Hills-based StockCross Financial Services Inc. allegedly bilked 95-year-old David Wolfson of nearly all his assets and put his house at risk after recommending unsuitable and risky investments. The brokers dropped Wolfson as a client once they drained him of his cash. An arbitration panel awarded the elderly man triple damages, totaling $1.6 million. It was an unprecedented amount that underscored the severity of the abuse.

Exploiting the elderly is actually quite common on Wall Street. The temptation to commission-earning brokers is obvious. There isn't a lot of money to be made managing the accounts of risk-averse investors who are looking to clip coupons and live off interest income from municipal bond funds, Treasuries or other safe investments. Some Wall Street firms just can't but regard the elderly as ripe for the fleecing.

Another recent example was the case of Sergio M. Del Toro, who has been banned from the securities industry for defrauding a 90-year-old Minnesota nursing home resident of $511,000. Mr. Del Toro recommended that the elderly man put his entire net worth into the stock of a firm called 3rd Dimension, for which there was no market or publicly quoted pricing. Mr. Del Toro's alleged motivation: a 15% commission, equal to about $76,600.

Nursing home abuse can take many forms, including physical abuse, sexual abuse, financial abuse, and emotional abuse. When nursing homes are understaffed or caretakers fail to receive proper training and supervision on the job, seniors may not get the level of care that they need and deserve. The effects of nursing home abuse can range in severity from discomfort to serious injury, and even wrongful death. Bed sores, broken bones from falls, dehydration, and malnutrition are just a few of the life threatening conditions that can result from neglect and abuse in nursing homes states California Nursing Home Abuse and neglect Attorney Steven C. peck.

It is important to note that nursing home abuse and neglect can be difficult to detect and may be missed if a concerned family member is not watching out for their elder relative. In some situations, a nursing home resident may be afraid to seek help because of threats made by the abusive staff member. In other cases, the victim may be physically or mentally unable to communicate that he or she is suffering from nursing home abuse.

It seems that a 76-year-old patient--whose identity is being withheld--had to wait for about 12 hours before she received treatment for a broken shoulder and two broken legs, said the Daytona Beach News Journal, citing a DeLand police report. The female patient fell out of her bed at 5:00 am Friday, when her bedding was being changed, said DeLand police Deputy Chief Randel Henderson, wrote the Daytona Beach News Journal.

The woman was put back in her bed after the accident, but it took until the next shift change at 4:42 pm, for emergency workers to be brought on the scene and help with her injuries, said the Daytona Beach News Journal, which added that the patient was ultimately admitted to the Halifax Health Medical Center in Daytona Beach. The nursing home has not responded to media requests for comment.

The Agency for Health Care Administration--responsible for 31 nursing homes in two Florida counties--is reviewing the matter, according to the Daytona Beach News Journal. Ridgecrest Nursing and Rehabilitation Center's state license is current and its last inspection took place in October at which time, nine deficiencies were noted, including accident hazards and food storage issues, reported the Daytona Beach News Journal.

We've long been following the issue of nursing home abuse, recently writing about a Brooklyn nursing home ordered to pay about $19 million in damages to a family whose loved one allegedly died as a result of abject neglect. We also wrote that ABC World News reported that a California nursing home used chemical restraints--drugs--to silence residents. In some cases, this practice was fatal.

On a number of occasions we have written about the dangerous issue surrounding the dosing of medications to the elderly, specifically antidepressants, antipsychotics, and sedatives. Sometimes these medications are given for seemingly pointless reasons and, on occasion, these medications appear to be linked to falls and other accidents in the elderly. Science Daily just reported that such accidents among the elderly are "significantly" linked with these drugs--sedatives to help patients sleep and drugs used to treat mood disorders--citing a study conducted by an expert in "pharmaceutical outcomes research" out of the University of British Columbia.

We also recently wrote that the Chicago Tribune broke with an exposé on how some powerful psychotropic drugs are given to nursing home residents in Illinois without consent and valid psychiatric diagnoses. Some have suffered from a variety of adverse responses that include, said the Tribune, "tremors, dangerous lethargy, and a higher risk of harmful falls or even death."

When seniors are abused--emotionally, physically, financially, sexually, or through neglect--the risk of death increases by more than double, according a recent study, said Medicine Net recently. Sadly, according to Food and Drug Administration (FDA) data, anti-psychotics that are inappropriately prescribed, kill 15,000 nursing home patients annually, said ABC.

Linda C. Kramer"The families of these elders were keeping their parents or grandparents barely alive, with no quality of life, only to continue to collect the older person's Social Security or welfare checks," says Kramer, whose desire to advocate for the elderly led her to become an attorney specializing in elder law and estate planning.

"I know these situations still exist today. The primary difference is that now we have laws to protect the frail elderly."

Last year, Kramer, who lives in Los Altos, attended a Santa Clara County program on the role of faith communities in responding to the mistreatment and neglect of elders. Among 200-some attendees, Kramer was one of just two Jews.

Concerned about the need for the Jewish community to address such issues, she spoke to Rabbi Janet Marder at Congregation Beth Am in Los Altos Hills, where she is a member. On Tuesday, March 2, Beth Am will host "The Jewish Response to Elder Abuse and Neglect: Shedding Light on a Critical Community Issue." The free community event is sponsored by Beth Am Women.

Kramer will moderate a panel that includes Marder; Judge Mary

Ann Grilli of the Santa Clara County Family Court and a Beth Am member; Lettie Ordone of the Santa Clara County Adult Protective Services; Donald Moody of the Santa Clara County Public Guardian/Conservator's Office; and Kimberly Conners of the Santa Clara County District Attorney's Office.

When Kramer graduated from law school 23 years ago, she found that "it was politically correct to be a child advocate, but there were very few advocates for the elderly. I decided I wanted to do what I could to support older adults and to protect them when they became vulnerable.

"It may also have been a self-serving action -- after all, I'm getting older myself and want systems in place to protect me."

"One of my clients," she recalls, "told me that her son, his girlfriend and their teenage son moved in with her, saying that they wanted to help her. They then proceeded to relegate her to a small back bedroom, where she was forced to live while they took over the house. She could only come out for meals and to go to the bathroom. They verbally abused her on a regular basis, saying she was stupid and old and crazy."

Her client refused to ask for help. She was afraid to get the police or Adult Protective Services involved for fear that she would never see him again.

"Therein lies one of the problems in helping the frail elderly," Kramer says. "They are held captive by their own physical and often mental incapacities. They most often have only their families to relate to, and if they do not have families, they are prone to seek comfort by so-called friends who only want to take advantage of them."

The other problem, she says, is that those younger people are often in denial about how much help their elders need.

Kramer spoke to an adult son who believed he was taking good care of his 85-year-old mother by taking her grocery shopping every week. He spent an hour driving to his mother's home and another two hours with her in the store, because she moved so slowly. Kramer asked whether he helped his mother unload the groceries. He replied that he assumed she could do that on her own.

"He never took the time to actually go inside his mother's house," Kramer says. "He certainly wasn't abusive, but it was neglectful."

Honoring our mothers and fathers is "a Jewish obligation," says Kramer, an obligation that becomes more significant as parents and their children grow older. As a result, many synagogues members and clergy routinely visit the sick and elderly.

"

"It's usually someone who is taking advantage of the trust and also taking advantage of the vulnerabilities," says California Elder Law Attorney Steven C. Peck "Preying on someone's financial situation."

While statistics aren't always available at the local level, that doesn't mean it's not an issue.

"The one thing you don't want to do is put your head in the sand and pretend this thing doesn't exist, because this is happening all across the country," Peck Indicates.

Many older adults are afraid to report abuse, They might be reliant on the perpetrator for their independence, or they might just not know who to tell.

"We definitely need to stop this," reflects Peck "We're hoping we can connect with seniors to tell them there are resources here for them to reach out and stop this type of exploitation.

Even when elder abuse cases are reported, they're often difficult to investigate. For example, if children are charged with taking care of their parent, it's common to share a bank account so the children can eventually make funeral arrangements. Once that happens, the temptation grows to start taking money out for personal use, maybe even thinking of it as an early inheritance, indicates California Financial Elder Abuse Lawyer Steven C. Peck.

"It is difficult because you have to sort through those trust issues and get to the facts," Peck says. "You have to prove that these people are being taken advantage of."

The investigations can be time consuming, even when advocates help the victim. "Like most of us, the elderly don't keep the best records, so pouring through records is really very difficult to do,"

Surprisingly, a large number of nursing home residents are not being given the care and attention they deserve. Whenever the nursing home owner or person responsible for taking care of his nursing home resident fails to fulfill his obligation, nursing home neglect has just occurred. One might say a person has been neglected when the staff of a nursing home is not able to provide the resident with everyday necessities such as water, food, or professional care. Needless to say, the resident can be afflicted with health problems or injuries as a result of nursing home negligence. Various conditions might indicate a nursing home resident has been subjected to nursing home neglect or nursing home abuse. Some signs include cuts, bruising, dehydration, bed sores, symptoms of malnutrition, untreated wounds, behavioral swings, and general unsanitary environments.

Whenever you suspect a loved one has suffered from nursing home neglect or any form of nursing home abuse, it is advisable to call your local police right away and file a formal complaint. After you file a nursing home negligence report with the police, the next best thing to do is consult with an experienced nursing home abuse attorney that can handle that type of case in your State. A top nursing home abuse lawyer will be able to advise you of your legal recourse and represent your loved one if nursing home negligence or nursing home abuse is apparent. Should your nursing home lawyer recommend a lawsuit, the nursing home owner and its staff may be convicted of nursing home neglect and be held liable for restitution.