tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-47789277841450487612024-03-07T02:26:44.513-06:00ProbateSharks.comProbate Sharkhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15689669875393000741noreply@blogger.comBlogger7157125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4778927784145048761.post-35805398212076464852017-12-20T08:38:00.001-06:002017-12-20T08:38:53.222-06:00Do not ever forget this article<div class="m_3187257695871180393ydp1dbb889etrb_sc" style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background-color: white; border-image: none; clear: left; color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 10px; font-style: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; margin-bottom: 13px; orphans: 2; text-decoration-color: initial; text-decoration-style: initial; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px;">
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Cashing in on frail patients</h1>
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Administrative offices of the now-closed Rock Creek Center in Lemont. </div>
(E. Jason Wambsgans/Tribune)</div>
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Dr. Roland Borrasi chuckled as he told three doctors how he used kickbacks and cash bribes to shuttle unsuspecting nursing home residents into Chicago-area hospitals and psychiatric wards.</div>
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"Basically, I have a commodity; my commodity is nursing home patients," Borrasi explained.</div>
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He didn't know it at the time, but federal agents were secretly recording that meeting.</div>
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One of the doctors was wearing a wire as Borrasi matter-of-factly explained the mechanics of patient brokering to physicians in his medical group.</div>
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<a href="https://www.blogger.com/" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="Rock Creek Center in Lemont" border="0" class="m_3187257695871180393ydp1dbb889etrb_em_ic_img" style="border-image: none; border: currentColor; cursor: move; margin-top: auto !important; max-width: 100.7%; min-height: 100.7%; padding: 0px !important; width: inherit !important;" title="Rock Creek Center in Lemont" unselectable="on" /></a></div>
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Those recordings, along with court documents and federal investigative reports obtained by the Tribune, describe a web of corruption in which hundreds of thousands of dollars flowed among doctors, nursing home executives and hospital administrators as the facility operators sought to fill their beds with a steady flow of destitute patients.</div>
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While taxpayers paid millions of dollars in fraudulent <a data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?hl=en&q=http://www.chicagotribune.com/topic/health/healthcare/medicaid-HEPRG00001-topic.html&source=gmail&ust=1513866591719000&usg=AFQjCNFsFqtjDUMWQqlglUcF-VmYkLkENA" href="http://www.chicagotribune.com/topic/health/healthcare/medicaid-HEPRG00001-topic.html" id="m_3187257695871180393ydp1dbb889eHEPRG00001" rel="nofollow" style="color: #144a7c;" target="_blank" title="Medicaid">Medicaid</a> and <a data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?hl=en&q=http://www.chicagotribune.com/topic/health/healthcare/medicare-HEPRG00002-topic.html&source=gmail&ust=1513866591719000&usg=AFQjCNFa7AIlPFUq6_0CUhyMiNNi-o4TpQ" href="http://www.chicagotribune.com/topic/health/healthcare/medicare-HEPRG00002-topic.html" id="m_3187257695871180393ydp1dbb889eHEPRG00002" rel="nofollow" style="color: #144a7c;" target="_blank" title="Medicare">Medica<wbr></wbr>re</a> bills, one <a data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?hl=en&q=http://www.chicagotribune.com/topic/health/diseases-illnesses/alzheimers-disease-HEDAI000007-topic.html&source=gmail&ust=1513866591719000&usg=AFQjCNEcmeFc6iluTRLVK7ohq_z8aBEn8Q" href="http://www.chicagotribune.com/topic/health/diseases-illnesses/alzheimers-disease-HEDAI000007-topic.html" id="m_3187257695871180393ydp1dbb889eHEDAI000007" rel="nofollow" style="color: #144a7c;" target="_blank" title="Alzheimer's Disease">Alzheimer's</a> patient was given inappropriate brain radiation treatments, a Borrasi associate told federal agents. A second patient, a disoriented elderly woman, was sent to an acute psychiatric ward after she refused to eat in her nursing home dining hall, another medical professional told federal agents.</div>
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"The fact that … greed subordinated the care of elderly and infirm patients who really needed it is horrific at best," federal prosecutors wrote in a court filing earlier this year after Borrasi was sentenced for accepting more than $500,000 in kickbacks to steer vulnerable patients. Prosecutors described "the scope and breadth of the bribes" as "extraordinary."</div>
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Borrasi, now serving a six-year stint in a Kentucky federal prison, declined to comment.</div>
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The illegal operation centered on Rock Creek Center, a now-shuttered psychiatric facility in southwest suburban Lemont. Also named but never charged in the federal probe were two of the state's largest nursing home chains, whose patients allegedly were used in the scheme, as well as executives from two well-known Chicago hospitals, Methodist and Loretto, which "paid Borrasi for patients," prosecutors wrote in a federal court filing. Federal anti-kickback laws prohibit facilities from offering payments or inducements in exchange for referring Medicaid or Medicare patients.</div>
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The crimes took place in 2002 and before, but it took federal agents years to uncover the conspiracy. Their investigative reports and transcripts of undercover recordings have surfaced only recently as the prosecutions near conclusion.</div>
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Advocates for the disabled such as ACLU attorney Benjamin Wolf believe similar patient-brokering schemes continue in Illinois today. Government-funded patients, Wolf said, "become a money machine" for the homes and hospitals alike.</div>
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Borrasi made himself the indispensible middleman in the patient-brokering racket: He worked at both nursing homes and hospitals and thus could shuttle hundreds of patients to maximize the facilities' profits. The brash medical group boss drove a Porsche, kept several mistresses and began wearing a bulletproof vest after being shot at close range in the parking lot of a nursing home in 2002, records show.</div>
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In addition to Borrasi, Rock Creek's CEO and its director of operations were sentenced for related crimes in recent months.</div>
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A fourth defendant, Dr. Naseem Chaudhry — a psychiatrist who worked as a consultant for Borrasi's medical group and also as medical director of Rock Creek — pleaded guilty<span> </span><span class="aBn" data-term="goog_1083121762" style="border-bottom-color: rgb(204, 204, 204); border-bottom-style: dashed; border-bottom-width: 1px; position: relative; top: -2px; z-index: 0;" tabindex="0"><span class="aQJ" style="position: relative; top: 2px; z-index: -1;">Wednesday</span></span><span> </span>to one count of health care fraud. His sentencing is scheduled for August.</div>
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Federal agents have traced a cat's cradle of illicit payments, with money allegedly flowing to and from Borrasi through the medical group he owned and operated.</div>
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To ensure a steady stream of patients to their facilities, operators of hospitals and nursing homes paid Borrasi's medical group "stipends" that were really "bribes disguised as legitimate income," prosecutors said in court papers.</div>
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Four nursing homes linked to the Alden Management Services nursing home group, founded by Floyd Schlossberg, paid Borrasi's medical group stipends totaling $54,000 in 2002, according to records and interviews. Borrasi told his medical colleague and co-worker Abhin Singla that Alden nursing homes were paying him "in exchange for admitting patients" there, according to the federal investigative reports. Schlossberg and Alden representatives declined to comment.</div>
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Methodist Hospital of Chicago, on the North Side, paid Borrasi's group stipends of $8,267 in 2000, while Loretto Hospital, on the West Side, paid $12,500 in 2002, records and interviews show. Prosecutors said Borrasi had "payment-for-referral arrangements" at both places, but the facilities declined to comment.</div>
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Also paying Borrasi's medical group and serving as a source of patients, according to prosecutors and court exhibits, were nursing homes operated by Philip Esformes and his father, Morris Esformes. They and their companies have an ownership stake or management and consulting role in 28 nursing facilities in Illinois and Florida.</div>
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Three Esformes facilities paid Borrasi's group a total of $25,400 from 2000 to 2002, according to government records and interviews. Borrasi was medical director at Burnham Healthcare, for example, from approximately July 2000 through December 2002, and he continued to see patients there for several years afterward, records and interviews show.</div>
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Through their attorneys, Philip and Morris Esformes vigorously denied wrongdoing and said the payments to Borrasi "were market rate and ordinary and customary payments for services as medical director," adding that Borrasi did a good job.</div>
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"There is absolutely no evidence that these payments were tied into patient referrals," said attorney Michael Pasano.</div>
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Attorneys for the Esformeses say their clients have never been contacted by federal investigators regarding the patient-brokering allegations.</div>
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Government records raise questions about the quality of care provided by Borrasi's medical group at Esformes homes. At Burnham, for example, Borrasi knew two of his doctors were not visiting some patients, but he "fixed all the charts ... to conceal the fact that services were not provided," one of those doctors, Singla, told authorities.</div>
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For his part, Borrasi allegedly told co-workers that he felt obliged to do financial favors for nursing home operators who supplied patients. As federal prosecutors put it in one court filing, Borrasi "‘bought' control of (patients) from corrupt nursing home operators and rented them to those hospitals that were willing to pay him for (the) privilege of housing them."</div>
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"I have to, you know, quite honestly, pay some people off. Pay money," Borrasi told fellow doctors on one recording. Prosecutors did not specify who those people were.</div>
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The corruption embedded into a medical system meant to care for society's most vulnerable was fueled by competition for Medicare and Medicaid patients to fill nursing home and hospital beds, the federal reports show.</div>
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Hospital and nursing home "recruiters" got new patients "from the gutter, they get them from shelters. They get them from the sidewalks," Borrasi said on one undercover recording. The recruiters spotted likely candidates "just kind of like being bummed out and sitting in the emergency rooms and talk to 'em and say, ‘... We can get you some food, get you a nice place to live.'"</div>
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A single homeless person could bring a nursing home $100 per day in Medicaid reimbursements and become a "$35,000-a-year item," Borrasi told his fellow doctors.</div>
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At Rock Creek, the impoverished patients were so valuable that the hospital admitted them from as far away as Florida and California, paid for plane tickets and dispatched limousines to pick them up at O'Hare or Midway, records and interviews show.</div>
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"I was sending a lot of people up there. Street people," Rock Creek recruiter Robert Revels told the Tribune. "It's a moneymaking thing, buddy." Revels was convicted of conspiring to receive payments from Rock Creek in return for referring patients there.</div>
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One employee at Rock Creek referred to Revels' patients as "psychiatric hobos" who were "looking for a vacation on public aid," federal investigative reports show. The facility paid Revels as much as $8,500 a month based on the number of patients he sent to the facility — a violation of federal law. And for other recruiters, who scoured Chicago's South Side for homeless people, envelopes stuffed with $500 cash for each new admission were allegedly left at the Rock Creek switchboard, one former hospital worker told federal investigators.</div>
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Housed at Rock Creek among vagrants, felons and substance abusers supplied by the recruiters were frail nursing home residents trapped in the scheme without their consent, records show.</div>
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When Rock Creek's census was low, a center employee would call one of the nursing homes and get patients admitted, former social services director Ilona McDougal told federal agents. Likewise, when a nursing home had a low census, Rock Creek patients were discharged there.</div>
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Many Alzheimer's and dementia patients were sent to Rock Creek with papers from the nursing homes alleging they had been "acting out," former Rock Creek discharge planner and clinical social worker Kimberly Reevas told federal agents. But those elderly people seemed docile and "not aware of their surroundings," Reevas said. Assigned to group therapy sessions, "they just sat there."</div>
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Reevas and McDougal were among numerous health care professionals who helped authorities uncover the fraud and mistreatment.</div>
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In addition to Rock Creek, Borrasi also sent nursing home patients to Methodist and Loretto. At Methodist, Singla told agents, only 10 percent of those medical admissions had legitimate illnesses, while the other 90 percent were placed in the hospital "under vague or false diagnoses."</div>
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Some patients were subjected to questionable procedures. At Methodist, Borrasi hospitalized an elderly Alzheimer's patient in 2001 with the sketchy diagnosis of "mental status change," then ordered several cycles of what Singla described as inappropriate brain radiation treatments.</div>
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When Singla raised questions, Borrasi responded by asking why Singla should care, "as long as (Singla) received the $80 a day for seeing the patient," a federal report said.</div>
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One mentally ill 66-year-old woman was transferred 35 times among five hospitals and three nursing homes while she was treated by Borrasi and his medical group from July 2000 through August 2003, according to court exhibits filed by prosecutors.</div>
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Such repeated shuttling of elderly or infirm patients can increase the likelihood of serious illness or death, according to a study cited by prosecutors. Yet, prosecutors alleged, "Borrasi seemed almost oblivious to the terrible impact his referral practice would inevitably have on his patients."</div>
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On tape, Borrasi acknowledged that once people were returned to their nursing homes, "they probably get even sicker."</div>
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Still, ailing nursing home patients were good for business, he said. "You get like X number more admissions because of that."</div>
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<a href="https://www.blogger.com/null" rel="nofollow" style="color: #144a7c;" target="_blank">dyjackson@tribune.com</a></div>
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Probate Sharkhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15689669875393000741noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4778927784145048761.post-15508184065619815102017-10-03T16:46:00.000-05:002017-10-03T16:46:15.320-05:00Finally the NEW YORKER recognized that guardian ships are in too many cases akin to Gulags<div style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: "courier new", courier, monaco, monospace, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; orphans: 2; text-decoration-color: initial; text-decoration-style: initial; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px;">
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Finally the NEW YORKER recognized that guardian ships are in too many cases akin to Gulags - with a profit motive. (The usual Gulag is political - however, it is appearing that the level of corruption associated with the criminal enterprise that a political motive may also exist) </div>
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Why protection of the elderly from the abuse of guardianships has not been a high priority is not a mystery! The money to be garnered is outrageous! (Sykes 3 million, Gore 1.5 million, Tyler 8 million***** plus MEDICARE FRAUD - plus sur charge of 700% AND the 18 USCA 371 co conspirators being ignored by the STate and Federal Taxing authorities). </div>
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Under ADA and the Federal and State Constitution many of these guardianships are patently UNCONSTITUTIONAL = BUT the fraud is way too profitable. (Philip Esformes was indicted for stealing a billion dollars - here in Illinois the GAL who allegedly orchestrated the Gore Estate, went down to Florida and bilked the F Estate out of million dollars pursuant to a settlement with the Florida Attorney General. Also in Illinois, Robert Jaycox went to his ultimate reward after the public guardian was unable to obtain a guardianship through the usual channels --He was then fed in a prone position, was rewarded with Aspirated Pneumonia and died. Cremation followed "post haste" and the good old USA paid! </div>
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On Monday, October 2, 2017, 9:37:43 PM CDT, j. d. <<a href="https://www.blogger.com/null" style="color: #1155cc;" target="_blank">jdit@aol.com</a>> wrote:</div>
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For years, Rudy North woke up at 9 <em class="m_5422906589607739718ydp1bbbacb0yiv6507255588small" style="font-style: inherit; text-transform: lowercase;">a</em>.<em class="m_5422906589607739718ydp1bbbacb0yiv6507255588small" style="font-style: inherit; text-transform: lowercase;">m</em>. and read the Las Vegas <em>Review-Journal</em> while eating a piece of toast. Then he read a novel—he liked James Patterson and Clive Cussler—or, if he was feeling more ambitious, Freud. On scraps of paper and legal notepads, he jotted down thoughts sparked by his reading. “Deep below the rational part of our brain is an underground ocean where strange things swim,” he wrote on one notepad. On another, “Life: the longer it cooks, the better it tastes.”</div>
Rennie, his wife of fifty-seven years, was slower to rise. She was recovering from lymphoma and suffered from neuropathy so severe that her legs felt like sausages. Each morning, she spent nearly an hour in the bathroom applying makeup and lotions, the same brands she’d used for forty years. She always emerged wearing pale-pink lipstick. Rudy, who was prone to grandiosity, liked to refer to her as “my amour.”<br />
On the <span class="aBn" data-term="goog_975866834" style="border-bottom-color: rgb(204, 204, 204); border-bottom-style: dashed; border-bottom-width: 1px; position: relative; top: -2px; z-index: 0;" tabindex="0"><span class="aQJ" style="position: relative; top: 2px; z-index: -1;">Friday</span></span> before Labor Day, 2013, the Norths had just finished their toast when a nurse, who visited five times a week to help Rennie bathe and dress, came to their house, in Sun City Aliante, an “active adult” community in Las Vegas. They had moved there in 2005, when Rudy, a retired consultant for broadcasters, was sixty-eight and Rennie was sixty-six. They took pride in their view of the golf course, though neither of them played golf.<br />
Rudy chatted with the nurse in the kitchen for twenty minutes, joking about marriage and laundry, until there was a knock at the door. A stocky woman with shiny black hair introduced herself as April Parks, the owner of the company A Private Professional Guardian. She was accompanied by three colleagues, who didn’t give their names. <span style="background-color: #fdef2b;">Parks told the Norths that she had an order from the Clark County Family Court to “remove” them from their home. She would be taking them to an assisted-living facility. “Go and gather your things,”</span> she said.<br />
Rennie began crying. “This is my home,” she said.<br />
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<span style="background-color: #fdef2b;">One of Parks’s colleagues said that if the Norths didn’t comply he would call the police. Rudy remembers thinking, You’re going to put my wife and me in jail for this?</span> But he felt too confused to argue.<br />
Parks drove a Pontiac G-6 convertible with a license plate that read “<em class="m_5422906589607739718ydp1bbbacb0yiv6507255588small" style="font-style: inherit; text-transform: lowercase;">crtgrdn</em>,” for “court guardian.” <span style="background-color: #fdef2b;">In the past twelve years, she had been a guardian for some four hundred wards of the court. Owing to age or disability, they had been deemed incompetent, a legal term that describes those who are unable to make reasoned choices about their lives or their property. As their guardian, Parks had the authority to manage their assets, and to choose where they lived, whom they associated with, and what medical treatment they received. They lost nearly all their civil rights.</span><br />
Without realizing it, the Norths had become temporary wards of the court. Parks had filed an emergency ex-parte petition, which provides an exception to the rule that both parties must be notified of any argument before a judge. She had alleged that the Norths posed a “substantial risk for mismanagement of medications, financial loss and physical harm.” She submitted a brief letter from a physician’s assistant, whom Rennie had seen once, stating that “the patient’s husband can no longer effectively take care of the patient at home as his dementia is progressing.” She also submitted a letter from one of Rudy’s doctors, who described him as “confused and agitated.”<br />
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<span style="background-color: #fdef2b;">Rudy and Rennie had not undergone any cognitive assessments. They had never received a diagnosis of dementia. </span>In addition to Freud, Rudy was working his way through Nietzsche and Plato. Rennie read romance novels.<br />
<span style="background-color: #fdef2b;">Parks told the Norths that if they didn’t come willingly an ambulance would take them to the facility,</span> a place she described as a “respite.” Still crying, Rennie put cosmetics and some clothes into a suitcase. She packed so quickly that she forgot her cell phone and Rudy’s hearing aid. After thirty-five minutes, Parks’s assistant led the Norths to her car. When a neighbor asked what was happening, Rudy told him, “We’ll just be gone for a little bit.” He was too proud to draw attention to their predicament. “Just think of it as a mini-vacation,” he told Rennie.</div>
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After the Norths left, Parks walked through the house with Cindy Breck, the owner of <b style="background-color: #fdef2b;">Caring Transitions, </b>a company that relocates seniors and sells their belongings at estate sales. Breck and Parks had a routine. “We open drawers,” Parks said at a deposition. “We look in closets. We pull out boxes, anything that would store—that would keep paperwork, would keep valuables.” She took a pocket watch, birth certificates, insurance policies, and several collectible coins.</div>
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<span style="background-color: #fdef2b;">The Norths’ daughter, Julie Belshe, came to visit later that afternoon. A fifty-three-year-old mother of three sons, she and her husband run a small business designing and constructing pools. She lived ten miles away and visited her parents nearly every day, often taking them to her youngest son’s football games. She was her parents’ only living child; her brother and sister had died.</span></div>
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She knocked on the front door several times and then tried to push the door open, but it was locked. She was surprised to see the kitchen window closed; her parents always left it slightly open. She drove to the Sun City Aliante clubhouse, where her parents sometimes drank coffee. When she couldn’t find them there, she thought that perhaps they had gone on an errand together—the farthest they usually drove was to Costco. But, when she returned to the house, it was still empty.</div>
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That weekend, she called her parents several times. She also called two hospitals to see if they had been in an accident. She called their landlord, too, and he agreed to visit the house. He reported that there were no signs of them. She told her husband, “I think someone kidnapped my parents.”</div>
<span style="font-weight: normal;">On the <span class="aBn" data-term="goog_975866835" style="border-bottom-color: rgb(204, 204, 204); border-bottom-style: dashed; border-bottom-width: 1px; position: relative; top: -2px; z-index: 0;" tabindex="0"><span class="aQJ" style="position: relative; top: 2px; z-index: -1;">Tuesday</span></span> after Labor Day, she drove to the house again and found a note taped to the door: “In case of emergency, contact guardian April Parks.” </span><b style="background-color: #fdef2b;">Belshe dialled the number. Parks, who had a brisk, girlish way of speaking, told Belshe that her parents had been taken to Lakeview Terrace, </b>an assisted-living facility in Boulder City, nine miles from the Arizona border. She assured Belshe that the staff there would take care of all their needs.<br />
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“You can’t just walk into somebody’s home and take them!” Belshe told her.</div>
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Parks responded calmly, “It’s legal. It’s legal.”</div>
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Guardianship derives from the state’s <em>parens patriae</em> power, its duty to act as a parent for those considered too vulnerable to care for themselves. “The King shall have the custody of the lands of natural fools, taking the profits of them without waste or destruction, and shall find them their necessaries,” reads the English statute <em>De Prerogative Regis</em>, from 1324. The law was imported to the colonies—guardianship is still controlled by state, not federal, law—and has remained largely intact for the past eight hundred years. It establishes a relationship between ward and guardian that is rooted in trust.</div>
<span style="background-color: #fdef2b; font-family: "verdana" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">In the United States, a million and a half adults are under the care of guardians, either family members or professionals, who control some two hundred and seventy-three billion dollars in assets</span><span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "helvetica" , "arial" , sans-serif;"><span style="background-color: #fdef2b;">, </span>according to an auditor for the guardianship fraud program in Palm Beach County. Little is known about the outcome of these arrangements, because states do not keep complete figures on guardianship cases—statutes vary widely—and, in most jurisdictions, the court records are sealed. A Government Accountability report from 2010 said, “We could not locate a single Web site, federal agency, state or local entity, or any other organization that compiles comprehensive information on this issue.” <span style="background-color: #fdef2b;">A study published this year by the American Bar Association found that “an unknown number of adults languish under guardianship” when they no longer need it, or never did</span>. The authors wrote that “guardianship is generally “permanent, leaving no way out—‘until death do us part.’ ”</span><br />
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When the Norths were removed from their home, they joined nearly nine thousand adult wards in the Las Vegas Valley. In the past twenty years, the city has promoted itself as a retirement paradise. Attracted by the state’s low taxes and a dry, sunny climate, elderly people leave their families behind to resettle in newly constructed senior communities. “The whole town sparkled, pulling older people in with the prospect of the American Dream at a reasonable price,” a former real-estate agent named Terry Williams told me. Roughly thirty per cent of the people who move to Las Vegas are senior citizens, and the number of Nevadans older than eighty-five has risen by nearly eighty per cent in the past decade.</div>
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In Nevada, as in many states, anyone can become a guardian by taking a course, as long as he or she has not been convicted of a felony or recently declared bankruptcy. <span style="background-color: #fdef2b;">Elizabeth Brickfield, a Las Vegas lawyer who has worked in guardianship law for twenty years, said that about fifteen years ago, as the state’s elderly population swelled, “all these private guardians started arriving, and the docket exploded. The court became a factory.”</span></div>
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Pamela Teaster, the director of the Center for Gerontology at Virginia Tech and one of the few scholars in the country who study guardianship, told me that, though most guardians assume their duties for good reasons, the guardianship system is “a morass, a total mess.” She said, “It is unconscionable that we don’t have any data, when you think about the vast power given to a guardian. It is one of society’s most drastic interventions.”</div>
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After talking to Parks, Belshe drove forty miles to Lakeview Terrace, a complex of stucco buildings designed to look like a hacienda. She found her parents in a small room with a kitchenette and a window overlooking the parking lot. Rennie was in a wheelchair beside the bed, and Rudy was curled up on a love seat in the fetal position. There was no phone in the room. Medical-alert buttons were strung around their necks. “They were like two lost children,” Belshe said.</div>
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She asked her parents who Parks was and where she could find the court order, but, she said, “they were overwhelmed and humiliated, and they didn’t know what was going on.” They had no idea how or why Parks had targeted them as wards. Belshe was struck by their passive acceptance. “It was like they had Stockholm syndrome or something,” she told me.<br />
Belshe acknowledged that her parents needed a few hours of help each day, but she had never questioned their ability to live alone. “They always kept their house really nice and clean, like a museum,” she said. Although Rudy’s medical records showed that he occasionally had “staring spells,” all his medical-progress notes from 2013 described him as alert and oriented. He did most of the couple’s cooking and shopping, because Rennie, though lucid, was in so much pain that she rarely left the house. Belshe sometimes worried that her father inadvertently encouraged her mother to be docile: “She’s a very smart woman, though she sometimes acts like she’s not. I have to tell her, ‘That’s not cute, Mom.’ ”<br />
When Belshe called Parks to ask for the court order, Parks told her that she was part of the “sandwich generation,” and that it would be too overwhelming for her to continue to care for her children and her parents at the same time. <span style="background-color: #fdef2b;">Parks billed her wards’ estates for each hour that she spent on their case; the court placed no limits on guardians’ fees, as long as they appeared “reasonable.” Later, when Belshe called again to express her anger, Parks charged the Norths twenty-four dollars for the eight-minute conversation. “I could not understand what the purpose of the call was other than she wanted me to know they had rights,” Parks wrote in a detailed invoice. “I terminated the phone call as she was very hostile and angry.”</span></div>
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A month after removing the Norths from their house, Parks petitioned to make the guardianship permanent. She was represented by an attorney who was paid four hundred dollars an hour by the Norths’ estate. A hearing was held at Clark County Family Court.</div>
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The Clark County guardianship commissioner, a lawyer named Jon Norheim, has presided over nearly all the guardianship cases in the county since 2005. He works under the supervision of a judge, but his orders have the weight of a formal ruling. <span style="background-color: #fdef2b;">Norheim awarded a guardianship to Parks, on average, nearly once a week. She had up to a hundred wards at a time. “I love April Parks,” he said at one hearing, describing her and two other professional guardians, who frequently appeared in his courtroom, as “wonderful, good-hearted, social-worker types.”</span></div>
Norheim’s court perpetuated a cold, unsentimental view of family relations: <span style="background-color: #fdef2b; color: black;">the ingredients for a good life seemed to have little to do with one’s children and siblings. He often dismissed the objections of relatives, telling them that his only concern was the best interest of the wards, </span>which he seemed to view in a social vacuum. When siblings fought over who would be guardian, Norheim typically ordered a neutral professional to assume control, even when this isolated the wards from their families. <span style="background-color: black;"><span style="color: white;">Comment: So much for the RULE OF LAW!</span></span><br />
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Rudy had assured Belshe that he would protest the guardianship, but, like most wards in the country, Rudy and Rennie were not represented by counsel. As Rudy stood before the commissioner, he convinced himself that guardianship offered him and Rennie a lifetime of care without being a burden to anyone they loved. He told Norheim, “The issue really is her longevity—what suits her.” Belshe, who sat in the courtroom, said, “I was shaking my head. No, no, no—don’t do that!” Rennie was silent.</div>
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<span style="background-color: #fdef2b;">Norheim ordered that the Norths become permanent wards of the court. “Chances are, I’ll probably never see you folks again; you’ll work everything out,” he said, laughing. “I very rarely see people after the initial time in court.” The hearing lasted ten minutes.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: black;"><span style="color: white;">Comment: so much for the victims assets!</span></span></div>
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The following month, Even Tide Life Transitions, a company that Parks often hired, sold most of the Norths’ belongings. “The general condition of this inventory is good,” an appraiser wrote. Two lithographs by Renoir were priced at thirty-eight hundred dollars, and a glass cocktail table (“Client states that it is a Brancusi design”) was twelve hundred and fifty dollars. The Norths also had several pastel drawings by their son, Randy, who died in a motorcycle accident at the age of thirty-two, as well as Kachina dolls, a Bose radio, a Dyson vacuum cleaner, a Peruvian tapestry, a motion-step exerciser, a LeRoy Neiman sketch of a bar in Dublin, and two dozen pairs of Clarke shoes. According to Parks’s calculations, the Norths had roughly fifty thousand dollars. Parks transferred their savings, held at the Bank of America, to an account in her name.</div>
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Rennie repeatedly asked for her son’s drawings, and for the family photographs on her refrigerator. Rudy pined for his car, a <span class="aBn" data-term="goog_975866836" style="border-bottom-color: rgb(204, 204, 204); border-bottom-style: dashed; border-bottom-width: 1px; position: relative; top: -2px; z-index: 0;" tabindex="0"><span class="aQJ" style="position: relative; top: 2px; z-index: -1;">midnight</span></span>-blue 2010 Chrysler, which came to symbolize the life he had lost. He missed the routine interactions that driving had allowed him. “Everybody at the pharmacy was my buddy,” he said. Now he and Rennie felt like exiles. Rudy said, “They kept telling me, ‘Oh, you don’t have to worry: your car is fine, and this and that.’ ” A month later, he said, “they finally told me, ‘Actually, we sold your car.’ I said, ‘What in the hell did you sell it for?’ ” It was bought for less than eight thousand dollars, a price that Rudy considered insulting.</div>
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Rudy lingered in the dining room after eating breakfast each morning, chatting with other residents of Lakeview Terrace. <span style="background-color: #fdef2b;">He soon discovered that ten other wards of April Parks lived there. His next-door neighbor, Adolfo Gonzalez, a short, bald seventy-one-year-old who had worked as a maître d’ at the MGM Grand Las Vegas, had become Parks’s ward at a hearing that lasted a minute and thirty-one seconds</span>.</div>
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Gonzalez, who had roughly three hundred and fifty thousand dollars in assets, urged Rudy not to accept the nurse’s medications. <span style="background-color: #fdef2b;">“If you take the pills, they’ll make sure you don’t make it to court,” he said. Gonzalez had been prescribed the antipsychotic medications Risperdal and Depakote, which he hid in the side of his mouth without swallowing. He wanted to remain vigilant.</span> He often spoke of a Salvador Dali painting that had been lost when Parks took over his life. Once, she charged him two hundred and ten dollars for a visit in which, according to her invoice, he expressed that “he feels like a prisoner.”</div>
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Rudy was so distressed by his conversations with Gonzalez that he asked to see a psychologist. “I thought maybe he’d give me some sort of objective learning as to what I was going through,” he said. “I wanted to ask basic questions, like What the hell is going on?” Rudy didn’t find the session illuminating, but he felt a little boost to his self-esteem when the psychologist asked that he return for a second appointment. “I guess he found me terribly charming,” he told me.</div>
Rudy liked to fantasize about an alternative life as a psychoanalyst, and he tried to befriend the wards who seemed especially hopeless. “Loneliness is a physical pain that hurts all over,” he wrote in his notebook. He bought a pharmaceutical encyclopedia and advised the other wards about medications they’d been prescribed. He also ran for president of the residents, promising that under his leadership the kitchen would no longer advertise canned food as homemade. (He lost—he’s not sure if anyone besides Rennie voted for him—but he did win a seat on the residents’ council.) <span style="background-color: black;"><span style="color: white;"> comment: How can such a situation exist in America?</span></span><br />
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He was particularly concerned about a ward of Parks’s named Marlene Homer, a seventy-year-old woman who had been a professor. “Now she was almost hiding behind the pillars,” Rudy said. “She was so obsequious. She was, like, ‘Run me over. Run me over.’ ” She’d become a ward in 2012, after Parks told the court, “She has admitted to strange thoughts, depression, and doing things she can’t explain.” On a certificate submitted to the court, an internist had checked a box indicating that Homer was “unable to attend the guardianship court hearing because______,” but he didn’t fill in a reason.</div>
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<span class="m_5422906589607739718ydp1bbbacb0yiv6507255588ImageCaption__caption___1EOQO" style="color: black; font-size: 18px; font-style: italic; line-height: 1.22; margin-right: 3px;">“I’m ashamed of it all, to be honest.”</span></a><br /></div>
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The Norths could guess which residents were Parks’s wards by the way they were dressed. Gonzalez wore the same shirt to dinner nearly every day. “Forgive me,” he told the others at his table. When a friend tried to take him shopping, Parks prevented the excursion because she didn’t know the friend. Rennie had also tried to get more clothes. “I reminded ward that she has plenty of clothing in her closet,” Parks wrote. “I let her know that they are on a tight budget.” The Norths’ estate was charged a hundred and eighty dollars for the conversation.</div>
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Another resident, Barbara Neely, a fifty-five-year-old with schizophrenia, repeatedly asked Parks to buy her outfits for job interviews. She was applying for a position with the Department of Education. After Neely’s third week at Lakeview Terrace, Parks’s assistant sent Parks a text. “Can you see Barbara Neely anytime this week?” she wrote. “She has questions on the guardianship and how she can get out of it.” Parks responded, “I can and she can’t.” Neely had been in the process of selling her house, for a hundred and sixty-eight thousand dollars, when Parks became her guardian and took charge of the sale.</div>
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The rationale for the guardianship of Norbert Wilkening, who lived on the bottom floor of the facility, in the memory-care ward, for people with dementia (“the snake pit,” Rudy called it), was also murky. Parks’s office manager, who advertised himself as a “Qualified Dementia Care Specialist”—a credential acquired through video training sessions—had given Wilkening a “Mini-Mental State Examination,” a list of eleven questions and tasks, including naming as many animals as possible in a minute. Wilkening had failed. His daughter, Amy, told me, “I didn’t see anything that was happening to him other than a regular getting-older process, but when I was informed by all these people that he had all these problems I was, like, Well, maybe I’m just in denial. I’m not a professional.” She said that Parks was “so highly touted. By herself, by the social workers, by the judge, by everyone that knew her.”</div>
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<span style="background-color: #fdef2b;">At a hearing, when Amy complained to Norheim that Parks didn’t have time for her father, he replied, “Yeah, she’s an industry at this point.”</span></div>
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As Belshe spoke to more wards and their families, she began to realize that Lakeview Terrace was not the only place where wards were lodged, and that Parks was not the only guardian removing people from their homes for what appeared to be superficial reasons. <span style="background-color: #fdef2b;">Hundreds of cases followed the same pattern. It had become routine for guardians in Clark County to petition for temporary guardianship on an ex-parte basis. They told the court that they had to intervene immediately because the ward faced a medical emergency that was only vaguely described: he or she was demented or disoriented, and at risk of exploitation or abuse. The guardians attached a brief physician’s certificate that contained minimal details and often stated that the ward was too incapacitated to attend a court hearing. Debra Bookout, an attorney at the Legal Aid Center of Southern Nevada, told me, “When a hospital or rehab facility needs to free up a bed, or when the patient is not paying his bills, some doctors get sloppy, and they will sign anything.” A recent study conducted by Hunter College found that a quarter of guardianship petitions in New York were brought by nursing homes and hospitals, sometimes as a means of collecting on overdue bills.</span></div>
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It often took several days for relatives to realize what had happened. When they tried to contest the guardianship or become guardians themselves, they were dismissed as unsuitable, and disparaged in court records as being neglectful, or as drug addicts, gamblers, and exploiters. (Belshe was described by Parks as a “reported addict” who “has no contact with the proposed ward,” an allegation that Belshe didn’t see until it was too late to challenge.) <span style="background-color: #fdef2b;">Family who lived out of state were disqualified from serving as guardians, because the law prohibited the appointment of anyone who didn’t live in Nevada.</span></div>
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Once the court approved the guardianship, the wards were often removed from their homes, which were eventually sold. Terry Williams, whose father’s estate was taken over by strangers even though he’d named her the executor of his will, has spent years combing through guardianship, probate, and real-estate records in Clark County. “I kept researching, because I was so fascinated that these people could literally take over the lives and assets of people under color of law, in less than ten minutes, and nobody was asking questions,” she told me. “These people spent their lives accumulating wealth and, in a blink of an eye, it was someone else’s.”</div>
Williams has reviewed hundreds of cases involving Jared Shafer, who is considered the godfather of guardians in Nevada. In the records room of the courthouse, <b style="background-color: #fdef2b;">she was afraid to say Shafer’s name out loud</b>. In the course of his thirty-five-year career, Shafer has assumed control of more than three thousand wards and estates and trained a generation of guardians. In 1979, he became the county’s public administrator, handling the estates of people who had no relatives in Nevada, as well as the public guardian, serving wards when no family members or private guardians were available. In 2003, he left government and founded his own private guardianship and fiduciary business; he transferred the number of his government-issued phone to himself.<br />
<b style="background-color: #fdef2b;">Williams took records from Shafer’s and other guardians’ cases to the Las Vegas police department several times. She tried to explain, she said, that “this is a racketeering operation that is fee-based. There’s no brown paper bag handed off in an alley. The payoff is the right to bill the estate.” </b><span style="font-weight: normal;">The department repeatedly told her that it was a civil issue, and refused to take a report. In 2006, she submitted a typed statement, listing twenty-three statutes that she thought had been violated, but an officer wrote in the top right corner, “<em class="m_5422906589607739718ydp1bbbacb0yiv6507255588small" style="font-style: inherit; text-transform: lowercase;">not a police matter</em>.” <span style="background-color: #fdef2b;">Adam Woodrum, an estate lawyer in Las Vegas, told me that he’s worked with several wards and their families who have brought their complaints to the police. “They can’t even get their foot in the door,” he said</span>.</span><br />
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<span style="background-color: #fdef2b;">Acting as her own attorney, Williams filed a racketeering suit in federal court against Shafer and the lawyers who represented him. At a hearing before the United States District Court of Central California in 2009, she told the judge, “They are trumping up ways and means to deem people incompetent and take their assets.” The case was dismissed. </span>“The scheme is ingenious,” she told me. “How do you come up with a crime that literally none of the victims can articulate without sounding like they’re nuts? The same insane allegations keep surfacing from people who don’t know each other.”</div>
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In 2002, in a petition to the Clark County District Court, a fifty-seven-year-old man complained that his mother had lost her constitutional rights because her kitchen was understocked and a few bills hadn’t been paid. The house they shared was then placed on the market. The son wrote, “If the only showing necessary to sell the home right out from under someone is that their ‘estate’ would benefit, then no house in Clark County is safe, nor any homeowner.” <span style="background-color: #fdef2b;">Under the guise of benevolent paternalism, guardians seemed to be creating a kind of capitalist dystopia: people’s quality of life was being destroyed in order to maximize their capita</span>l.</div>
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When Concetta Mormon, a wealthy woman who owned a Montessori school, became Shafer’s ward because she had aphasia, Shafer sold the school midyear, even though students were enrolled. At a hearing after the sale, Mormon’s daughter, Victoria Cloutier, constantly spoke out of turn. <span style="background-color: #fdef2b;">The judge, Robert Lueck, ordered that she be handcuffed and placed in a holding cell while the hearing continued. </span>Two hours later, when Cloutier was allowed to return for the conclusion, the judge told her that she had thirty days in which to vacate her mother’s house. If she didn’t leave, she would be evicted and her belongings would be taken to Goodwill.</div>
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The opinions of wards were also disregarded. In 2010, Guadalupe Olvera, a ninety-year-old veteran of the Second World War, repeatedly asked that his daughter and not Shafer be appointed his guardian. “The ward is not to go to court,” Shafer instructed his assistants. <span style="background-color: #fdef2b;">When Olvera was finally permitted to attend a hearing, nearly a year after becoming a ward, he expressed his desire to live with his daughter in California, rather than under Shafer’s care. “Why is everybody against that?” he asked Norheim. “I don’t need that man.” Although Nevada’s guardianship law requires that courts favor relatives over professionals, Norheim continued the guardianship, saying, “The priority ship sailed.”</span></div>
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When Olvera’s daughter eventually defied the court’s orders and took her father to live at her seaside home in Northern California, Norheim’s supervisor, <span style="background-color: #fdef2b;">Judge Charles Hoskin, issued an arrest warrant for her “immediate arrest and incarceration” without bail.</span> The warrant was for contempt of court, but Norheim said at least five times from the bench that she had “kidnapped” Olvera. At a hearing, Norheim acknowledged that he wasn’t able to send an officer across state lines to arrest the daughter. Shafer said, “Maybe I can.”</div>
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S<span style="background-color: #fdef2b;">hafer held so much sway in the courtroom that, in 2013, when an attorney complained that the bank account of a ward named Kristina Berger had “no money left and no records to explain where it went,” Shafer told Norheim, “Close the courtroom.</span>” Norheim immediately complied. A dozen people in attendance were forced to leave.</div>
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One of Shafer’s former bookkeepers, Lisa Clifton, who was hired in 2012, told me that<span style="background-color: #fdef2b;"> Shafer used to brag about his political connections, saying, “I wrote the laws.”</span> In 1995, he persuaded the Nevada Senate Committee on Government Affairs to write a bill that allowed the county to receive interest on money that the public guardian invested. “This is what I want you to put in the statute, and <span style="background-color: #fdef2b;">I will tell you that you will get a rousing hand from a couple of judges who practice our probate,” </span>he said. At another hearing, he asked the committee to write an amendment permitting public guardians to take control of people’s property <span class="aBn" data-term="goog_975866838" style="border-bottom-color: rgb(204, 204, 204); border-bottom-style: dashed; border-bottom-width: 1px; position: relative; top: -2px; z-index: 0;" tabindex="0"><span class="aQJ" style="position: relative; top: 2px; z-index: -1;">in five days</span></span>, without a court order. “This bill is not ‘Big Brother’ if you trust the person who is doing the job,” he said. (After a senator expressed concern that the law allowed “intervention into somebody’s life without establishing some sort of reason why you are doing it,” the committee declined to recommend it.)</div>
Clifton observed that Shafer almost always took a cynical view of family members: they were never motivated by love or duty, only by avarice. “ ‘They just want the money’—that was his answer to everything,” she told me. “And I’m thinking to myself, Well, when family members die they pass it down to their children. Isn’t that just the normal progression of things?”<br />
After a few months on the job, Clifton was asked to work as a guardian, substituting for an absent employee, though she had never been trained. Her first assignment was to supervise a visit with a man named Alvin Passer, who was dying in the memory-care unit of a nursing home. His partner of eight years, Olive Manoli, was permitted a brief visit to say goodbye. Her visits had been restricted by Shafer—his lawyer told the court that Passer became “agitated and sexually aggressive” in her presence—and she hadn’t seen Passer in months. I<span style="background-color: #fdef2b;">n a futile attempt to persuade the court to allow her to be with him, Manoli had submitted a collection of love letters, as well as notes from ten people describing her desire to care for Passer for the rest of his life. </span>“I was absolutely appalled,” Clifton said. “She was this very sweet lady, and I said, ‘Go in there and spend as much time with him as you want.’ Tears were rolling down her cheeks.”<br />
<span style="background-color: #fdef2b;">The family seemed to have suffered a form of court-sanctioned gaslighting. Passer’s daughter, Joyce, a psychiatric nurse who specialized in geriatrics, had been abruptly removed as her father’s co-guardian, because she appeared “unwilling or (more likely) unable to conduct herself rationally in the Ward’s best interests,” according to motions filed by one of Shafer’s attorneys</span>.<br />
She and Manoli had begged Norheim not to appoint Shafer as guardian. “Sir, he’s abusive,” their lawyer said in court.<br />
“He’s as good as we got, and I trust him completely,” Norheim responded.<br />
Joyce Passer was so confused by the situation that, she said, “I thought I was crazy.” Then she received a call from a blocked number. It was Terry Williams, who did not reveal her identity. She had put together a list of a half-dozen family members who she felt were “ready to receive some kind of verbal support.” She told Passer, “Look, you are not nuts. This is real. Everything you are thinking is true. This has been going on for years.”</div>
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<span style="background-color: #fdef2b; color: black;">During Rennie North’s first year at Lakeview Terrace, she gained sixty pounds. Parks had switched the Norths’ insurance, for reasons she never explained, and Rennie began seeing new doctors, who prescribed Valium, Prozac, the sedative Temazepam, Oxycodone, and Fentanyl. The doses steadily increased. Rudy, who had hip pain, was prescribed Oxycodone and Valium. When he sat down to read, the sentences floated past his eyes or appeared in duplicate. “Ward seemed very tired and his eyes were glassy,” Parks wrote in an invoice. </span><span style="background-color: black;"><span style="color: white;">Comment - here is your oxioid problem - and American health care pays for it!</span></span></div>
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Belshe found it increasingly hard to communicate with her parents, who napped for much of the day. “They were being overmedicated to the point where they weren’t really there,” she said. The Norths’ grandsons, who used to see them every week, rarely visited. “It was degrading for them to see us so degraded,” Rudy said. Parks noticed that Rennie was acting helpless, and urged her to “try harder to be more motivated and not be so dependent on others.” Rudy and Rennie began going to <span class="aBn" data-term="goog_975866839" style="border-bottom-color: rgb(204, 204, 204); border-bottom-style: dashed; border-bottom-width: 1px; position: relative; top: -2px; z-index: 0;" tabindex="0"><span class="aQJ" style="position: relative; top: 2px; z-index: -1;">Sunday</span></span> church services at the facility, even though they were Jewish. Rudy was heartened by what he heard in the pastor’s message: “Don’t give up. God will help you get out of here.” He began telling people, “We are living the life of Job.”</div>
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At the end of 2014, Lakeview Terrace hired a new director, Julie Liebo, who resisted Parks’s orders that medical information about wards be kept from their families. Liebo told me, “The families were devastated that they couldn’t know if the residents were in surgery or hear anything about their health. They didn’t understand why they’d been taken out of the picture. They’d ask, ‘Can you just tell me if she’s alive?’ ” Liebo tried to comply with the rules, because she didn’t want to violate medical-privacy laws; as guardian, Parks was entitled to choose what was disclosed. Once, though, Liebo took pity on the sister of an eighty-year-old ward named Dorothy Smith, who was mourning a dog that Parks had given away, and told her that Smith was stable. Liebo said that Parks, who was by then the secretary of the Nevada Guardianship Association, called her immediately. “She threatened my license and said she could have me arrested,” Liebo told me.</div>
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After Liebo arrived, <span style="background-color: #fdef2b;">Parks began removing wards from Lakeview Terrace with less than a day’s notice. </span>A woman named Linda Phillips, who had dementia, was told that she was going to the beauty salon. She never returned. Marlene Homer, the ward whose ailments were depression and “strange thoughts,” was taken away in a van, screaming. Liebo had asked the state ombudsman to come to the facility and stop the removals, but nothing could be done. “We stood there completely helpless,” Liebo said. “We had no idea where they were going.” Liebo said that other wards asked her if they would be next.</div>
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Liebo alerted the compliance officer for the Clark County Family Court that Parks was removing residents “without any concern for them and their choice to stay here.” She also reported her complaints to the police, the Department of Health Services, the Bureau of Health Care, and Nevada Adult Protective Services. She said each agency told her that it didn’t have the authority or the jurisdiction to intervene.</div>
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At the beginning of 2015, Parks told the Norths that they would be leaving Lakeview Terrace. “Finances are low and the move is out of our control,” Parks wrote. It was all arranged so quickly that, Rudy said, “we didn’t have time to say goodbye to people we’d been eating with for seventeen months.” Parks arranged for Caring Transitions to move them to the Wentworth, a less expensive assisted-living facility. Liebo said that, the night before the move, Rudy began “shouting about the Holocaust, that this was like being in Nazi Germany.” Liebo didn’t think the reference was entirely misguided. “He reverted to a point where he had no rights as a human being,” she said. “He was no longer the caregiver, the man, the husband—all of the things that gave his life meaning.” Liebo also didn’t understand why Belshe had been marginalized. “She seemed like she had a great relationship with her parents,” she said.</div>
Belshe showed up at 9 <em class="m_5422906589607739718ydp1bbbacb0yiv6507255588small" style="font-style: inherit; text-transform: lowercase;">a</em>.<em class="m_5422906589607739718ydp1bbbacb0yiv6507255588small" style="font-style: inherit; text-transform: lowercase;">m</em>. to help her parents with the move, but when she arrived Parks’s assistant, Heidi Kramer, told her that her parents had already left. Belshe “emotionally crashed,” as Liebo put it. She yelled that her parents didn’t even wake up until nine or later—what was the rush? In an invoice, Kramer wrote that Belshe “began to yell and scream, her behavior was out of control, she was taking pictures and yelling, ‘April Parks is a thief.’ ” Kramer called the police. Liebo remembers that an officer “looked at Julie Belshe and told her she had no rights, and she didn’t.”<br />
Belshe cried as she drove to the Wentworth, in Las Vegas. When she arrived, Parks was there, and refused to let her see her parents. Parks wrote, “I told her that she was too distraught to see her parents, and that she needed to leave.” Belshe wouldn’t, so Parks asked the receptionist to call the police. When the police arrived, Belshe told them, “I just want to hug my parents and make sure they’re O.K.” An officer handed her a citation for trespassing, saying that if she returned to the facility she would be arrested.<br />
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Parks wrote that the Norths were “very happy with the new room and thanked us several times,” but Rudy remembers feeling as if he had “ended up in the sewer.” Their room was smaller than the one at Lakeview Terrace, and the residents at the Wentworth seemed older and sicker. “There were people sitting in their chairs, half-asleep,” Rudy said. “Their tongues hung out.”<br />
Rennie spent nearly all her time in her wheelchair or in bed, her eyes half-closed. Her face had become bloated. One night, she was so agitated that the nurses gave her Haldol, a drug commonly used to treat schizophrenia. When Rudy asked her questions, Rennie said “What?” in a soft, remote voice.</div>
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<span style="background-color: #fdef2b;">Shortly after her parents’ move, Belshe called an editor of the Vegas <em>Voice</em>, a newspaper distributed to all the mailboxes in senior communities in Las Vegas. In recent months, the paper had published three columns warning readers about Clark County guardians, writing that they “have been lining their pockets at the expense of unwitting seniors for a very long time.”</span></div>
At Belshe’s urging, the paper’s political editor, Rana Goodman, visited the Norths, and published an article in the <em>Voice</em>, describing Rudy as “the most articulate, soft spoken person I have met in a very long time.” She called Clark County’s guardianship system a “(legal) elder abuse racket” and urged readers to sign a petition demanding that the Nevada legislature reform the laws. More than three thousand people signed.<br />
<span class="aBn" data-term="goog_975866841" style="border-bottom-color: rgb(204, 204, 204); border-bottom-style: dashed; border-bottom-width: 1px; position: relative; top: -2px; z-index: 0;" tabindex="0"><span class="aQJ" style="position: relative; top: 2px; z-index: -1;">Two months later</span></span>, the <em>Review-Journal</em> ran an investigation, titled <a class="m_5422906589607739718ydp1bbbacb0yiv6507255588ArticleBody__link___1FS03" data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?hl=en&q=https://www.reviewjournal.com/local/local-las-vegas/clark-countys-private-guardians-may-protect-or-just-steal-and-abuse/&source=gmail&ust=1507151859973000&usg=AFQjCNGUBwZCD48_pxh__A6cphfFjntExw" href="https://www.reviewjournal.com/local/local-las-vegas/clark-countys-private-guardians-may-protect-or-just-steal-and-abuse/" rel="nofollow" style="color: inherit; margin-left: 1px; text-decoration: none;" target="_blank">“Clark County’s Private Guardians May Protect—Or Just Steal and Abuse,”</a> which described complaints against Shafer going back to the early eighties, when two of his employees were arrested for stealing from the estates of dead people.<br />
In May, 2015, a month after the article appeared, when the Norths went to court to discuss their finances local journalists were in the courtroom and Norheim seemed chastened. “I have grave concerns about this case,” he said. He noted that Parks had sold the Norths’ belongings without proper approval from his court. Parks had been doing this routinely for years, and, according to her, the court had always accepted her accounting and her fees. Her lawyer, Aileen Cohen, said, “Everything was done for the wards’ benefit, to support the wards.”<br />
Norheim announced that he was suspending Parks as the Norths’ guardian—the first time she had been removed from a case for misconduct.<br />
“This is important,” Rudy, who was wearing a double-breasted suit, said in court. “This is hope. I am coming here and I have hope.” He quoted the Bible, Thomas Jefferson, and Euripides, until Belshe finally touched his elbow and said, “Just sit down, Dad.”<br />
When Rudy apologized for being “overzealous,” Norheim told him, “This is your life. This is your liberty. You have every right to be here. You have every right to be involved in this project.”<br />
After the hearing, Parks texted her husband, “I am finished.”</div>
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<span style="background-color: #fdef2b;">Last March, Parks and her lawyer, along with her office manager and her husband, were indicted for perjury and theft, among other charges. The indictment was narrowly focussed on their double billings and their sloppy accounting, but, in a detailed summary of the investigation, Jaclyn O’Malley, who led the probe for the Nevada Attorney General’s Office, made passing references to the “collusion of hospital social workers and medical staff” who profited from their connection to Parks.</span> <span style="background-color: #fdf869;">At Parks’s grand-jury trial, her assistant testified that she and Parks went to hospitals and attorneys’ offices for the purpose of “building relationships to generate more client leads.” Parks secured a contract with six medical facilities whose staff agreed to refer patients to her—an arrangement that benefitted the facilities, since Parks controlled the decisions of a large pool of their potential consumers. Parks often gave doctors blank certificates and told them exactly what to write in order for their patients to become her wards.</span></div>
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Parks and other private guardians appeared to gravitate toward patients who had considerable assets. O’Malley described a 2010 case in which Parks, after receiving a tip from a social worker, began “cold-calling” rehabilitation centers, searching for a seventy-nine-year-old woman, Patricia Smoak, who had nearly seven hundred thousand dollars and no children. Parks finally found her, but Smoak’s physician wouldn’t sign a certificate of incapacity. “The doctor is not playing ball,” Parks wrote to her lawyer. She quickly found a different doctor to sign the certificate, and Norheim approved the guardianship. (Both Parks and Norheim declined to speak with me.)</div>
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Steve Miller, a former member of the Las Vegas City Council, said he assumed that Shafer would be the next indictment after Parks, who is scheduled to go to trial next spring. “All of the disreputable guardians were taking clues from the Shafer example,” he said. But, as the months passed, “I started to think that this has run its course locally. Only federal intervention is going to give us peace of mind.”</div>
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Richard Black, who, after his father-in-law was placed into guardianship, became the director of a grassroots national organization, Americans Against Abusive Probate Guardianship, said that he considered the Parks indictment “irrefutably shallow. It sent a strong message of: We’re not going to go after the real leaders of this, only the easy people, the ones who were arrogant and stupid enough to get caught.” He works with victims in dozens of what he calls “hot spots,” places where guardianship abuse is prevalent, often because they attract retirees: Palm Beach, Sarasota, Naples, Albuquerque, San Antonio. He said that the problems in Clark County are not unusual. “The only thing that is unique is that Clark County is one of the few jurisdictions that doesn’t seal its records, so we can see what is going on.”</div>
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<span style="background-color: #fdef2b;">Approximately ten per cent of people older than sixty-five are thought to be victims of “elder abuse”—a construct that has yet to enter public consciousness, </span>as child abuse has—but such cases are seldom prosecuted. People who are frail or dying don’t make good witnesses—a fact that Shafer once emphasized at a 1990 U.S. congressional hearing on crimes against the elderly, in which he appeared as an expert at preventing exploitation. “Seniors do not like to testify,” he said, adding that they were either incapable or “mesmerized by the person ripping them off.” He said, “The exploitation of seniors is becoming a real cottage industry right now. This is a good business. Seniors are unable to fend for themselves.”</div>
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In the past two years, Nevada has worked to reform its guardianship system through a commission, appointed by the Nevada Supreme Court, to study failures in oversight. In 2018, the Nevada legislature will enact a new law that entitles all wards to be represented by lawyers in court. <span style="background-color: #fdef2b;">But the state seems reluctant to reckon with the roots of the problem, as well as with its legacy: a generation of ill and elderly people who were deprived of their autonomy, and also of their families, in the final years of their lives.</span> Last spring, a man bought a storage unit in Henderson, Nevada, and discovered twenty-seven urns—the remains of Clark County wards who had never been buried.</div>
<b style="background-color: #fdef2b;">In the wake of Parks’s indictment, no judges have lost their jobs. </b>Norheim was transferred from guardianship court to dependency court, where he now oversees cases involving abused and neglected children. <span style="background-color: #fdef2b;">Shafer is still listed in the Clark County court system as a trustee and as an administrator in several open cases.</span> He did not respond to multiple e-mails and messages left with his bookkeeper, who answered his office phone but would not say whether he was still in practice. He did appear at one of the public meetings for the commission appointed to analyze flaws in the guardianship system. “What started all of this was me,” he said. Then he criticized local media coverage of the issue and said that a television reporter, whom he’d talked to briefly, didn’t know the facts. “The system works,” Shafer went on. “It’s not the guardians you have to be aware of, it’s more family members.” He wore a blue polo shirt, untucked, and his head was shaved. He looked aged, his arms dotted with sun spots, but he spoke confidently and casually. “The only person you folks should be thinking about when you change things is the ward. It’s their money, it’s their life, it’s their time. The family members don’t count.”</div>
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Belshe is resigned to the fact that she will be supporting her parents for the rest of their lives. <b style="background-color: #fdef2b;">Parks spent all the Norths’ money on fees—the hourly wages for her, her assistants, her lawyers, and the various contractors she hired—as well as on their monthly bills, which doubled under her guardianship.</b> Belshe guesses that Parks—or whichever doctor or social worker referred her to the Norths—had assumed that her parents were wealthier than they actually were. Rudy often talked vaguely about deals he had once made in China. “He exaggerates, so he won’t feel emasculated,” Belshe said. “He wasn’t such a big businessman, but he was a great dad.”</div>
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The Norths now live in what used to be Belshe’s home office; it has a window onto the living room which Belshe has covered with a tarp. Although the room is tiny, the Norths can fit most of their remaining belongings into it: a small lamp with teardrop crystals, a deflated love seat, and two paintings by their son. Belshe rescued the art work, in 2013, after Caring Transitions placed the Norths’ belongings in trash bags at the edge of their driveway. “My brother’s paintings were folded and smelled,” she said.</div>
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The Norths’ bed takes up most of the room, and operates as their little planet. They rarely stray far from it. They lie in bed playing cards or sit against the headboard, reading or watching TV. Rudy’s notebooks are increasingly focussed on mortality—“Death may be pleasurable”—and money. “Money monsters do well in this society,” he wrote. “All great fortunes began with a crime.” He creates lists of all the possessions he has lost, some of which he may be imagining: over time, Rennie’s wardrobe has become increasingly elaborate and refined, as have their sets of China. He alternates between feeling that his belongings are nothing—a distraction from the pursuit of meaning—and everything. “It’s an erasure,” he said. “They erase you from the face of the earth.” He told me a few times that he was a distant cousin of Leon Trotsky, “intellect of the revolution,” as he called him, and I wondered whether his newfound pride was connected to his conflicted feelings about the value of material objects.</div>
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A few months after the Norths were freed, R<span style="background-color: #fdef2b;">udy talked on the phone with Adolfo Gonzalez, his neighbor from Lakeview Terrace, who, after a doctor found him competent, had also been discharged. </span>He now lived in a house near the airport, and had been reunited with several of his pets. The two men congratulated each other. “We survived!” Rudy said. “We never thought we’d see each other on the other side.” Three other wards from Lakeview Terrace had died.</div>
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Rennie has lost nearly all the weight she gained at Lakeview Terrace, mostly because Belshe and her husband won’t let her lounge in her wheelchair or eat starchy foods. Now she uses a walker, which she makes self-deprecating jokes about. “This is fun—I can teach you!” she told me.</div>
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In July, Rennie slipped in the bathroom and spent a night in the hospital. Belshe didn’t want anyone to know about her mother’s fall, because, she said, “this is the kind of thing that gets you into guardianship.” She told me, “I feel like these people are just waiting in the bushes.”</div>
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Two days after the fall, Rennie was feeling better—she’d had thirteen stitches—but she was still agitated by a dream she had in the hospital. She wasn’t even sure if she’d been asleep; she remembers talking, and her eyes were open.</div>
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“You were loopedy-doopy,” Scott Belshe, Julie’s husband, told her. They were sitting on the couch in their living room.</div>
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“It was real,” Rennie said.</div>
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“You dreamed it,” Scott told her.</div>
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“Maybe I was hallucinating,” she said. “I don’t know—I was scared.” She said that strangers were making decisions about her fate. She felt as if she were frozen: she couldn’t influence what was happening. “I didn’t know what to do,” she told Scott. “I think I yelled for help. <em>Help me.</em>” The worst part, she said, was that she couldn’t find her family. “Honest to God, I thought you guys left me all alone.” ♦</div>
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<a class="m_5422906589607739718ydp1bbbacb0yiv6507255588moz-txt-link-freetext" data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?hl=en&q=https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2017/10/09/how-the-elderly-lose-their-rights?mbid%3Dnl_Weekly_171002%26CNDID%3D17773430%26spMailingID%3D12057104%26spUserID%3DMTg3ODc1NjY2MzQ5S0%26spJobID%3D1260149417%26spReportId%3DMTI2MDE0OTQxNwS2&source=gmail&ust=1507151859973000&usg=AFQjCNGo4v5VKVt4S13JhXu_KQKtpdDcOg" href="https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2017/10/09/how-the-elderly-lose-their-rights?mbid=nl_Weekly_171002&CNDID=17773430&spMailingID=12057104&spUserID=MTg3ODc1NjY2MzQ5S0&spJobID=1260149417&spReportId=MTI2MDE0OTQxNwS2" rel="nofollow" style="color: #1155cc;" target="_blank">https://www.newyorker.com/<wbr></wbr>magazine/2017/10/09/how-the-<wbr></wbr>elderly-lose-their-rights?<wbr></wbr>mbid=nl_Weekly_171002&CNDID=<wbr></wbr>17773430&spMailingID=12057104&<wbr></wbr>spUserID=MTg3ODc1NjY2MzQ5S0&<wbr></wbr>spJobID=1260149417&spReportId=<wbr></wbr>MTI2MDE0OTQxNwS2</a></div>
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THIS SITUATION IS GOING ON IN ILLINOIS, IN FLORIDA, IN CALIFORNIA, OHIO, PENNSYLVANIA, NEW YORK and is being covered up by a massive conspiracy of public officials that include the POLITICAL ELITE, Judicial elite - including judges, lawyers, et al. Here in Illinois one of the miscreants was very candid - he referred to the elderly as a commodity. </div>
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Here in Illinois the suggestion that corruption existed and an HONEST INVESTIGATION be conducted not only was not well received, but yours truly and other lawyers who would not remain silent were punished by suspension of their law licenses by the Illinois Supreme Court. so arrogant are the 18 USCA 371 co conspirators that under the name of JEROME LARKIN the lawyer rule 8.3 and the 18 USCA 4 reporting of the felonies similar to those noted in the NEW YORKER magazing article by judges (and other judicial officials) was analogized to be akin to "yelling fire in a crowded theater!" </div>
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The Las Vegas terrorism was reported to be the biggest single murder spree in American History - however - that is not accurate. More senior citizens are killed (elder cleansing) by wrongfully appointed guardians that the Vegas killer! Equally disturbing is the fact that each of us -- you and me - is a potential victim. </div>
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Probate Sharkhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15689669875393000741noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4778927784145048761.post-76320778889159893172017-09-28T10:36:00.001-05:002017-09-28T10:36:29.689-05:00Pennsylvania Civil Rights Attorney Medically Kidnapped for “Mental Health” Evaluation – Whereabouts Unknown<h2 class="m_-2505365071699595ydp380b64fentry-title" style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background-color: white; border-bottom-color: rgb(235, 235, 235); border-bottom-style: solid; border-bottom-width: 1px; color: #333333; font-family: "Roboto Slab", Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 27px; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 27px; margin: 0px 0px 39px; orphans: 2; padding-bottom: 0px; text-decoration-color: initial; text-decoration-style: initial; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px;">
<br class="Apple-interchange-newline" />Pennsylvania Civil Rights Attorney Medically Kidnapped for “Mental Health” Evaluation – Whereabouts Unknown</h2>
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<a data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?hl=en&q=https://community.healthimpactnews.com/topic/4064/pennsylvania-civil-rights-attorney-medically-kidnapped-for-mental-health-evaluation-whereabouts-unknown&source=gmail&ust=1506698784095000&usg=AFQjCNFMs9AHw2wkzC1NCXNXb3Ukps23Yg" href="https://community.healthimpactnews.com/topic/4064/pennsylvania-civil-rights-attorney-medically-kidnapped-for-mental-health-evaluation-whereabouts-unknown" rel="nofollow" style="border-bottom-color: currentColor !important; border-bottom-style: dotted !important; border-bottom-width: 1px !important; color: #a32525;" target="_blank"><span style="padding-right: 5px;">Join the Discussion</span><img class="CToWUd" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/proxy/AVvXsEhBLrL46DOqIkha8WCY6-kH9pyc4fpyJtCf3e78QNIoxpC0sKrA5euQGo6qcevOUI7o1Z9Bj2zLDGDnGuNjLTiEOvcf3VWcJW6Y_u52VVFS3HbmZseQxcPnI1TWwMyfDKj6V3xcwyVWQtnpCVZkN4E9MWfK6mfxucAw0cDMnyQD5rzu9p4O2K9O1TMpxstliCiGVq_19nAAJw-nrm-Evxw=s0-d-e1-ft" style="max-width: 100%; vertical-align: middle; width: 25px;" /><span style="padding-left: 5px;">(1)</span></a></div>
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<img alt="Andy Ostrowski at Court House" class="m_-2505365071699595ydp380b64fwp-image-47185 CToWUd a6T" height="478" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/proxy/AVvXsEgiHbcgKntp8RGGsZMfYhG6bYC_rFMIiwrZsJZ3rvmIHUNs-5P3a-QojoIB4rxzxY6DAvDup-tzNmAlJWHGL0p54SxRdA5GNlzw8bzGaKnhmRP6-OR7HDyaIwVUDKco34x_teHdXPGecwWpVywKbkn6FDony54DLMlDSNT3WJJeUkbZJbOgSjc9cH-SGg7_hMCnyTzZmnfptknVoqfuUg=s0-d-e1-ft" style="cursor: pointer; max-width: 100%; outline: 0px; vertical-align: top;" width="497" /><div class="m_-2505365071699595ydp380b64fwp-caption-text" style="background: rgb(249, 249, 249); border-color: currentColor rgb(223, 223, 223) rgb(223, 223, 223); border-radius: 0px 0px 10px 10px; border-style: none solid solid; border-width: medium 1px 1px; color: black !important; font-size: 16px !important; font-stretch: normal !important; line-height: 1.35em !important; margin: 0px 10px 20px 0px; padding: 0.3em !important; text-align: center; width: auto;">
Andy Ostrowski is a former Civil Rights attorney, past candidate for U.S. Congress, author, radio show host, and judicial reform activist. <a data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?hl=en&q=https://www.facebook.com/ostrowskiforcongress/&source=gmail&ust=1506698784095000&usg=AFQjCNHv1xa7QJPj-k-aiyVYuYbA2zUd4A" href="https://www.facebook.com/ostrowskiforcongress/" rel="nofollow" style="border-bottom-color: currentColor !important; border-bottom-style: dotted !important; border-bottom-width: 1px !important; color: #a32525;" target="_blank">Image from Facebook</a>.</div>
</div>
<div style="color: black !important; font-size: 16px !important; font-stretch: normal !important; line-height: 1.35em !important; margin: 0px 0px 20px;">
by <strong>Brian Shilhavy</strong><br /><strong>Editor, Health Impact News</strong></div>
<div style="color: black !important; font-size: 16px !important; font-stretch: normal !important; line-height: 1.35em !important; margin: 0px 0px 20px;">
Andy Ostrowski was kidnapped by law enforcement from his home in Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania this week while live-streaming on Facebook.</div>
<div style="color: black !important; font-size: 16px !important; font-stretch: normal !important; line-height: 1.35em !important; margin: 0px 0px 20px;">
Police entered his home without knocking, carrying tasers and clubs, claimed they had a warrant (which they apparently never showed to him) to take him in for a “mental health evaluation,” and proceeded to turn off his computer and remove him from his home by force.</div>
<div style="color: black !important; font-size: 16px !important; font-stretch: normal !important; line-height: 1.35em !important; margin: 0px 0px 20px;">
His current whereabouts is unknown at the time of publication.</div>
<div style="color: black !important; font-size: 16px !important; font-stretch: normal !important; line-height: 1.35em !important; margin: 0px 0px 20px;">
Here is the recording of the event:</div>
<span class="m_-2505365071699595ydp380b64fplay3"><div class="m_-2505365071699595ydp380b64frve">
</div>
</span><div style="color: black !important; font-size: 16px !important; font-stretch: normal !important; line-height: 1.35em !important; margin: 0px 0px 20px;">
<br /></div>
<div style="color: black !important; font-size: 16px !important; font-stretch: normal !important; line-height: 1.35em !important; margin: 0px 0px 20px;">
Mr. Ostrowski is a former Civil Rights attorney, <a data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?hl=en&q=https://www.facebook.com/ostrowskiforcongress/&source=gmail&ust=1506698784095000&usg=AFQjCNHv1xa7QJPj-k-aiyVYuYbA2zUd4A" href="https://www.facebook.com/ostrowskiforcongress/" rel="nofollow" style="border-bottom-color: currentColor !important; border-bottom-style: dotted !important; border-bottom-width: 1px !important; color: #a32525;" target="_blank">past candidate for U.S. Congress</a>, author, radio show host, and judicial reform activist.</div>
<div style="color: black !important; font-size: 16px !important; font-stretch: normal !important; line-height: 1.35em !important; margin: 0px 0px 20px;">
<img alt="Andy Ostrowski for Congress" class="m_-2505365071699595ydp380b64faligncenter m_-2505365071699595ydp380b64fsize-full m_-2505365071699595ydp380b64fwp-image-47187 CToWUd" height="250" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/proxy/AVvXsEiz-7hHlISOtgZ7tCbMAl1_zW5uCeBEXeGSwy7g8_ukEgSL6_-n-bPGuzSVmo6DppWJUwxTYgSJmqZUnugF0YDXTC7aYyMQLAVdjwMjGp4GiPQEjmeGqXCDKOrV4Ym1z8zrk33GnqSgbQSfkZSBVqgJi6dxVcgxfCTFOBzgmtB4QsPyM694dDfQ2q-XmMFLlJFPprEjyfoGq-bgnw=s0-d-e1-ft" style="clear: both; display: block; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; max-width: 100%; vertical-align: top;" width="200" /></div>
<div style="color: black !important; font-size: 16px !important; font-stretch: normal !important; line-height: 1.35em !important; margin: 0px 0px 20px;">
Ostrowski exposes judicial corruption, something we have covered extensively at Health Impact News, particularly on our MedicalKidnap.com website.</div>
<div style="color: black !important; font-size: 16px !important; font-stretch: normal !important; line-height: 1.35em !important; margin: 0px 0px 20px;">
Medical kidnapping would be almost impossible without corrupt judges participating</div>
</div>
Probate Sharkhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15689669875393000741noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4778927784145048761.post-29728247349208523762017-09-23T15:04:00.001-05:002017-09-23T15:04:37.218-05:00State Supreme Court refuses to reinstate law license of Harrisburg-area lawyer<ol class="m_3495740729915421979ydp9c58a10earticleLabel__list" id="m_3495740729915421979ydp9c58a10earticleLabel__list" style="border-image: none; border: 0px currentColor; font-family: inherit; font-size: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">
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<h1 class="m_3495740729915421979ydp9c58a10ep-name" id="m_3495740729915421979ydp9c58a10earticleHeadline" style="border-image: none; border: 0px currentColor; color: #222222; font-family: "Benton Sans Medium", Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 1.93em; font-stretch: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; letter-spacing: -0.03em; line-height: 1.2; margin: 0px 0px 0.62em; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">
State Supreme Court refuses to reinstate law license of Harrisburg-area lawyer</h1>
<div class="m_3495740729915421979ydp9c58a10ep-name" style="border-image: none; border: 0px currentColor; color: #222222; font-family: "Benton Sans Medium", Arial, sans-serif; letter-spacing: -0.03em; line-height: 1.2; margin: 0px 0px 0.62em; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">
<span style="color: red; font-size: large;">Edirtor's note: This Shark thought that the Probate Court of Cook County was rough on dissident attorneys...I guess that will keep any attorney who wants to defend the helpless and uphold the law a lesson. Lucius Verenus, Schoolmaster, ProbateSharks.com</span></div>
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Updated on March 25, 2017 at 3:08 PMPosted on March 25, 2017 at 1:14 PM</div>
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By <a data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?hl=en&q=http://connect.pennlive.com/staff/jbeauge/posts.html&source=gmail&ust=1506282933131000&usg=AFQjCNH91Ye3dGP3pyGa3L7lokTQ4plGkw" href="http://connect.pennlive.com/staff/jbeauge/posts.html" id="m_3495740729915421979ydp9c58a10ebyline__authorLink" rel="nofollow" style="border-bottom-color: rgb(21, 101, 192); border-bottom-style: solid; border-width: 0px 0px 1px; color: #1565c0; font-family: inherit; font-size: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px 0px 0.12em; vertical-align: baseline;" target="_blank" title="Visit John Beauge's Author Page">John Beauge</a></div>
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<a class="m_3495740729915421979ydp9c58a10eimage__link" data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?hl=en&q=http://media.pennlive.com/news/photo/2017/03/25/Andrew%2520Ostrowski.JPG&source=gmail&ust=1506282933131000&usg=AFQjCNHytwRBFK_12vNsRaXi87nz3ON6aw" href="http://media.pennlive.com/news/photo/2017/03/25/Andrew%20Ostrowski.JPG" rel="nofollow" style="border-color: currentColor; border-width: 0px 0px medium; color: #1565c0; display: block; font-family: inherit; font-size: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; max-width: 100%; padding: 0px 0px 0.12em; vertical-align: baseline;" target="_blank"><img alt="Andrew Ostrowski" class="m_3495740729915421979ydp9c58a10eimage__content CToWUd" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/proxy/AVvXsEhYnMoEkjeYjTSu2dfN269uLze3UzHlzRaUzJhfUeTCsV_CMAciHR4pGMncXY-uNdpJs-gax1gRdE9TWFuhQRhXWDwiF_JVwe2HGu35FqXFcsEfAV88fy9q6VW-OC5TFKqu7BXuAQSGe_rPwvV-DUqYw27tPHcQMYN0UsdPcDdUm_DLbKG4wg=s0-d-e1-ft" style="border-image: none; border: 0px currentColor; font-family: inherit; font-size: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; max-width: 100%; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;" /></a>Andrew Ostrowski<cite style="border-image: none; border: 0px currentColor; font-family: inherit; font-size: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"> (File photo)</cite></div>
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The state Supreme Court has refused to reinstate the law license of a Harrisburg-area attorney it suspended for a year and a day in 2010 for mishandling a client's case.</div>
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The order dated<span> </span><span class="aBn" data-term="goog_2038668152" style="border-bottom-color: rgb(204, 204, 204); border-bottom-style: dashed; border-bottom-width: 1px; position: relative; top: -2px; z-index: 0;" tabindex="0"><span class="aQJ" style="position: relative; top: 2px; z-index: -1;">Wednesday</span></span><span> </span>adopts the recommendation of the court's Disciplinary Board in regards to Andrew J. Ostrowski.</div>
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The recommendation states Ostrowski "has not come to terms with his misconduct, has not rehabilitated himself and has not convinced the board that his resumption of practice will not result in future ethical wrongdoing and detriment to the public, the profession and the courts."</div>
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The Susquehanna Township lawyer was suspended for failing to provide an accounting to an abandoned client and to stay current with continuing legal education fees. </div>
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He has "demonstrated no remorse and has failed to recognize the misconduct that led to his suspension," the board recommendation states.</div>
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It cites the following from his 2014 campaign materials when he ran as a Democrat for the 11th District seat in Congress held by former Hazleton Mayor Lou Barletta:</div>
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"I was suspended because I am a civil rights lawyer who became a target of a corrupt attorney disciplinary system because of the nature of the cases I handled, and the people I represented and worked with."</div>
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Probate Sharkhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15689669875393000741noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4778927784145048761.post-73046040048693573512017-09-22T09:09:00.001-05:002017-09-22T09:09:46.983-05:00 Philip Esformes has been indicted in Florida <div style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: "courier new", courier, monaco, monospace, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; orphans: 2; text-decoration-color: initial; text-decoration-style: initial; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px;">
<span style="color: red; font-size: large;">Editors note: Your ProbateShark prays that this tragedy will spark renewed interest in prosecuting the Florida Irving Faskowitz and the Chicago Alice R. Gore cases. Both estates were pillaged by criminal Esformes relatives and associates. FBI, please don't sit on your hands as the ghosts of Alice and Irving cry out for justice! Lucius Verenus, Schoolmaster, ProbateSharks.com</span><br />
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I hope that this letter finds you and yours in the best of health and enjoying life. I see that you are not giving up on running for mayor - I'd vote for you, but as a non-resident such would be too much in the Chicago style.</div>
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As you know I am still pushing the envelope and still looking into the Cabal's activities. As every one has to be aware, Philip Esformes has been indicted in Florida for stealing a billion dollars from medicare and some other offenses. He is (in my opinion) being feed a line of BS by his attorneys who apparently suggesting to him that they can by a bit of trickery get him off. It appears that they placed a lawyer in an office at one of the nursing facilities. When the FED raided the lawyers garbage was commingled with the records of the facility and got taken along with all the other papers. The lawyers want to claim that attorney client privilege was invaded. As the cabal uses a separate corporation for every act and covers themselves like a glove so as to avoid detection this ploy is going nowhere. But with a stolen billion dollars in the till there is a strong incentive for the lawyers to become inventive. Methinks if they gave Philip a candid assessment of his case and his chances he would ******.</div>
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Exactly how it is even possible to steal a billion dollars is mystery to me; however, apparently he has done exactly that. How much have the rest of the cabal stolen???? I know all about the pharmaceutical scams and we both know about the utility fiascoes. </div>
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In the Miami transactions the LARKIN HOSPITAL keeps popping up and is tied to Esformes. The "operator" of the nursing home operation in which the ten patients died also is tied to LARKIN. I wonder if this is tied to the Larkin facility in Kane County, Illinois that was alleged engaged in human trafficking. It would be a co-incidence that the administrator of the Illinois Attorney Registration and Disciplinary Commission who characterized exposing corruption as being akin to yelling fire in a crowded theater has the Jerome Larkin. My friend Harry (who you met) did not believe in co incidents! </div>
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The latest on the nursing home is:</div>
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Officials shutter Fla. nursing home where 10 have died since Irma, citing ‘egregious’ misrepresentations</h1>
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<span class="m_-7785082713391617227ydpa0ecc342pb-byline" style="display: inline-block; font-family: "franklinitcprobold" , sans-serif; padding-right: 5px;">By <a data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?hl=en&q=https://www.washingtonpost.com/people/travis-andrews/&source=gmail&ust=1506175023730000&usg=AFQjCNHEH2r6SUaKOgXUJk3PI-dA2oOZ5A" href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/people/travis-andrews/" rel="nofollow" style="color: #1955a5;" target="_blank">Travis M. Andrews</a></span> <span class="m_-7785082713391617227ydpa0ecc342pb-timestamp" style="color: #aaaaaa; display: inline-block; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: 1.1em; padding-right: 5px; white-space: nowrap;">September 21 at 3:02 PM</span> <span class="m_-7785082713391617227ydpa0ecc342pb-tool m_-7785082713391617227ydpa0ecc342email" style="color: #1955a5; display: inline-block; padding-right: 5px;"><a href="https://www.blogger.com/null" rel="nofollow" style="color: inherit;" target="_blank"><span class="m_-7785082713391617227ydpa0ecc342fa m_-7785082713391617227ydpa0ecc342fa-envelope" style="display: inline-block; font-family: "fontawesome"; font-size: inherit; font-stretch: normal; line-height: 1;"></span></a></span><span class="m_-7785082713391617227ydpa0ecc342pb-bolt"></span></div>
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<a href="https://www.blogger.com/null" name="m_-7785082713391617227_e6326605bb" style="color: inherit;"></a><img class="m_-7785082713391617227ydpa0ecc342hi-res-lazy m_-7785082713391617227ydpa0ecc342courtesy-of-the-lazy-loader CToWUd a6T" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/proxy/AVvXsEieIm3zzmOJQAYm8_ojSdumVV1pewOwjq0g4L9ESIEWHehtwGlcunVn3XsRlKyWFpLG94Utkjju-wb2LqShLwppGO9Olp4AOgcndPBZ5ZmPB0w0nbSX6glTwg5SWGClTqBRzhc5J6V9dAHYc4ipL9-iQwj9xtfCVdQxbTf2M9cHgBkIdY07VJb1oCCM10gveed_bY-3wCkhx-0oOd7S2WAn0lLvpEuxnZYwSZ7IdnszFp4vTLfDwVWtuL55bntlyYnBKEIeGUuHyRbb7v5hRdHk7FT3B9UeXEV4UMgUNF_q1Nk4Ps1uOkp7ZzHmJNzIPZQigZpRZ2a_6m1Ckt-cKA_Q5KZm8HmHz-rR_JC1=s0-d-e1-ft&w=1484" style="border-image: none; border: 0px currentColor; cursor: pointer; outline: 0px; width: 852.79px;" /><br />
<span class="m_-7785082713391617227ydpa0ecc342pb-caption" style="color: #6e6e6e; font-size: 16px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: 1.1em; margin-top: 4px;">Police surround the Rehabilitation Center in Hollywood Hills, Fla., which had no air conditioning after Hurricane Irma knocked out power on Sept. 13. (John McCall/South Florida Sun-Sentinel/AP)</span></div>
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In an emergency order <span class="aBn" data-term="goog_1379910884" style="border-bottom-color: rgb(204, 204, 204); border-bottom-style: dashed; border-bottom-width: 1px; position: relative; top: -2px; z-index: 0;" tabindex="0"><span class="aQJ" style="position: relative; top: 2px; z-index: -1;">Wednesday</span></span>, the Florida Agency for Healthcare Administration suspended the license of the nursing home in Hollywood, Fla., where 10 people have died<b> </b>in the aftermath of Hurricane Irma. The AHCA is investigating the facility.</div>
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The agency questioned the integrity of medical records for the deceased patients submitted by the home, saying that they contained falsehoods. The facility wrote late entries into medical records that made the situation appear much less dire than it was, the agency said.</div>
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While one patient was in the hospital with a temperature of over 108 degrees and suffering from cardiac arrest, for example, an unnamed facility nurse “made a late entry claiming a temperature of 101.6,” the order <a data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?hl=en&q=https://ahca.myflorida.com/Executive/Communications/Press_Releases/pdf/RCHH2017010728.pdf&source=gmail&ust=1506175023730000&usg=AFQjCNGq7UFAnyPmERr7-O1fgbkPMNXbTg" href="https://ahca.myflorida.com/Executive/Communications/Press_Releases/pdf/RCHH2017010728.pdf" rel="nofollow" style="-ms-zoom: 1; border-bottom-color: rgb(213, 213, 213); border-bottom-style: solid; border-bottom-width: 1px; color: #1955a5; font-size: inherit; line-height: 1.8em; margin-bottom: 18px;" target="_blank">stated</a>.</div>
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In one “egregious” case, it said, “a late entry was added that stated the patient was resting in bed with respirations even and unlabored.” But, it added, “this resident had already died before this entry was made.”</div>
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Local and state law enforcement are also conducting a criminal investigation into the nursing home.</div>
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A lawyer for the home did not respond to email messages seeking a response and calls to his office went unanswered.</div>
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“As more information has come to light on this egregious situation, this facility absolutely cannot continue to have access to patients,” AHCA secretary Justin Senior said in a <a data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?hl=en&q=http://ahca.myflorida.com/Executive/Communications/Press_Releases/pdf/RCHHSuspensionOrder.pdf&source=gmail&ust=1506175023730000&usg=AFQjCNFeJhiTZrCgBK17kxlfkcquFiWp0g" href="http://ahca.myflorida.com/Executive/Communications/Press_Releases/pdf/RCHHSuspensionOrder.pdf" rel="nofollow" style="-ms-zoom: 1; border-bottom-color: rgb(213, 213, 213); border-bottom-style: solid; border-bottom-width: 1px; color: #1955a5; font-size: inherit; line-height: 1.8em; margin-bottom: 18px;" target="_blank">news release</a>. “This facility failed its residents multiple times throughout this horrifying ordeal.”</div>
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Hurricane Irma knocked out power across Florida, and disabled the generator powering the air conditioning at the Rehabilitation Center at Hollywood Hills <a data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?hl=en&q=https://ahca.myflorida.com/Executive/Communications/Press_Releases/pdf/RCHH2017010728.pdf&source=gmail&ust=1506175023730000&usg=AFQjCNGq7UFAnyPmERr7-O1fgbkPMNXbTg" href="https://ahca.myflorida.com/Executive/Communications/Press_Releases/pdf/RCHH2017010728.pdf" rel="nofollow" style="-ms-zoom: 1; border-bottom-color: rgb(213, 213, 213); border-bottom-style: solid; border-bottom-width: 1px; color: #1955a5; font-size: inherit; line-height: 1.8em; margin-bottom: 18px;" target="_blank">on Sept. 10</a>.</div>
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Even as temperatures soared into the 90s, it remained broken for several days, according to a <a data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?hl=en&q=http://hollywoodhillsrehab.com/statement.shtml&source=gmail&ust=1506175023730000&usg=AFQjCNGO29GliJCNZ_s_BlulfRNhZDZCJw" href="http://hollywoodhillsrehab.com/statement.shtml" rel="nofollow" style="-ms-zoom: 1; border-bottom-color: rgb(213, 213, 213); border-bottom-style: solid; border-bottom-width: 1px; color: #1955a5; font-size: inherit; line-height: 1.8em; margin-bottom: 18px;" target="_blank">news release</a> from the nursing home. Portable air coolers and fans were placed throughout the facility instead.</div>
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The Florida Department of Health said that the facility “at no time” reported that its conditions had grown dangerous, according to <a data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?hl=en&q=https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/post-nation/wp/2017/09/14/florida-nursing-home-where-8-died-closed-to-residents-amid-investigation/?utm_term%3D.fa447e0c2a28&source=gmail&ust=1506175023730000&usg=AFQjCNH8Pfw9WRqbW9ICOKSceNSQ9vuSMw" href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/post-nation/wp/2017/09/14/florida-nursing-home-where-8-died-closed-to-residents-amid-investigation/?utm_term=.fa447e0c2a28" rel="nofollow" style="-ms-zoom: 1; border-bottom-color: rgb(213, 213, 213); border-bottom-style: solid; border-bottom-width: 1px; color: #1955a5; font-size: inherit; line-height: 1.8em; margin-bottom: 18px;" target="_blank">The Washington Post</a>. After an investigation, however, Hollywood city officials <a data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?hl=en&q=https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/post-nation/wp/2017/09/13/irma-death-toll-rises-as-5-dead-at-south-florida-nursing-home/?utm_term%3D.97ee6c96386f&source=gmail&ust=1506175023730000&usg=AFQjCNFj0wqwn5llExV8bqEoMjc3OJ3kwg" href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/post-nation/wp/2017/09/13/irma-death-toll-rises-as-5-dead-at-south-florida-nursing-home/?utm_term=.97ee6c96386f" rel="nofollow" style="-ms-zoom: 1; border-bottom-color: rgb(213, 213, 213); border-bottom-style: solid; border-bottom-width: 1px; color: #1955a5; font-size: inherit; line-height: 1.8em; margin-bottom: 18px;" target="_blank">said</a> “the facility was excessively hot.”</div>
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Though there was a hospital with working air conditioning across the street and many of the nursing home’s patients were in distress, “the trained medical professionals at the facility overwhelmingly delayed calling 911,” according to the <a data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?hl=en&q=http://ahca.myflorida.com/Executive/Communications/Press_Releases/pdf/RCHHSuspensionOrder.pdf&source=gmail&ust=1506175023730000&usg=AFQjCNFeJhiTZrCgBK17kxlfkcquFiWp0g" href="http://ahca.myflorida.com/Executive/Communications/Press_Releases/pdf/RCHHSuspensionOrder.pdf" rel="nofollow" style="-ms-zoom: 1; border-bottom-color: rgb(213, 213, 213); border-bottom-style: solid; border-bottom-width: 1px; color: #1955a5; font-size: inherit; line-height: 1.8em; margin-bottom: 18px;" target="_blank">news release</a> from the AHCA.</div>
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As the nursing home grew hotter, its leadership also never contacted the Florida Emergency Operations Center to seek assistance with evacuation, according to <a data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?hl=en&q=https://ahca.myflorida.com/Executive/Communications/Press_Releases/pdf/RCHH2017010728.pdf&source=gmail&ust=1506175023730000&usg=AFQjCNGq7UFAnyPmERr7-O1fgbkPMNXbTg" href="https://ahca.myflorida.com/Executive/Communications/Press_Releases/pdf/RCHH2017010728.pdf" rel="nofollow" style="-ms-zoom: 1; border-bottom-color: rgb(213, 213, 213); border-bottom-style: solid; border-bottom-width: 1px; color: #1955a5; font-size: inherit; line-height: 1.8em; margin-bottom: 18px;" target="_blank">court documents</a>.</div>
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By the time the facility called authorities and transported its ailing residents to the hospital, some had body temperatures as high as 109.9 degrees — “far too late to be saved,” the news release <a data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?hl=en&q=http://ahca.myflorida.com/Executive/Communications/Press_Releases/pdf/RCHHSuspensionOrder.pdf&source=gmail&ust=1506175023730000&usg=AFQjCNFeJhiTZrCgBK17kxlfkcquFiWp0g" href="http://ahca.myflorida.com/Executive/Communications/Press_Releases/pdf/RCHHSuspensionOrder.pdf" rel="nofollow" style="-ms-zoom: 1; border-bottom-color: rgb(213, 213, 213); border-bottom-style: solid; border-bottom-width: 1px; color: #1955a5; font-size: inherit; line-height: 1.8em; margin-bottom: 18px;" target="_blank">stated</a>.</div>
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<a data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?hl=en&q=https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/the-inexplicable-horror-of-the-deaths-of-eight-elderly-people-in-florida/2017/09/17/c2c163ac-997f-11e7-87fc-c3f7ee4035c9_story.html?utm_term%3D.ad48509752d7&source=gmail&ust=1506175023730000&usg=AFQjCNFD0KM9t6neYIOPjQu00JOICpopNQ" href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/the-inexplicable-horror-of-the-deaths-of-eight-elderly-people-in-florida/2017/09/17/c2c163ac-997f-11e7-87fc-c3f7ee4035c9_story.html?utm_term=.ad48509752d7" rel="nofollow" style="-ms-zoom: 1; border-bottom-color: rgb(213, 213, 213); border-bottom-style: solid; border-bottom-width: 1px; color: #1955a5; font-size: inherit; line-height: 1.8em; margin-bottom: 18px;" target="_blank">Eight residents</a> — Carolyn Eatherly, 78; Miguel Antonio Franco, 92; Estella Hendricks, 71; Betty Hibbard, 84; Manuel Mario Medieta, 96; Gail Nova, 71; Bobby Owens, 84; and Albertina Vega, 99 — died soon thereafter. Two more residents — 93-year-old Carlos Canal and 94-year-old Martha Murray — died this week.</div>
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“No amount of emergency preparedness could have prevented the gross medical and criminal recklessness that occurred at this facility,” Senior said.</div>
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The eight deaths last week made national headlines and caused many prominent politicians to speak out. Fla. Gov. Rick Scott (R) <a data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?hl=en&q=http://www.keloland.com/news/article/news/death-of-8-at-florida-nursing-home-sounds-alarms-after-irma&source=gmail&ust=1506175023730000&usg=AFQjCNHtbiLsDupzrpMgQFWXPKfPVLK96w" href="http://www.keloland.com/news/article/news/death-of-8-at-florida-nursing-home-sounds-alarms-after-irma" rel="nofollow" style="-ms-zoom: 1; border-bottom-color: rgb(213, 213, 213); border-bottom-style: solid; border-bottom-width: 1px; color: #1955a5; font-size: inherit; line-height: 1.8em; margin-bottom: 18px;" target="_blank">called</a> the situation “unfathomable,” while Sen. Bill Nelson (D-Fla.) <a data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?hl=en&q=http://www.keloland.com/news/article/news/death-of-8-at-florida-nursing-home-sounds-alarms-after-irma&source=gmail&ust=1506175023730000&usg=AFQjCNHtbiLsDupzrpMgQFWXPKfPVLK96w" href="http://www.keloland.com/news/article/news/death-of-8-at-florida-nursing-home-sounds-alarms-after-irma" rel="nofollow" style="-ms-zoom: 1; border-bottom-color: rgb(213, 213, 213); border-bottom-style: solid; border-bottom-width: 1px; color: #1955a5; font-size: inherit; line-height: 1.8em; margin-bottom: 18px;" target="_blank">called</a> it “inexcusable.”</div>
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“I am going to aggressively demand answers on how this tragic event took place,” Scott said in a <a data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?hl=en&q=http://www.flgov.com/2017/09/13/gov-rick-scott-i-am-demanding-answers-on-fatalities-in-broward/&source=gmail&ust=1506175023730000&usg=AFQjCNFUYgaDgRY2E9579oNghfTEegIizQ" href="http://www.flgov.com/2017/09/13/gov-rick-scott-i-am-demanding-answers-on-fatalities-in-broward/" rel="nofollow" style="-ms-zoom: 1; border-bottom-color: rgb(213, 213, 213); border-bottom-style: solid; border-bottom-width: 1px; color: #1955a5; font-size: inherit; line-height: 1.8em; margin-bottom: 18px;" target="_blank">statement </a>last week. “Every facility that is charged with caring for patients must take every action and precaution to keep their patients safe — especially patients that are in poor health.”</div>
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The facility defended itself in the immediate aftermath, claiming it “diligently prepared for the impact of Hurricane Irma,” even as the state issued an <a data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?hl=en&q=http://www.cnn.com/2017/09/13/health/florida-nursing-home-deaths/index.html&source=gmail&ust=1506175023730000&usg=AFQjCNEawBeTrfAFSxaafTPr8YFPI0q-Fg" href="http://www.cnn.com/2017/09/13/health/florida-nursing-home-deaths/index.html" rel="nofollow" style="-ms-zoom: 1; border-bottom-color: rgb(213, 213, 213); border-bottom-style: solid; border-bottom-width: 1px; color: #1955a5; font-size: inherit; line-height: 1.8em; margin-bottom: 18px;" target="_blank">emergency moratorium</a> on the nursing home admitting new patients last Wednesday.</div>
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“Staff set up mobile cooling units and fans to cool the facility and continually checked on our residents’ well-being to ensure they were hydrated,” the nursing home’s administrator, Jorge Carballo, said in a <a data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?hl=en&q=http://hollywoodhillsrehab.com/statement.shtml&source=gmail&ust=1506175023730000&usg=AFQjCNGO29GliJCNZ_s_BlulfRNhZDZCJw" href="http://hollywoodhillsrehab.com/statement.shtml" rel="nofollow" style="-ms-zoom: 1; border-bottom-color: rgb(213, 213, 213); border-bottom-style: solid; border-bottom-width: 1px; color: #1955a5; font-size: inherit; line-height: 1.8em; margin-bottom: 18px;" target="_blank">news release</a>. “We are devastated by these losses. We are fully cooperating with all authorities and regulators to assess what went wrong and to ensure our other residents are cared for.”</div>
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The facility, though, has a history of citations. Since 2010, violations were recorded on 23 different visits, according to <a data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?hl=en&q=https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/post-nation/wp/2017/09/13/irma-death-toll-rises-as-5-dead-at-south-florida-nursing-home/?utm_term%3D.97ee6c96386f&source=gmail&ust=1506175023730000&usg=AFQjCNFj0wqwn5llExV8bqEoMjc3OJ3kwg" href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/post-nation/wp/2017/09/13/irma-death-toll-rises-as-5-dead-at-south-florida-nursing-home/?utm_term=.97ee6c96386f" rel="nofollow" style="-ms-zoom: 1; border-bottom-color: rgb(213, 213, 213); border-bottom-style: solid; border-bottom-width: 1px; color: #1955a5; font-size: inherit; line-height: 1.8em; margin-bottom: 18px;" target="_blank">The Post</a>.</div>
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These included patients being left in their nightgowns and facing televisions that were turned off, while others were left unshaven and with untrimmed nails. Smoke alarms, emergency exits and the home’s emergency generator have all previously been reported for deficiencies as well.</div>
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Probate Sharkhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15689669875393000741noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4778927784145048761.post-88790384646325753392017-09-14T08:52:00.002-05:002017-09-14T08:52:49.053-05:00Nursing home where 8 died in sweltering heat had poor record with state regulators<div class="lead-item" style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; color: black; font-family: "McClatchy Sans", Arial, "Helvetica Neue", Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; font-style: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; margin-bottom: 25px; orphans: 2; overflow: hidden; position: relative; text-decoration-color: initial; text-decoration-style: initial; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px;">
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<span class="caption-text" style="box-sizing: border-box;">The Rehabilitation Center at Hollywood Hills, scene of eight deaths in the aftermath of Irma, has received below-average ratings from state regulators, and is affiliated with Larkin Community Hospital, which has a troubled regulatory history as well. </span><span class="photographer" style="box-sizing: border-box; font-weight: 700;">Emily Michot</span> <span class="credits" style="box-sizing: border-box;">The Miami Herald</span></div>
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<h2 class="heading section-main-heading link" style="background: 0px 0px; border-bottom-color: currentColor; border-bottom-style: none; border-bottom-width: medium; border-radius: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; color: #379ad3; display: inline-block; font-family: "McClatchy Sans Cond", "Roboto Condensed Medium", HelveticaNeue-CondensedBold, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; font-weight: 600; line-height: 1; margin: 0px 0px 15px; min-width: 0px; padding: 0px; text-align: left; text-transform: uppercase;">
<a href="http://www.miamiherald.com/news/weather/hurricane/" style="background: 0px 0px; box-sizing: border-box; color: #379ad3; display: block; text-decoration: none;">HURRICANE</a></h2>
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Nursing home where 8 died in sweltering heat had poor record with state regulators</h3>
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<span style="color: red; font-size: large;">Editor's note: This Shark recalls the names Esformes, Larkin and Michel from the past. But, where???? Lucius Verenus, Schoolmaster, ProbateSharks.com </span></div>
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<span class="ng_byline_name" style="box-sizing: border-box; display: block; text-transform: uppercase;">BY CAROL MARBIN MILLER, CHARLES RABIN, DAVID J. NEAL AND CAITLIN OSTROFF</span></div>
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SEPTEMBER 13, 2017 12:29 PM</div>
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A Hollywood nursing home with a troubled history became a sweltering death trap Wednesday when a portable air cooler malfunctioned. Before the day was over, eight residents lay dead.</div>
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Memorial Regional Hospital’s emergency room was directly across the street.</div>
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Hollywood police have begun a criminal investigation into the deaths at Rehabilitation Center of Hollywood Hills. The Agency for Health Care Administration and the Department of Children & Families have begun their own investigations.<iframe class="teads-resize" style="border-image: none !important !important; border: currentColor !important; box-sizing: border-box; display: block !important; height: 0px !important; margin: 0px !important; min-height: 0px !important; padding: 0px !important; width: 700px;"></iframe></div>
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Hollywood Police Chief Tom Sanchez said officers would evaluate all of Hollywood’s 42 other nursing homes. Local governments had begun evacuating elders from other long-term care facilities across South Florida that had lost power in the wake of Hurricane Irma.</div>
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On Wednesday night, the healthcare administration halted new admissions to the rehab center, which had a history of poor inspections by state regulators.</div>
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All the current residents already had been moved.</div>
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In its complaint, the healthcare agency said that on Sept. 10 the rehab center “became aware that its air conditioning equipment had ceased to operate effectively.” The nursing home contacted Florida Power & Light to report the problem, then set up eight portable air coolers throughout the facility, and placed fans in the hallways.</div>
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But between 1:30 a.m. and 5 a.m. Wednesday, “several residents suffered respiratory arrest or cardiac distress,” the complaint said.</div>
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First responders, “as a result of the heat in the building,” essentially ordered the home to evacuate its second floor. Administrators evacuated the entire building.</div>
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Healthcare regulators called conditions in the home “a threat to the health, safety or welfare of residents” and “an immediate serious danger to the public health.”</div>
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Gov. Rick Scott, who sought the moratorium, said he would “<a href="http://www.miamiherald.com/news/weather/hurricane/article173059891.html" style="background: 0px 0px; box-sizing: border-box; color: #428bca; text-decoration: none;" title="">aggressively demand answers on how this tragic event took place</a>.”</div>
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He called himself “absolutely heartbroken.”</div>
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“Protecting the lives of Floridians is my top priority and that’s why we have worked all week to help Floridians prepare and respond to Hurricane Irma,” Scott said.</div>
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He added: “<a href="http://www.miamiherald.com/news/weather/hurricane/article173059891.html" style="background: 0px 0px; box-sizing: border-box; color: #428bca; text-decoration: none;" title="">Although the details of these reported deaths are still under investigation, this situation is unfathomable.</a>”</div>
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The Broward Medical Examiner’s office released the names of the dead Wednesday afternoon, but declined to state the cause of any of the deaths. They were: Carolyn Eatherly, 78; Miguel Antonio Franco, 92; Estella Hendricks, 71; Betty Hibbard, 84; Manuel Mario Mendieta, 96; Gail Nova, 71; Bobby Owens, 84; and Albertina Vega, 99.</div>
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<a href="http://www.miamiherald.com/news/weather/hurricane/article173019111.html#storylink=related_inline" style="background: 0px 0px; box-sizing: border-box; color: black; text-decoration: none;">8 dead, others evacuated at Hollywood nursing home without power after Irma</a></h4>
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<a href="http://www.miamiherald.com/opinion/editorials/article172989371.html#storylink=related_inline" style="background: 0px 0px; box-sizing: border-box; color: black; text-decoration: none;">State, feds and locals must help rescue the Florida Keys</a></h4>
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<a href="http://www.miamiherald.com/news/nation-world/national/article173020936.html#storylink=related_inline" style="background: 0px 0px; box-sizing: border-box; color: black; text-decoration: none;">Fisherman tried to ride out Irma on his boat. Then it started flipping over.</a></h4>
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<a href="http://www.miamiherald.com/news/weather/hurricane/article173067271.html#storylink=related_inline" style="background: 0px 0px; box-sizing: border-box; color: black; text-decoration: none;">Eight die in nursing home in Irma aftermath</a></h4>
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The rehab center’s administrator, Jorge Carballo, said the home “is cooperating fully with relevant authorities to investigate the circumstances that led to this unfortunate and tragic outcome.”</div>
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He said the rehab center staff “diligently prepared for the impact of Hurricane Irma. We took part in emergency management preparedness calls with local and state emergency officials, other nursing homes and health regulators.”</div>
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Responding to questions from the Miami Herald Wednesday night, the state Department of Health said regulators never were told that residents at the nursing home were in peril.</div>
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“At no time did the facility report that conditions had become dangerous or that the health and safety of their patients was at risk,” said Mara K. Gambineri, a health department spokeswoman.</div>
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In fact, Gambineri said, the nursing home had made 17 reports to the state through an online database beginning on Sept. 7. “Throughout the course of these reports, the facility never requested any assistance or reported the need for evacuations.”</div>
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As late as 7:30 a.m. Wednesday, Gambineri said, the nursing home “reported that they had partial power, the generator was operational and they had adequate fuel supply.” The home did report that its cooling system was not operational.</div>
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The home’s final three updates, which Gambineri provided to the Herald, show the home reported: “Have spot coolers and fans. Chiller is not operational pulling outside air.” In the updates, Carballo said repairs to the system were under FPL “ticket #4301.”</div>
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Carballo never sounded the alarm to the state that residents were in danger, the updates show.</div>
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The Hollywood Hills nursing home has been faulted in the past for its care of elderly patients, and is affiliated with a South Miami hospital with a questionable past of its own.</div>
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The rehab center, at 1200 N. 35th Ave., has a health inspection rating of “much below average” by the Florida Agency for Healthcare Administration. AHCA evaluates all long-term care facilities in the state for the U.S. government, which administers the Medicare and Medicaid insurance programs for older and impoverished Americans.</div>
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The home’s “overall rating,” which includes staffing, fire safety and health inspections, was “below average.”</div>
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An inspection of the nursing home by state health regulators last February revealed a host of violations, ranging from an ill-kept building to poor care. Nursing homes should not have an error rate of more than 5 percent when administering medication — meaning residents don’t get the wrong drug or the wrong dose of the right drug. The rehab center’s error rate was close to 26 percent.</div>
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Nursing home staff, the inspection said, “failed to ensure meals were provided timely.” On Feb. 15, one woman was seen “screaming she wanted lunch as she strolled back and forth with her wheelchair dressed in a patient gown,” the report said. “She was yelling that she was hungry.”</div>
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That same day, an inspector overheard the relative of a resident complaining that lunch was late. It was 1 p.m., and lunch trays were supposed to arrive by noon. “When are the lunch trays arriving?” the family member asked. “My mother is hungry.”</div>
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Three days later, inspectors wrote, a resident “was observed calling out for food, come, come. I want food, food, food.”</div>
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The resident was waiting outside the dining hall for her turn to eat breakfast, and a staff member later acknowledged “it is not fair to her to see others eat,” but that “this is normally how it is done.”</div>
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“Numerous flying insects” swarmed the kitchen, according to the report.</div>
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One resident had been kept in her room for hours with the drapes drawn shut, staring at a dark television set. Other residents were wheeled outside for a sing-along, and creative art and exercise were scheduled that day. But the woman was never taken out of her dark room.</div>
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A man was observed to have knife-like fingernails with a “blackish substance” in them. Another complained that he had been waiting months for glasses, hearing aids and new dentures — after he began to lose weight and his old pair of dentures no longer fit.</div>
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The nursing home had failed to maintain a program for controlling the spread of infection, the report said, adding that inspectors found “soiled brooms” in a clean wash room area, filthy clean-linen carts, and commercial dryers that were filled with lint and trash.</div>
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A trash can in the area where staff folded clean linen was overflowing, and “coming into direct contact [with] stored clean linen.” The ceiling ventilator in the linen room “had a build-up of black mold-like substance.”</div>
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The building itself was in disrepair, with missing and cracked tiles, holes in the floor, peeling paint, overflowing trash cans, loose door knobs and soiled bathtubs, the inspection said. Refrigerator and freezer gaskets were “full of dirt and debris.” A toilet seat was loose.</div>
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The fine for those violations: $5,500.</div>
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The rehabilitation center also had been sued twice in late 2016 by the relatives or representatives of two patients who died there, one allegedly from infection and dehydration — and the other from pressure sores.</div>
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The nursing home’s licensee is Rehabilitation Center at Hollywood Hills, LLC, which is owned by Dr. Jack Michel. State healthcare records list Michel as an officer and board member of the nursing home, with a controlling interest.</div>
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The home also has a relationship with Larkin Community Hospital, which has a long history of running afoul of healthcare regulators. Michel is listed in state corporate records as Larkin’s president, as well. In 2006, the U.S. Justice Department fined Larkin and its owners $15.4 million in a settlement of a civil fraud complaint.</div>
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Hollywood’s police chief, Tom Sanchez, speaks to the media Wednesday morning, Sept. 13 , 2017 after three people were found dead inside the Rehabilitation Center at Hollywood Hills, two others died at Memorial Regional Hospital and a sixth died in transit to the hospital. The toll was later updated to eight. The deaths are under a criminal investigation.</div>
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<span class="inline-photographer" style="box-sizing: border-box; font-size: 12px; font-weight: 700; line-height: 20px;">Emily Michot </span><span class="inline-credits" style="box-sizing: border-box; font-size: 12px; font-weight: 400; line-height: 20px;">emichot@miamiherald.com</span></div>
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THE CENTER IS LOCATED ACROSS THE STREET FROM MEMORIAL REGIONAL HOSPITAL, WHICH NEVER REPORTED LOSING POWER DURING HURRICANE IRMA.</div>
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In July 2015, Larkin Community Hospital issued a news release announcing it had won a bankruptcy auction and was taking over operations of the 152-bed Rehabilitation Center at Hollywood Hills, as well as other properties. The reason for the auction: The previous owner was in prison for Medicare fraud.</div>
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Both the nursing home and adjacent psychiatric hospital, Hollywood Pavilion, were owned by the family of former CEO Karen Kallen-Zury.</div>
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In 2013, a federal jury convicted Kallen-Zury of Lighthouse Point and three other Pavilion employees of conspiracy, saying they had bilked Medicare of $67 million by filing phony claims for mental health services form 2003 to 2012. Medicare was duped into paying about $40 million to Kallen-Zury’s company. Of those defendants, Kallen-Zury received the longest sentence, 25 years.</div>
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Larkin and Michel bid $24.6 million for the properties, the news release said. “This acquisition represents another step in the evolution of our hospital into an integrated delivery system,” Michel said in the news release.</div>
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Larkin Community Hospital, which is based in South Miami, and its president, Michel, have had a long relationship with a now-indicted healthcare businessman, Philip Esformes.</div>
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In 2006, Esformes, his father, Morris Esformes, Larkin’s Michel and the hospital’s previous owner, James Desnick, settled a civil dispute with the U.S. government for $15.4 million over allegations that they paid kickbacks to physicians in exchange for referring patients to Larkin.</div>
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Back then, Esformes owned a chain of Miami-Dade assisted-living facilities and supplied patients to Larkin. The patients then were returned to his facilities and recycled again, according to the settlement.</div>
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In a similar scheme, Esformes was indicted last year in a $1 billion Medicare fraud case that prosecutors called the largest in the nation.</div>
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Esformes, a wealthy Miami Beach executive who has been held without bond since his arrest, is accused of exploiting a network of about 20 Miami-Dade skilled-nursing and assisted-living facilities to fleece the taxpayer-funded Medicare program. His network filed false claims for services that were not necessary, or, in some instances, not provided, to about 14,000 patients, the indictment says.</div>
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Larkin, though not identified in the Esformes indictment, referred many of those Medicare patients to his network through kickbacks to doctors and other medical professionals, prosecutors say. Esformes, in turn, recycled the same patients back through the hospital after they stayed in his network.</div>
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Michel is not identified in the Esformes indictment.</div>
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Esformes’ attorney, Michael Pasano, said his client “has no interest or involvement” in Michel’s ownership of the Hollywood Hills nursing home.</div>
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The Florida Health Care Association, a long-term care industry group, released a statement Wednesday morning framing Wednesday’s deaths within the context of Irma’s brutal blow to the state.</div>
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“Our centers’ first priority is always the safety and well-being of every resident in their care and they are doing everything in their power to meet their immediate and ongoing needs,” wrote the association’s executive director, Kristen Knapp.</div>
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“The loss of these individuals is a profound tragedy within the larger tragedy of Hurricane Irma, and we extend our deepest sympathies to the families of these residents,” Knapp said.</div>
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Miami Herald staff writers Daniel Chang Jay Weaver, Carli Teproff, Alex Harris and Mary Ellen Klas contributed to this report, as did researcher Monika Leal.</div>
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<span data-src="http://www.miamiherald.com/news/weather/hurricane/rl9gw6/picture173147491/alternates/FREE_160/Nursing%20Home%20deaths%2006%20EKM" data-width-160="" style="box-sizing: border-box;"></span><span data-src="http://www.miamiherald.com/news/weather/hurricane/rl9gw6/picture173147491/alternates/FREE_320/Nursing%20Home%20deaths%2006%20EKM" data-width-320="" style="box-sizing: border-box;"></span><span data-src="http://www.miamiherald.com/news/weather/hurricane/rl9gw6/picture173147491/alternates/FREE_480/Nursing%20Home%20deaths%2006%20EKM" data-width-480="" style="box-sizing: border-box;"></span><span data-src="http://www.miamiherald.com/news/weather/hurricane/rl9gw6/picture173147491/alternates/FREE_640/Nursing%20Home%20deaths%2006%20EKM" data-width-640="" style="box-sizing: border-box;"></span><span data-src="http://www.miamiherald.com/news/weather/hurricane/rl9gw6/picture173147491/alternates/FREE_768/Nursing%20Home%20deaths%2006%20EKM" data-width-768="" style="box-sizing: border-box;"></span><span data-src="http://www.miamiherald.com/news/weather/hurricane/rl9gw6/picture173147491/alternates/FREE_960/Nursing%20Home%20deaths%2006%20EKM" data-width-960="" style="box-sizing: border-box;"></span><span data-src="http://www.miamiherald.com/news/weather/hurricane/rl9gw6/picture173147491/alternates/FREE_1140/Nursing%20Home%20deaths%2006%20EKM" data-width-1140="" style="box-sizing: border-box;"></span><img alt="Three people were found dead inside the Rehabilitation Center at Hollywood Hills, two others died at Memorial Regional Hospital and one died in transit to the hospital early Wednesday morning, Sept. 13, 2017. The toll was later updated to eight. The deaths are under a criminal investigation." src="http://www.miamiherald.com/news/weather/hurricane/rl9gw6/picture173147491/alternates/FREE_768/Nursing%20Home%20deaths%2006%20EKM" data-preload="http://www.miamiherald.com/news/weather/hurricane/rl9gw6/picture173147491/alternates/FREE_768/Nursing%20Home%20deaths%2006%20EKM" style="border-image: none; border: 0px currentColor; bottom: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; display: block; left: 0px; margin: auto; max-height: 481px; max-width: 700px; position: absolute; right: 0px; top: 0px; transform: translate3d(0px, 0px, 0px); vertical-align: middle;" title="Three people were found dead inside the Rehabilitation Center at Hollywood Hills, two others died at Memorial Regional Hospital and one died in transit to the hospital early Wednesday morning, Sept. 13, 2017. The toll was later updated to eight. The deaths are under a criminal investigation." /></div>
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<span data-src="http://www.miamiherald.com/news/weather/hurricane/jv88n6/picture173059881/alternates/FREE_160/BA9A9877%20(1)" data-width-160="" style="box-sizing: border-box;"></span><span data-src="http://www.miamiherald.com/news/weather/hurricane/jv88n6/picture173059881/alternates/FREE_320/BA9A9877%20(1)" data-width-320="" style="box-sizing: border-box;"></span><span data-src="http://www.miamiherald.com/news/weather/hurricane/jv88n6/picture173059881/alternates/FREE_480/BA9A9877%20(1)" data-width-480="" style="box-sizing: border-box;"></span><span data-src="http://www.miamiherald.com/news/weather/hurricane/jv88n6/picture173059881/alternates/FREE_640/BA9A9877%20(1)" data-width-640="" style="box-sizing: border-box;"></span><span data-src="http://www.miamiherald.com/news/weather/hurricane/jv88n6/picture173059881/alternates/FREE_768/BA9A9877%20(1)" data-width-768="" style="box-sizing: border-box;"></span><span data-src="http://www.miamiherald.com/news/weather/hurricane/jv88n6/picture173059881/alternates/FREE_960/BA9A9877%20(1)" data-width-960="" style="box-sizing: border-box;"></span><span data-src="http://www.miamiherald.com/news/weather/hurricane/jv88n6/picture173059881/alternates/FREE_1140/BA9A9877%20(1)" data-width-1140="" style="box-sizing: border-box;"></span><img alt="Eight Hollywood nursing home residents died Wednesday morning after falling ill in a building left without air conditioning after Irma blasted South Florida." src="http://www.miamiherald.com/news/weather/hurricane/jv88n6/picture173059881/alternates/FREE_768/BA9A9877%20(1)" data-preload="http://www.miamiherald.com/news/weather/hurricane/jv88n6/picture173059881/alternates/FREE_768/BA9A9877%20(1)" style="border-image: none; border: 0px currentColor; bottom: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; display: block; left: 0px; margin: auto; max-height: 481px; max-width: 700px; position: absolute; right: 0px; top: 0px; transform: translate3d(0px, 0px, 0px); vertical-align: middle;" title="Eight Hollywood nursing home residents died Wednesday morning after falling ill in a building left without air conditioning after Irma blasted South Florida." /></div>
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<span data-src="http://www.miamiherald.com/news/weather/hurricane/20pmxm/picture173147451/alternates/FREE_160/Nursing%20Home%20deaths%2001%20EKM" data-width-160="" style="box-sizing: border-box;"></span><span data-src="http://www.miamiherald.com/news/weather/hurricane/20pmxm/picture173147451/alternates/FREE_320/Nursing%20Home%20deaths%2001%20EKM" data-width-320="" style="box-sizing: border-box;"></span><span data-src="http://www.miamiherald.com/news/weather/hurricane/20pmxm/picture173147451/alternates/FREE_480/Nursing%20Home%20deaths%2001%20EKM" data-width-480="" style="box-sizing: border-box;"></span><span data-src="http://www.miamiherald.com/news/weather/hurricane/20pmxm/picture173147451/alternates/FREE_640/Nursing%20Home%20deaths%2001%20EKM" data-width-640="" style="box-sizing: border-box;"></span><span data-src="http://www.miamiherald.com/news/weather/hurricane/20pmxm/picture173147451/alternates/FREE_768/Nursing%20Home%20deaths%2001%20EKM" data-width-768="" style="box-sizing: border-box;"></span><span data-src="http://www.miamiherald.com/news/weather/hurricane/20pmxm/picture173147451/alternates/FREE_960/Nursing%20Home%20deaths%2001%20EKM" data-width-960="" style="box-sizing: border-box;"></span><span data-src="http://www.miamiherald.com/news/weather/hurricane/20pmxm/picture173147451/alternates/FREE_1140/Nursing%20Home%20deaths%2001%20EKM" data-width-1140="" style="box-sizing: border-box;"></span><img alt="Hollywood’s police chief, Tom Sanchez, speaks to the media Wednesday morning, Sept. 13 , 2017 after three people were found dead inside the Rehabilitation Center at Hollywood Hills, two others died at Memorial Regional Hospital and a sixth died in transit to the hospital. The death toll, later updated to eight, is under a criminal investigation." src="http://www.miamiherald.com/news/weather/hurricane/20pmxm/picture173147451/alternates/FREE_768/Nursing%20Home%20deaths%2001%20EKM" data-preload="http://www.miamiherald.com/news/weather/hurricane/20pmxm/picture173147451/alternates/FREE_768/Nursing%20Home%20deaths%2001%20EKM" style="border-image: none; border: 0px currentColor; bottom: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; display: block; left: 0px; margin: auto; max-height: 481px; max-width: 700px; position: absolute; right: 0px; top: 0px; transform: translate3d(0px, 0px, 0px); vertical-align: middle;" title="Hollywood’s police chief, Tom Sanchez, speaks to the media Wednesday morning, Sept. 13 , 2017 after three people were found dead inside the Rehabilitation Center at Hollywood Hills, two others died at Memorial Regional Hospital and a sixth died in transit to the hospital. The death toll, later updated to eight, is under a criminal investigation." /></div>
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<span data-src="http://www.miamiherald.com/news/weather/hurricane/pqzr42/picture173147461/alternates/FREE_160/Nursing%20Home%20deaths%2003%20EKM" data-width-160="" style="box-sizing: border-box;"></span><span data-src="http://www.miamiherald.com/news/weather/hurricane/pqzr42/picture173147461/alternates/FREE_320/Nursing%20Home%20deaths%2003%20EKM" data-width-320="" style="box-sizing: border-box;"></span><span data-src="http://www.miamiherald.com/news/weather/hurricane/pqzr42/picture173147461/alternates/FREE_480/Nursing%20Home%20deaths%2003%20EKM" data-width-480="" style="box-sizing: border-box;"></span><span data-src="http://www.miamiherald.com/news/weather/hurricane/pqzr42/picture173147461/alternates/FREE_640/Nursing%20Home%20deaths%2003%20EKM" data-width-640="" style="box-sizing: border-box;"></span><span data-src="http://www.miamiherald.com/news/weather/hurricane/pqzr42/picture173147461/alternates/FREE_768/Nursing%20Home%20deaths%2003%20EKM" data-width-768="" style="box-sizing: border-box;"></span><span data-src="http://www.miamiherald.com/news/weather/hurricane/pqzr42/picture173147461/alternates/FREE_960/Nursing%20Home%20deaths%2003%20EKM" data-width-960="" style="box-sizing: border-box;"></span><span data-src="http://www.miamiherald.com/news/weather/hurricane/pqzr42/picture173147461/alternates/FREE_1140/Nursing%20Home%20deaths%2003%20EKM" data-width-1140="" style="box-sizing: border-box;"></span><img alt="Three people were found dead inside the Rehabilitation Center at Hollywood Hills, two others died at Memorial Regional Hospital and one died in transit to the hospital early Wednesday morning, Sept. 13, 2017. The toll was later updated to eight. The deaths are under a criminal investigation." data-preload="http://www.miamiherald.com/news/weather/hurricane/pqzr42/picture173147461/alternates/FREE_768/Nursing%20Home%20deaths%2003%20EKM" style="border-image: none; border: 0px currentColor; bottom: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; display: block; left: 0px; margin: auto; max-height: 481px; max-width: 700px; position: absolute; right: 0px; top: 0px; transform: translate3d(0px, 0px, 0px); vertical-align: middle;" title="Three people were found dead inside the Rehabilitation Center at Hollywood Hills, two others died at Memorial Regional Hospital and one died in transit to the hospital early Wednesday morning, Sept. 13, 2017. The toll was later updated to eight. The deaths are under a criminal investigation." /></div>
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<span data-src="http://www.miamiherald.com/news/weather/hurricane/wfy7ud/picture173147481/alternates/FREE_160/Nursing%20Home%20deaths%2005%20EKM" data-width-160="" style="box-sizing: border-box;"></span><span data-src="http://www.miamiherald.com/news/weather/hurricane/wfy7ud/picture173147481/alternates/FREE_320/Nursing%20Home%20deaths%2005%20EKM" data-width-320="" style="box-sizing: border-box;"></span><span data-src="http://www.miamiherald.com/news/weather/hurricane/wfy7ud/picture173147481/alternates/FREE_480/Nursing%20Home%20deaths%2005%20EKM" data-width-480="" style="box-sizing: border-box;"></span><span data-src="http://www.miamiherald.com/news/weather/hurricane/wfy7ud/picture173147481/alternates/FREE_640/Nursing%20Home%20deaths%2005%20EKM" data-width-640="" style="box-sizing: border-box;"></span><span data-src="http://www.miamiherald.com/news/weather/hurricane/wfy7ud/picture173147481/alternates/FREE_768/Nursing%20Home%20deaths%2005%20EKM" data-width-768="" style="box-sizing: border-box;"></span><span data-src="http://www.miamiherald.com/news/weather/hurricane/wfy7ud/picture173147481/alternates/FREE_960/Nursing%20Home%20deaths%2005%20EKM" data-width-960="" style="box-sizing: border-box;"></span><span data-src="http://www.miamiherald.com/news/weather/hurricane/wfy7ud/picture173147481/alternates/FREE_1140/Nursing%20Home%20deaths%2005%20EKM" data-width-1140="" style="box-sizing: border-box;"></span><img alt="Three people were found dead inside the Rehabilitation Center at Hollywood Hills, two died at Memorial Regional Hospital and one died in transit to the hospital early Wednesday morning, Sept. 13, 2017. The toll was later updated to eight. The deaths are under a criminal investigation." data-preload="http://www.miamiherald.com/news/weather/hurricane/wfy7ud/picture173147481/alternates/FREE_768/Nursing%20Home%20deaths%2005%20EKM" style="border-image: none; border: 0px currentColor; bottom: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; display: block; left: 0px; margin: auto; max-height: 481px; max-width: 700px; position: absolute; right: 0px; top: 0px; transform: translate3d(0px, 0px, 0px); vertical-align: middle;" title="Three people were found dead inside the Rehabilitation Center at Hollywood Hills, two died at Memorial Regional Hospital and one died in transit to the hospital early Wednesday morning, Sept. 13, 2017. The toll was later updated to eight. The deaths are under a criminal investigation." /></div>
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<span data-src="http://www.miamiherald.com/news/weather/hurricane/rl9gw6/picture173147491/alternates/FREE_160/Nursing%20Home%20deaths%2006%20EKM" data-width-160="" style="box-sizing: border-box;"></span><span data-src="http://www.miamiherald.com/news/weather/hurricane/rl9gw6/picture173147491/alternates/FREE_320/Nursing%20Home%20deaths%2006%20EKM" data-width-320="" style="box-sizing: border-box;"></span><span data-src="http://www.miamiherald.com/news/weather/hurricane/rl9gw6/picture173147491/alternates/FREE_480/Nursing%20Home%20deaths%2006%20EKM" data-width-480="" style="box-sizing: border-box;"></span><span data-src="http://www.miamiherald.com/news/weather/hurricane/rl9gw6/picture173147491/alternates/FREE_640/Nursing%20Home%20deaths%2006%20EKM" data-width-640="" style="box-sizing: border-box;"></span><span data-src="http://www.miamiherald.com/news/weather/hurricane/rl9gw6/picture173147491/alternates/FREE_768/Nursing%20Home%20deaths%2006%20EKM" data-width-768="" style="box-sizing: border-box;"></span><span data-src="http://www.miamiherald.com/news/weather/hurricane/rl9gw6/picture173147491/alternates/FREE_960/Nursing%20Home%20deaths%2006%20EKM" data-width-960="" style="box-sizing: border-box;"></span><span data-src="http://www.miamiherald.com/news/weather/hurricane/rl9gw6/picture173147491/alternates/FREE_1140/Nursing%20Home%20deaths%2006%20EKM" data-width-1140="" style="box-sizing: border-box;"></span><img alt="Three people were found dead inside the Rehabilitation Center at Hollywood Hills, two others died at Memorial Regional Hospital and one died in transit to the hospital early Wednesday morning, Sept. 13, 2017. The toll was later updated to eight. The deaths are under a criminal investigation." data-preload="http://www.miamiherald.com/news/weather/hurricane/rl9gw6/picture173147491/alternates/FREE_768/Nursing%20Home%20deaths%2006%20EKM" style="border-image: none; border: 0px currentColor; bottom: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; display: block; left: 0px; margin: auto; max-height: 481px; max-width: 700px; position: absolute; right: 0px; top: 0px; transform: translate3d(0px, 0px, 0px); vertical-align: middle;" title="Three people were found dead inside the Rehabilitation Center at Hollywood Hills, two others died at Memorial Regional Hospital and one died in transit to the hospital early Wednesday morning, Sept. 13, 2017. The toll was later updated to eight. The deaths are under a criminal investigation." /></div>
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<span data-src="http://www.miamiherald.com/news/weather/hurricane/jv88n6/picture173059881/alternates/FREE_160/BA9A9877%20(1)" data-width-160="" style="box-sizing: border-box;"></span><span data-src="http://www.miamiherald.com/news/weather/hurricane/jv88n6/picture173059881/alternates/FREE_320/BA9A9877%20(1)" data-width-320="" style="box-sizing: border-box;"></span><span data-src="http://www.miamiherald.com/news/weather/hurricane/jv88n6/picture173059881/alternates/FREE_480/BA9A9877%20(1)" data-width-480="" style="box-sizing: border-box;"></span><span data-src="http://www.miamiherald.com/news/weather/hurricane/jv88n6/picture173059881/alternates/FREE_640/BA9A9877%20(1)" data-width-640="" style="box-sizing: border-box;"></span><span data-src="http://www.miamiherald.com/news/weather/hurricane/jv88n6/picture173059881/alternates/FREE_768/BA9A9877%20(1)" data-width-768="" style="box-sizing: border-box;"></span><span data-src="http://www.miamiherald.com/news/weather/hurricane/jv88n6/picture173059881/alternates/FREE_960/BA9A9877%20(1)" data-width-960="" style="box-sizing: border-box;"></span><span data-src="http://www.miamiherald.com/news/weather/hurricane/jv88n6/picture173059881/alternates/FREE_1140/BA9A9877%20(1)" data-width-1140="" style="box-sizing: border-box;"></span><img alt="Eight Hollywood nursing home residents died Wednesday morning after falling ill in a building left without air conditioning after Irma blasted South Florida." data-preload="http://www.miamiherald.com/news/weather/hurricane/jv88n6/picture173059881/alternates/FREE_768/BA9A9877%20(1)" style="border-image: none; border: 0px currentColor; bottom: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; display: block; left: 0px; margin: auto; max-height: 481px; max-width: 700px; position: absolute; right: 0px; top: 0px; transform: translate3d(0px, 0px, 0px); vertical-align: middle;" title="Eight Hollywood nursing home residents died Wednesday morning after falling ill in a building left without air conditioning after Irma blasted South Florida." /></div>
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<span class="caption-text" style="box-sizing: border-box;">Eight Hollywood nursing home residents died Wednesday morning after falling ill in a building left without air conditioning after Irma blasted South Florida. </span><span class="photographer" style="box-sizing: border-box; font-weight: 700;">EMILY MICHOT</span> <span class="credits" style="box-sizing: border-box;">emichot@miamiherald.com</span></div>
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Probate Sharkhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15689669875393000741noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4778927784145048761.post-62366814994859002802017-09-09T10:12:00.000-05:002017-09-09T10:12:17.142-05:00Cashing in on frail patients<div class="m_8653291219908281807ydpc5c3507ctrb_ar_hl" style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background-color: white; border-image: none; clear: both; color: #222222; font-family: "courier new", courier, monaco, monospace, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; margin-bottom: 20px; orphans: 2; text-decoration-color: initial; text-decoration-style: initial; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px;">
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Cashing in on frail patients</h1>
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<span style="color: red; font-size: large;">Editor's note: Your ProbateShark proudly declares that at least one of the criminal pillagers of the Estate of Alice R. Gore by the Probate Court of Cook County is behind bars and looking at a stay at "Club Fed". Granted, this crook was involved on the periphery of the crime, but still, this Shark feels success in his arrest. Hopefully, more to come Lucius Verenus, Schoolmaster, ProbateSharks.com</span></h1>
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Administrative offices of the now-closed Rock Creek Center in Lemont. </div>
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Dr. Roland Borrasi chuckled as he told three doctors how he used kickbacks and cash bribes to shuttle unsuspecting nursing home residents into Chicago-area hospitals and psychiatric wards.</div>
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<span style="color: #333333;">"</span><b><span style="background-color: #fdf869; color: #cd232c;">Basically, I have a commodity; my commodity is nursing home patients</span></b><span style="color: #333333;">," Borrasi explained.</span></div>
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He didn't know it at the time, but federal agents were secretly recording that meeting.</div>
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One of the doctors was wearing a wire as Borrasi matter-of-factly explained the mechanics of patient brokering to physicians in his medical group.</div>
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Those recordings, along with court documents and federal investigative reports obtained by the Tribune, describe a web of corruption in which hundreds of thousands of dollars flowed among doctors, nursing home executives and hospital administrators as the facility operators sought to fill their beds with a steady flow of destitute patients.</div>
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While taxpayers paid millions of dollars in fraudulent <a data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?hl=en&q=http://www.chicagotribune.com/topic/health/healthcare/medicaid-HEPRG00001-topic.html&source=gmail&ust=1505053928771000&usg=AFQjCNEc0-n9w5NRdzbr3duQlnjwdsfCqA" href="http://www.chicagotribune.com/topic/health/healthcare/medicaid-HEPRG00001-topic.html" id="m_8653291219908281807ydpc5c3507cHEPRG00001" rel="nofollow" style="color: #144a7c;" target="_blank" title="Medicaid">Medicaid</a> and <a data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?hl=en&q=http://www.chicagotribune.com/topic/health/healthcare/medicare-HEPRG00002-topic.html&source=gmail&ust=1505053928771000&usg=AFQjCNERSjJkpbHP7dsp9vwLBb6Z3cMwjw" href="http://www.chicagotribune.com/topic/health/healthcare/medicare-HEPRG00002-topic.html" id="m_8653291219908281807ydpc5c3507cHEPRG00002" rel="nofollow" style="color: #144a7c;" target="_blank" title="Medicare">Medica<wbr></wbr>re</a> bills, one <a data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?hl=en&q=http://www.chicagotribune.com/topic/health/diseases-illnesses/alzheimers-disease-HEDAI000007-topic.html&source=gmail&ust=1505053928771000&usg=AFQjCNGynhUqxc91t8As9Ea2PtdvlLFBrQ" href="http://www.chicagotribune.com/topic/health/diseases-illnesses/alzheimers-disease-HEDAI000007-topic.html" id="m_8653291219908281807ydpc5c3507cHEDAI000007" rel="nofollow" style="color: #144a7c;" target="_blank" title="Alzheimer's Disease">Alzheimer's</a> patient was given inappropriate brain radiation treatments, a Borrasi associate told federal agents. A second patient, a disoriented elderly woman, was sent to an acute psychiatric ward after she refused to eat in her nursing home dining hall, another medical professional told federal agents.</div>
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"The fact that … greed subordinated the care of elderly and infirm patients who really needed it is horrific at best," federal prosecutors wrote in a court filing earlier this year after Borrasi was sentenced for accepting more than $500,000 in kickbacks to steer vulnerable patients. Prosecutors described "the scope and breadth of the bribes" as "extraordinary."</div>
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Borrasi, now serving a six-year stint in a Kentucky federal prison, declined to comment.</div>
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The illegal operation centered on Rock Creek Center, a now-shuttered psychiatric facility in southwest suburban Lemont. Also named but never charged in the federal probe were two of the state's largest nursing home chains, whose patients allegedly were used in the scheme, as well as executives from two well-known Chicago hospitals, Methodist and Loretto, which "paid Borrasi for patients," prosecutors wrote in a federal court filing. Federal anti-kickback laws prohibit facilities from offering payments or inducements in exchange for referring Medicaid or Medicare patients.</div>
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The crimes took place in 2002 and before, <span style="background-color: #fdf869;">but it took federal agents years to uncover the conspiracy. Their investigative reports and transcripts of undercover recordings have surfaced only recently as the prosecutions near conclusion</span>.</div>
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Advocates for the disabled such as ACLU attorney Benjamin Wolf believe similar patient-brokering schemes continue in Illinois today. Government-funded patients, Wolf said, "<span style="background-color: #fdf869;">become a money machine" for the homes and hospitals alike</span>.</div>
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Borrasi made himself the indispensible middleman in the patient-brokering racket: He worked at both nursing homes and hospitals and thus could shuttle hundreds of patients to maximize the facilities' profits. The brash medical group boss drove a Porsche, kept several mistresses and began wearing a bulletproof vest after being shot at close range in the parking lot of a nursing home in 2002, records show.</div>
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In addition to Borrasi, Rock Creek's CEO and its director of operations were sentenced for related crimes in recent months.</div>
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A fourth defendant, Dr. Naseem Chaudhry — a psychiatrist who worked as a consultant for Borrasi's medical group and also as medical director of Rock Creek — pleaded guilty <span class="aBn" data-term="goog_2071305408" style="border-bottom-color: rgb(204, 204, 204); border-bottom-style: dashed; border-bottom-width: 1px; position: relative; top: -2px; z-index: 0;" tabindex="0"><span class="aQJ" style="position: relative; top: 2px; z-index: -1;">Wednesday</span></span> to one count of health care fraud. His sentencing is scheduled for August.</div>
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Federal agents have traced a cat's cradle of illicit payments, with money allegedly flowing to and from Borrasi through the medical group he owned and operated.</div>
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To ensure a steady stream of patients to their facilities, operators of hospitals and nursing homes paid Borrasi's medical group "stipends" that were really "bribes disguised as legitimate income," prosecutors said in court papers.</div>
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Four nursing homes linked to the Alden Management Services nursing home group, founded by Floyd Schlossberg, paid Borrasi's medical group stipends totaling $54,000 in 2002, according to records and interviews. Borrasi told his medical colleague and co-worker Abhin Singla that Alden nursing homes were paying him "in exchange for admitting patients" there, according to the federal investigative reports. Schlossberg and Alden representatives declined to comment.</div>
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Methodist Hospital of Chicago, on the North Side, paid Borrasi's group stipends of $8,267 in 2000, while Loretto Hospital, on the West Side, paid $12,500 in 2002, records and interviews show. Prosecutors said Borrasi had "payment-for-referral arrangements" at both places, but the facilities declined to comment.</div>
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Also paying Borrasi's medical group and serving as a source of patients, according to prosecutors and court exhibits, were nursing homes operated by Philip Esformes and his father, Morris Esformes. They and their companies have an ownership stake or management and consulting role in 28 nursing facilities in Illinois and Florida.</div>
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Three Esformes facilities paid Borrasi's group a total of $25,400 from 2000 to 2002, according to government records and interviews. Borrasi was medical director at Burnham Healthcare, for example, from approximately July 2000 through December 2002, and he continued to see patients there for several years afterward, records and interviews show.</div>
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Through their attorneys, Philip and Morris Esformes vigorously denied wrongdoing and said the payments to Borrasi "were market rate and ordinary and customary payments for services as medical director," adding that Borrasi did a good job.</div>
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"There is absolutely no evidence that these payments were tied into patient referrals," said attorney Michael Pasano.</div>
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Attorneys for the Esformeses say their clients have never been contacted by federal investigators regarding the patient-brokering allegations.</div>
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Government records raise questions about the quality of care provided by Borrasi's medical group at Esformes homes. At Burnham, for example, Borrasi knew two of his doctors were not visiting some patients, but he "fixed all the charts ... to conceal the fact that services were not provided," one of those doctors, Singla, told authorities.</div>
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For his part, Borrasi allegedly told co-workers that he felt obliged to do financial favors for nursing home operators who supplied patients. As federal prosecutors put it in one court filing, Borrasi "‘bought' control of (patients) from corrupt nursing home operators and rented them to those hospitals that were willing to pay him for (the) privilege of housing them."</div>
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"I have to, you know, quite honestly, pay some people off. Pay money," Borrasi told fellow doctors on one recording. Prosecutors did not specify who those people were.</div>
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The corruption embedded into a medical system meant to care for society's most vulnerable was fueled by competition for Medicare and Medicaid patients to fill nursing home and hospital beds, the federal reports show.</div>
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Hospital and nursing home "recruiters" got new patients "from the gutter, they get them from shelters. They get them from the sidewalks," Borrasi said on one undercover recording. The recruiters spotted likely candidates "just kind of like being bummed out and sitting in the emergency rooms and talk to 'em and say, ‘... We can get you some food, get you a nice place to live.'"</div>
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A single homeless person could bring a nursing home $100 per day in Medicaid reimbursements and become a "$35,000-a-year item," Borrasi told his fellow doctors.</div>
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At Rock Creek, the impoverished patients were so valuable that the hospital admitted them from as far away as Florida and California, paid for plane tickets and dispatched limousines to pick them up at O'Hare or Midway, records and interviews show.</div>
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"I was sending a lot of people up there. Street people," Rock Creek recruiter Robert Revels told the Tribune. "It's a moneymaking thing, buddy." Revels was convicted of conspiring to receive payments from Rock Creek in return for referring patients there.</div>
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One employee at Rock Creek referred to Revels' patients as "psychiatric hobos" who were "looking for a vacation on public aid," federal investigative reports show. The facility paid Revels as much as $8,500 a month based on the number of patients he sent to the facility — a violation of federal law. And for other recruiters, who scoured Chicago's South Side for homeless people, envelopes stuffed with $500 cash for each new admission were allegedly left at the Rock Creek switchboard, one former hospital worker told federal investigators.</div>
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Housed at Rock Creek among vagrants, felons and substance abusers supplied by the recruiters were frail nursing home residents trapped in the scheme without their consent, records show.</div>
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When Rock Creek's census was low, a center employee would call one of the nursing homes and get patients admitted, former social services director Ilona McDougal told federal agents. Likewise, when a nursing home had a low census, Rock Creek patients were discharged there.</div>
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Many Alzheimer's and dementia patients were sent to Rock Creek with papers from the nursing homes alleging they had been "acting out," former Rock Creek discharge planner and clinical social worker Kimberly Reevas told federal agents. But those elderly people seemed docile and "not aware of their surroundings," Reevas said. Assigned to group therapy sessions, "they just sat there."</div>
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Reevas and McDougal were among numerous health care professionals who helped authorities uncover the fraud and mistreatment.</div>
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In addition to Rock Creek, Borrasi also sent nursing home patients to Methodist and Loretto. At Methodist, Singla told agents, only 10 percent of those medical admissions had legitimate illnesses, while the other 90 percent were placed in the hospital "under vague or false diagnoses."</div>
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Some patients were subjected to questionable procedures. At Methodist, Borrasi hospitalized an elderly Alzheimer's patient in 2001 with the sketchy diagnosis of "mental status change," then ordered several cycles of what Singla described as inappropriate brain radiation treatments.</div>
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When Singla raised questions, Borrasi responded by asking why Singla should care, "as long as (Singla) received the $80 a day for seeing the patient," a federal report said.</div>
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One mentally ill 66-year-old woman was transferred 35 times among five hospitals and three nursing homes while she was treated by Borrasi and his medical group from July 2000 through August 2003, according to court exhibits filed by prosecutors.</div>
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Such repeated shuttling of elderly or infirm patients can increase the likelihood of serious illness or death, according to a study cited by prosecutors. Yet, prosecutors alleged, "Borrasi seemed almost oblivious to the terrible impact his referral practice would inevitably have on his patients."</div>
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On tape, Borrasi acknowledged that once people were returned to their nursing homes, "they probably get even sicker."</div>
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Still, ailing nursing home patients were good for business, he said. "You get like X number more admissions because of that."</div>
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<a href="https://www.blogger.com/null" rel="nofollow" style="color: #144a7c;" target="_blank">dyjackson@tribune.com</a></div>
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Probate Sharkhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15689669875393000741noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4778927784145048761.post-91052837663183414872017-09-07T10:04:00.000-05:002017-09-07T10:04:28.927-05:00ELDER CLEANSING COVER=UP<div class="nH br6" style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background-color: white; color: black; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: medium; font-style: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; orphans: 2; text-decoration-color: initial; text-decoration-style: initial; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px;">
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ELDER CLEANSING COVER=UP</h2>
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<span></span><span alt="Wed, Sep 6, 2017 at 7:56 PM" class="g3" id=":7w" style="margin-right: 3px; vertical-align: top;" title="Wed, Sep 6, 2017 at 7:56 PM">7:56 PM (13 hours ago)</span><div aria-checked="false" aria-label="Starred" class="zd bi4" role="checkbox" style="cursor: pointer; display: inline-block; height: 20px; outline: 0px; user-select: none;" tabindex="0">
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<span class="hb" style="color: #777777; vertical-align: top;">to<span> </span><span class="g2" data-hovercard-id="verenusl@gmail.com" dir="ltr" email="verenusl@gmail.com" name="me">me</span>,<span> </span><span class="g2" data-hovercard-id="nasga.org@gmail.com" dir="ltr" email="nasga.org@gmail.com" name="Nasga">Nasga</span>,<span> </span><span class="g2" data-hovercard-id="joanne@justice4every1.com" dir="ltr" email="joanne@justice4every1.com" name="JoAnne">JoAnne</span>,<span> </span><span class="g2" data-hovercard-id="wsj.lts@wsj.com" dir="ltr" email="wsj.lts@wsj.com" name="Wall">Wall</span>,<span> </span><span class="g2" data-hovercard-id="aaapgusa@gmail.com" dir="ltr" email="aaapgusa@gmail.com" name="Sam">Sam</span>,<span> </span><span class="g2" data-hovercard-id="webmaster@abajournal.com" dir="ltr" email="webmaster@abajournal.com" name="ABAJournal.com">ABAJournal.com</span>,<span> </span><span class="g2" data-hovercard-id="ajo@bsolaw.com" dir="ltr" email="ajo@bsolaw.com" name="Andy">Andy</span>,<span> </span><span class="g2" data-hovercard-id="info@bettergov.org" dir="ltr" email="info@bettergov.org" name="Better">Better</span>,<span> </span><span class="g2" data-hovercard-id="diversitycommission@americanbar.org" dir="ltr" email="diversitycommission@americanbar.org" name="ABA">ABA</span>,<span> </span><span class="g2" data-hovercard-id="chachaangelina@yahoo.com" dir="ltr" email="chachaangelina@yahoo.com" name="Angela">Angela</span>,<span> </span><span class="g2" data-hovercard-id="statesattorney@cookcountyil.gov" dir="ltr" email="statesattorney@cookcountyil.gov" name="Cook">Cook</span>,<span> </span><span class="g2" data-hovercard-id="loamu@aol.com" dir="ltr" email="loamu@aol.com" name="Lanre">Lanre</span>,<span> </span><span class="g2" data-hovercard-id="aclu@aclu.org" dir="ltr" email="aclu@aclu.org" name="ACLU">ACLU</span>,<span> </span><span class="g2" data-hovercard-id="contact_aging@aging.senate.gov" dir="ltr" email="contact_aging@aging.senate.gov" name="Aging">Aging</span>,<span> </span><span class="g2" data-hovercard-id="acluofillinois@aclu-il.org" dir="ltr" email="acluofillinois@aclu-il.org" name="ACLU">ACLU</span>,<span> </span><span class="g2" data-hovercard-id="illinois.ardc@gmail.com" dir="ltr" email="illinois.ardc@gmail.com" name="Illinois">Illinois</span>,<span> </span><span class="g2" data-hovercard-id="llessura@gmail.com" dir="ltr" email="llessura@gmail.com" name="Alyece">Alyece</span>,<span> </span><span class="g2" data-hovercard-id="aag_consumer@atg.state.il.us" dir="ltr" email="aag_consumer@atg.state.il.us" name="Lisa">Lisa</span>,<span> </span><span class="g2" data-hovercard-id="member@email.aarp.org" dir="ltr" email="member@email.aarp.org" name="AARP">AARP</span>,<span> </span><span class="g2" data-hovercard-id="agnews@myfloridalegal.com" dir="ltr" email="agnews@myfloridalegal.com" name="Attorney">Attorney</span>,<span> </span><span class="g2" data-hovercard-id="chicagotribune@em.chicagotribune.com" dir="ltr" email="chicagotribune@em.chicagotribune.com" name="Tribune">Tribune</span>,<span> </span><span class="g2" data-hovercard-id="jelarkin@iardc.org" dir="ltr" email="jelarkin@iardc.org" name="Administrator">Administrator</span>,<span> </span><span class="g2" data-hovercard-id="abaminority@americanbar.org" dir="ltr" email="abaminority@americanbar.org" name="ABA">ABA</span>,<span> </span><span class="g2" data-hovercard-id="legalabuse@gmail.com" dir="ltr" email="legalabuse@gmail.com" name="Legal">Legal</span>,<span> </span><span class="g2" data-hovercard-id="info@attorneygeneral.gov" dir="ltr" email="info@attorneygeneral.gov" name="Attorneygeneral">Attorneygeneral</span></span></div>
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One of the most insidious crimes that is being committed is the elder cleansing holocaust that is becoming a cottage industry in the United States. By misuse of guardianship and a high dose of judicial corruption the scavenger miscreants who have been ravaging the HEALTH CARE industry have been preying on the elderly not only to defraud the government health care programs, but to steal the savings of the targeted elderly.</div>
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The infamous MARY SYKES case 09 P 4585 is just one example of the total disregard for the RULE OF THE LAW, individual Constitutional protections, and an infamous cover -up of a conspiracy that involves not only the criminals who target the elderly, but judicial officials including but not limited to the Judge, the guardian, the guardian ad litem, and the attorneys who protect them. (These attorneys include the administrator of the Attorney Disciplinary Commission, his overpaid and underachieving staff attorneys etc. The Alice Gore case connotes the vile actions of the cabal or criminals with law degrees and their cover-up crew. (I just cannot forget that these predators were so obscene as to actually prospect in the mouth of elderly Alice Gore to locate and garner possession of the few grains of gold found in her teeth. </div>
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The isolation of a targeted individual coupled with her/his doping so that he/she can be immobilized, used as a vehicle to garner government health care payments, robbed of savings and other monies and dehumanized has become an accepted medical procedure by the State of Illinois and some other States. The government elite do complete mightily as to the Opioids administered (at Medicare/Medicaid expense) but short of complaining nothing happens - except more complaining. </div>
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As the human body can only suffer so much abuse, DEATH mercifully opens space for yet another elderly person to be cleansed! The elderly commodities - the words of the nursiong home moguls - continue unabated as nothing is done by government to protect the rights, privileges and immunities of Americans. Words are substituted for deeds as the never ending supply of elderly is exploited in nursing homes, hospice etc. Writing to public officials is useless. I wrote to Senator Durbin - his response was to send me a copy of one of his irrelevant and irrelevant speeches telling on social security. Dubin's avoidance has been echoed Nationally by his fellows!</div>
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The DOJ has been making some inroads - see the article attached. The problem is that the political and judicial elite are being enriched by the elder cleansing industry and the establishment can count on the nursing home operators delivering not only CASH to the Political elite, but the votes required to keep them in political and judicial office. In most jurisdictions the NURSING HOME OPERATOR will and can deliver every resident's vote to the dominant political elite! </div>
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<h1 class="m_5540137648245313956ydpf95253c3entry-title" style="border-image: none; border: 0px currentColor; color: #444444; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 30px; line-height: 1.1; margin: 0px 0px 10px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">
DOJ Approach To Skilled Nursing Facility Fraud Is Affirmed</h1>
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<span style="background: none; border-image: none; border: 0px currentColor; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"> </span><span class="m_5540137648245313956ydpf95253c3ea-headline-date" style="background: none; border-image: none; border: 0px currentColor; display: block; margin: 5px 0px 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">October 5, 2016, 12:16 PM EDT</span></div>
Law360, New York (October 5, 2016, 12:16 PM EDT) -- <div class="m_5540137648245313956ydpf95253c3image-box-right" style="background: none; border-image: none; border: 0px currentColor; float: right; margin: 5px 10px 10px 1em; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">
<img class="m_5540137648245313956ydpf95253c3img-responsive CToWUd" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/proxy/AVvXsEggRHSoM2qq4XHEsnOhf9RsW-H01Gsq_PZ9d-Yvyyz_YaoSTKksA67pKnOV42QtIi86afNjaASK7-RulzT0zyQRCqomD7ywXLLsdOElLDrPtadBFVXfOTOVCW3GppGRED5S72RXyOviRMvVZxsF3wLgvemSCRZzERIL0jWG_-4ol-yiBMEKYN8r3w8ETFTJnBTBjmc7rzhEIaQhVIp5p9RghR5iQ671LRIg2qFMhnCflQ=s0-d-e1-ft" style="background: none; border-image: none; border: 1px solid black; display: block; margin: 0px; max-width: 100%; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;" width="120" /><div align="center" class="m_5540137648245313956ydpf95253c3caption" style="background: none; border-image: none; border: 0px currentColor; clear: both; color: #999999; font-size: 12px; line-height: 15.6px; margin: 5px 0px 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">
<span style="background: none; border-image: none; border: 0px currentColor; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Jeanne A. Markey</span></div>
<img class="m_5540137648245313956ydpf95253c3img-responsive CToWUd" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/proxy/AVvXsEjUThdW96__9v-x7Uiva0Fv8LVnTJc_wJW4fMNP1b0Yygwm0jvVvFnpZRuBoHoT11O2TZA_7OyrI4JJkX7SZI9z4RGXCb4ymUOWt2qaEKk6JjIH6wmbWd-pXoAozngNsc8vNrxpeeFysJ0evBIrMQOC5UfeYx-3F5WRc8MBD9ldhjiXE9bTyT6vJWTJVS8FjzYeJiV1FiSsY3zjtFh79Fza9vSmTmAk1clcruruVvX90sTs=s0-d-e1-ft" style="background: none; border-image: none; border: 1px solid black; display: block; margin: 0px; max-width: 100%; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;" width="120" /><div align="center" class="m_5540137648245313956ydpf95253c3caption" style="background: none; border-image: none; border: 0px currentColor; clear: both; color: #999999; font-size: 12px; line-height: 15.6px; margin: 5px 0px 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">
<span style="background: none; border-image: none; border: 0px currentColor; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Raymond M. Sarola</span></div>
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Last month, in U.S. ex rel. Hayward v. <a data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?hl=en&q=https://www.law360.com/companies/savaseniorcare-llc&source=gmail&ust=1504882539390000&usg=AFQjCNHXiVAqjZPfXRQS0kfr3n__JeieaA" href="https://www.law360.com/companies/savaseniorcare-llc" rel="nofollow" style="background: none; color: #00427f; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;" target="_blank">SavaSeniorCare LLC</a>, the Tennessee district court emphatically rejected the efforts made by defendant operators of a large nursing home chain to dismiss the <a data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?hl=en&q=https://www.law360.com/agencies/u-s-department-of-justice&source=gmail&ust=1504882539390000&usg=AFQjCNG5cHrxnjiweVhd3kLezXvjRrxMsw" href="https://www.law360.com/agencies/u-s-department-of-justice" rel="nofollow" style="background: none; color: #00427f; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;" target="_blank">U.S. Department of Justice</a>’s False Claims Act complaint alleging a chainwide pattern of administering unnecessary skilled therapy to inflate Medicare reimbursement amounts. This opinion should help to inform the course of the multitude of FCA cases that involve large volumes of claims and many different patients.<br /><br />In recent years, the skilled nursing facility industry has become a major focus of the federal health care programs and the DOJ’s enforcement efforts under the False Claims Act. The reasons are clear — Medicare pays over $30 billion each year to skilled nursing facilities, which along with Medicaid covers millions of mostly elderly and infirm Americans residing in nursing homes.[1]<br /><br />Over the last six years, five reports from the <a data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?hl=en&q=https://www.law360.com/agencies/u-s-department-of-health-and-human-services&source=gmail&ust=1504882539390000&usg=AFQjCNFOgjjLKklh63WioqS8OUyRRzXFHQ" href="https://www.law360.com/agencies/u-s-department-of-health-and-human-services" rel="nofollow" style="background: none; color: #00427f; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;" target="_blank">U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Office</a> of Inspector General have identified serious problems in the skilled nursing facility (SNF) industry. Earlier this year, the DOJ intervened in a qui tam lawsuit and obtained a $125 million settlement from RehabCare Group Inc., the nation’s largest provider of skilled therapy.[2] The DOJ has intervened in or brought its own FCA complaints in other SNF cases as well, and the Sava decision has affirmed its approach to these cases and paves the way for similar enforcement actions in the future.<br /><br />When skilled nursing facilities inflate the volume of skilled therapy and other services they administer to their patients beyond what is medically reasonable and necessary in order to increase their Medicare reimbursement amounts, it results in both substantial financial harm to the government and physical harm to patients. Such cases typically encompass thousands of false claims, each reflecting the specific services provided with respect to each SNF Medicare resident. Defendants in FCA actions arising from these frauds have sought to exploit this factual scenario in seeking to have these complaints dismissed on Rule 12(b)(6) or 9(b) grounds. In Sava, the DOJ intervened in three consolidated qui tam suits and alleged that the defendants engaged in a massive scheme to defraud Medicare by systematically providing and billing for unnecessary skilled therapy.[3] The defendants made multiple arguments for the dismissal of the complaint, each of which the court carefully considered and ultimately rejected.<br /><br /><span style="background: none; border-image: none; border: 0px currentColor; font-size: 16px; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><strong style="background: none; border-image: none; border: 0px currentColor; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">The Government’s Complaint: Sava Billed Medicare For Unnecessary Skilled Therapy</strong></span><br /><br />When a Medicare beneficiary is eligible to receive skilled therapy services (occupational, speech and physical therapy), Medicare will pay their skilled nursing facility a per diem amount that gets progressively larger as the intensity and amount of therapy required by the beneficiary increases. The basis for the government’s complaint in Sava is that the defendants systematically increased their patients’ “RUG levels” — the Medicare metric representing the appropriate amount of therapy for a given patient — in order to inflate their revenue from Medicare and thereby their profits. Specifically, defendants are alleged to have submitted to Medicare claims for payment that were false because they certified to the appropriateness of a level of therapy that was inflated.<br /><br />The means by which Sava is alleged to have perpetrated this fraud is through a top-down scheme where corporate executives pressured the management and staff at individual facilities to inflate their Medicare reimbursement by increasing patients’ RUG levels and keeping patients under treatment for longer than necessary. This scheme was effected through the use of corporate-driven “budgets” that set targets for each facility’s Medicare reimbursement. These “budgets” were often unrelated to patient needs, unrealistically high, and enforced with both carrots and sticks — bonuses for employees who met these targets, and the threat of termination for those who did not. Facilities were even ranked according to these metrics, with the highest-revenue facilities earning praise from corporate leadership and lower-revenue facilities criticized. Numerous internal emails were quoted in the complaint demonstrating the effect of this corporate pressure imposed on Sava employees.<br /><br />The government presented in its complaint five specific patient examples and a chart detailing twenty false claims associated with their treatment. These were only representative examples, however, as the alleged scheme is far broader. Sava operated around 200 nursing facilities and is alleged to have engaged in this fraud from at least 2008-2012, during which time it received $1.4 billion from Medicare.<br /><br />Notably, the complaint alleged causes of action against four legally separate Sava corporate entities. Sava is organized in a manner common in the SNF industry, with different companies providing such services as billing, therapy, and administration. These nominally distinct entities are alleged to have operated in a concerted fashion, performing coordinated and overlapping operational functions.<br /><br /><span style="background: none; border-image: none; border: 0px currentColor; font-size: 16px; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><strong style="background: none; border-image: none; border: 0px currentColor; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Sava’s Motion to Dismiss and the Government’s Reply</strong></span><br /><br />Sava moved to dismiss the DOJ’s complaint principally on the ground that it failed to sufficiently allege any “false claims” under the FCA. This multifaceted defense is appropriately viewed as an attack not only to the complaint in this matter, but indeed against the DOJ’s entire approach to large-scale SNF fraud cases.<br /><br />First, Sava coined the term “HPL Mandate,” and argued that it was required by law to provide enough therapy to allow beneficiaries to reach their “highest practicable level” of function. This mandated practice, Sava claimed, was all the government was able to allege. The DOJ challenged the premise of this assertion, responding that neither the “HPL Mandate,” nor any other specific regulatory provision replaced or weakened the core requirement that services must be “reasonable and necessary” in order to receive Medicare reimbursement.<br /><br />Second, Sava argued that at best the government had alleged a general scheme to defraud, but did not allege any individual false claims. It presented a detailed defense of the levels of therapy it provided to the five specific patient examples offered by the government and stated that the complaint did not allege any other particular false claims. The government stood behind the sufficiency of its allegations regarding both the five exemplars and Sava’s nationwide fraudulent scheme.<br /><br />Third, a key issue in the case was Sava’s defense that its Medicare claims could not be objectively false because the government’s allegations demonstrate only a “clinical disagreement” on the proper treatment for a given patient. Sava argued that the government needed to allege at the pleading stage that no reasonable physician could have directed the treatment it provided. The government challenged this defense, arguing that Medicare claims can be false even where based on a subjective opinion and that the application of Sava’s defense to the entire health care system would insulate any defendant who had a physician certify the need for the services provided, as is the case in practically all Medicare claims.<br /><br />Fourth, certain Sava corporate affiliates moved separately to dismiss the claims against them, arguing that the complaint improperly grouped all defendants together and lacked specific allegations about their respective roles. The government replied that all of the named defendants acted together to perpetrate the alleged fraud, and noted that they incorporated each other’s legal arguments and even used the same counsel to defend these claims.<br /><br /><span style="background: none; border-image: none; border: 0px currentColor; font-size: 16px; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><strong style="background: none; border-image: none; border: 0px currentColor; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">The Court’s Decision and Future Implications</strong></span><br /><br />The court sided with the government on every key issue briefed on the motions to dismiss, and issued an opinion that may have far-reaching implications for DOJ’s enforcement efforts in the SNF industry.<br /><br />As to the so-called “HPL Mandate,” the court viewed Sava’s defense with overt skepticism. It engaged in a thorough review of the relevant Medicare statutes and regulations, and observed that no court has accepted the argument that regulations pertaining to the “highest practicable level” redefined Medicare’s core “reasonable and necessary” threshold. The court’s strong rejection of this defense may deter other SNFs from similarly attempting to fashion their own skilled nursing “mandates” in defense of FCA overbilling claims.<br /><br />With respect to the government’s five patient exemplars, the court acknowledged Sava’s efforts to justify each provided therapy service but ultimately concluded these were issues of fact, not of the sufficiency of the allegations in the complaint. Though outside the scope of this article, the role of these five patient examples in the course of this litigation is presently being disputed by the parties. Sava has moved for a bellwether trial on just these five patients alone, while the government has requested that it be permitted to offer statistical sampling methods to extrapolate findings of falsity from these and other patients to the full population of relevant Sava claims.<br /><br />Importantly, the court soundly rejected Sava’s objective falsity arguments. This aspect of the ruling will have implications across the health care spectrum, as this defense is proffered in FCA cases in many segments of the industry. The Sava court unmasked this defense as a straw man in its attempt to recast the complaint as alleging a mere difference of professional opinion. As the court correctly found, the complaint in this matter alleges a different and wholly more pernicious practice — that Sava’s clinicians did not use their best judgment as to the therapy appropriate for each patient, but were instead driven to inflate the therapy provided by Sava’s corporate directives.<br /><br />Finally, the court denied the Sava corporate affiliates’ attempt to escape this lawsuit, holding that the government had properly pled claims against each of them. This ruling is particularly noteworthy because Sava’s organization is emblematic of common business structures in the SNF industry, and because the fractionalization of health care operations is widespread. Complex corporate structures are often cited by defendants in attempts to avoid FCA liability, such as by arguing that no single entity committed all the elements of the offense. This ruling comports with both established law and the reality of contemporary healthcare organizational structures by acknowledging that when related entities act as one, they are liable as one.<br /><br />The Sava decision is a welcome addition to FCA jurisprudence, and will have significant implications for the DOJ’s enforcement of Medicare fraud actions against SNFs and other providers. Its thoughtful reasoning should be persuasive to other courts in similar cases around the country and act as a “warning shot” to defendants who would consider litigating the same legal defenses as an alternative to settlement.<br /><br />—By Jeanne A. Markey and Raymond M. Sarola, <a data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?hl=en&q=https://www.law360.com/firms/cohen-milstein&source=gmail&ust=1504882539390000&usg=AFQjCNFBS2r7fSUz7aKvZ4PTowK8fqSJyA" href="https://www.law360.com/firms/cohen-milstein" rel="nofollow" style="background: none; color: #00427f; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;" target="_blank">Cohen Milstein Sellers & Toll PLLC</a><br /><br /><em style="background: none; border-image: none; border: 0px currentColor; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><a data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?hl=en&q=http://www.cohenmilstein.com/professional/jeanne-markey&source=gmail&ust=1504882539390000&usg=AFQjCNFnsoYx4H_0bAs1kBAYCHQFtlQOjg" href="http://www.cohenmilstein.com/professional/jeanne-markey" rel="nofollow" style="background: none; color: #00427f; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;" target="_blank">Jeanne Markey</a> is a partner in Cohen Milstein's Philadelphia office and co-chairs the firm’s whistleblower/False Claims Act practice. <a data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?hl=en&q=http://www.cohenmilstein.com/professional/raymond-m-sarola&source=gmail&ust=1504882539390000&usg=AFQjCNEzC7i57fU3I6bK13370bIRaqxVUg" href="http://www.cohenmilstein.com/professional/raymond-m-sarola" rel="nofollow" style="background: none; color: #00427f; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;" target="_blank">Raymond Sarola</a> is an associate in the firm's Philadelphia office and a member of the whistleblower/FCA Practice and the ethics and fiduciary counseling practice.<br /><br />The opinions expressed are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily reflect the views of the firm, its clients, or Portfolio Media Inc., or any of its or their respective affiliates. This article is for general information purposes and is not intended to be and should not be taken as legal advice.</em><br /><br />[1] See The Henry J. Kaiser Family Foundation, “An Overview of Medicare” (Apr. 1, 2016), available at<span> </span><a data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?hl=en&q=http://kff.org/medicare/issue-brief/an-overview-of-medicare/&source=gmail&ust=1504882539390000&usg=AFQjCNEco3Z2an2udl9cX-eMadvDflXdqw" href="http://kff.org/medicare/issue-brief/an-overview-of-medicare/" style="color: #1155cc;" target="_blank">http://kff.org/medicare/issue-<wbr></wbr>brief/an-overview-of-medicare/</a><span> </span>(skilled nursing facilities account for 5% of Medicare’s $632 billion in 2015 expenditures); Vincent Mor, et al., “The Revolving Door of Rehospitalization From Skilled Nursing Facilities,” Health Affairs (Jan. 2010), available at<span> </span><a data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?hl=en&q=http://content.healthaffairs.org/content/29/1/57.full&source=gmail&ust=1504882539390000&usg=AFQjCNHcKo2X41kV8dLN5IiSTGOtNmskjg" href="http://content.healthaffairs.org/content/29/1/57.full" style="color: #1155cc;" target="_blank">http://content.healthaffairs.<wbr></wbr>org/content/29/1/57.full</a><span> </span>(1.1 million Medicare and Medicaid patients admitted to nursing homes in 2005).<br /><br />[2] Department of Justice, “Nation’s Largest Nursing Home Therapy Provider, Kindred/Rehabcare, to Pay $125 Million to Resolve False Claims Act Allegations,” January 12, 2016, available at<span> </span><a data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?hl=en&q=https://www.justice.gov/opa/pr/nation-s-largest-nursing-home-therapy-provider-kindredrehabcare-pay-125-million-resolve-false&source=gmail&ust=1504882539390000&usg=AFQjCNHKlTCtKbmqD1_sb1PvbufNRr9bTw" href="https://www.justice.gov/opa/pr/nation-s-largest-nursing-home-therapy-provider-kindredrehabcare-pay-125-million-resolve-false" style="color: #1155cc;" target="_blank">https://www.justice.gov/opa/<wbr></wbr>pr/nation-s-largest-nursing-<wbr></wbr>home-therapy-provider-<wbr></wbr>kindredrehabcare-pay-125-<wbr></wbr>million-resolve-false</a><br /><br />[3] U.S. ex rel. Hayward et al. v. SavaSeniorCare, LLC, et al., No.<span> </span><span class="aBn" data-term="goog_1136335675" style="border-bottom-color: rgb(204, 204, 204); border-bottom-style: dashed; border-bottom-width: 1px; position: relative; top: -2px; z-index: 0;" tabindex="0"><span class="aQJ" style="position: relative; top: 2px; z-index: -1;">3:11</span></span>-cv-00821 (M.D. Tenn.)The Department of Justice’s Use of the False Claims Act to Prosecute</div>
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<span style="font-style: italic;"><span style="font-family: "comic sans ms";"><span style="font-size: medium;"><span style="color: #4040ff;">Ken Ditkowsky</span></span></span></span><br />
<span style="font-style: italic;"><span style="font-family: "comic sans ms";"><span style="font-size: medium;"><span style="color: #4040ff;"><a data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?hl=en&q=http://www.ditkowskylawoffice.com&source=gmail&ust=1504882539391000&usg=AFQjCNGgAIFGZKQcFwDSFxnM_5CK5GVhVw" href="http://www.ditkowskylawoffice.com/" rel="nofollow" style="color: #1155cc;" target="_blank">www.ditkowskylawoffice.com</a></span></span></span></span></div>
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On Wednesday, September 6, 2017, 4:17:36 AM CDT, kenneth ditkowsky <<a href="https://www.blogger.com/null" style="color: #1155cc;" target="_blank">kenditkowsky@yahoo.com</a>> wrote:</div>
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<b>Health care fraud is a major industry in the United States that supports not only corrupt judges, but much of the Political elite. Not only is it a cancer that is destroying the financial underpinnings of America, but the profiteers are destroying the core values of America.</b></div>
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<b>Witness the Philip Esformes indictments down in Florida. Esformes, a small time crook, stole a billion dollars! It is estimated that his fellows stole so much more than he is "small potatoes" even though he equals the Bernie Madoff crimes. Witness the Seth Gillman medicare frauds. Gillman a lawyer preyed on the Hospice crowd! He stole millions not only from the infirm and dying, but also helped himself to his employees trust funds. The Establishment and in particular Larkin and the IARDC expressed no interest in protecting the public from crooked lawyers such as either LARKIN or Gillman. The IARDC was much more diligent in its cover-up of Judicial corruption exposed by Lanre Amu (guilty - practicing law while black!), JoAnne Denison (Blog - exposing judicial corruption) ******. </b></div>
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<b>HOWEVER, WHEN IT WAS LEARNED THAT ATTORNEY GILLMAN HAD AGREED TO CO-OPERATE WITH THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA (fbI) Larkin brought the full force of the State of Illinois down on Gillman!</b></div>
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<b>Larkin sought an interim suspension --- obviously complying with 18 USCA 4 and Rule 8.3 are major breaches of legal ethics! </b></div>
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<b>This morning I found an article that summarizes health care fraud and explains why LARKIN and the Political elite are so unwilling to give up the goose that is for them laying the golden eggs, to wit:</b></div>
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The Challenge of Health Care Fraud</h1>
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<span style="border-image: none; border: 0px currentColor; font-family: inherit; font-size: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;"><strong style="border-image: none; border: 0px currentColor; font-family: inherit; font-size: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; font-style: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">Consumer Alert: The Impact of Health Care Fraud on You!</strong></span></div>
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<div style="border-image: none; border: 0px currentColor; font-family: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; line-height: 1.8em; margin: 0px 0px 18px; padding: 0px;">
<span style="border-image: none; border: 0px currentColor; font-family: inherit; font-size: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">In 2011, $2.27 trillion was spent on health care and more than four billion health insurance claims were processed in the United States. It is an undisputed reality that some of these health insurance claims are fraudulent. Although they constitute only a small fraction, those fraudulent claims carry a very high price tag.</span></div>
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<span style="border-image: none; border: 0px currentColor; font-family: inherit; font-size: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">The National Health Care Anti-Fraud Association (NHCAA) estimates that the financial losses due to health care fraud are in the tens of billions of dollars each year.</span></div>
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<div class="m_5540137648245313956ydpb5e9a979yiv0902398095ydp99797941content" style="background-color: whitesmoke; border-image: none; border: 0px currentColor; color: #555555; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">
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<span style="border-image: none; border: 0px currentColor; font-family: inherit; font-size: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">Whether you have employer-sponsored health insurance or you purchase your own insurance policy, health care fraud inevitably translates into higher premiums and out-of-pocket expenses for consumers, as well as reduced benefits or coverage. For employers-private and government alike-health care fraud increases the cost of providing insurance benefits to employees and, in turn, increases the overall cost of doing business. For many Americans, the increased expense resulting from fraud could mean the difference between making health insurance a reality or not.</span></div>
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<div style="border-image: none; border: 0px currentColor; font-family: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; line-height: 1.8em; margin: 0px 0px 18px; padding: 0px;">
<span style="border-image: none; border: 0px currentColor; font-family: inherit; font-size: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">However, financial losses caused by health care fraud are only part of the story. Health care fraud has a human face too. Individual victims of health care fraud are sadly easy to find. These are people who are exploited and subjected to unnecessary or unsafe medical procedures. Or whose medical records are compromised or whose legitimate insurance information is used to submit falsified claims.</span></div>
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<span style="border-image: none; border: 0px currentColor; font-family: inherit; font-size: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">Don't be fooled into thinking that health care fraud is a victimless crime. There is no doubt that health care fraud can have devastating effects.</span></div>
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<span style="border-image: none; border: 0px currentColor; font-family: inherit; font-size: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;"><strong style="border-image: none; border: 0px currentColor; font-family: inherit; font-size: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; font-style: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">What Does Health Care Fraud Look Like?</strong></span></div>
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<div style="border-image: none; border: 0px currentColor; font-family: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; line-height: 1.8em; margin: 0px 0px 18px; padding: 0px;">
<span style="border-image: none; border: 0px currentColor; font-family: inherit; font-size: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">The majority of health care fraud is committed by a very small minority of dishonest health care providers. Sadly, the actions of these deceitful few ultimately serve to sully the reputation of perhaps the most trusted and respected members of our society-our physicians.</span></div>
</div>
</div>
<div>
<div class="m_5540137648245313956ydpb5e9a979yiv0902398095ydp99797941content" style="background-color: whitesmoke; border-image: none; border: 0px currentColor; color: #555555; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">
<div style="border-image: none; border: 0px currentColor; font-family: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; line-height: 1.8em; margin: 0px 0px 18px; padding: 0px;">
<span style="border-image: none; border: 0px currentColor; font-family: inherit; font-size: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">Unfortunately, the stock in trade of fraud-doers is to take advantage of the confidence that has been entrusted to them in order to commit ongoing fraud on a very broad scale. And in conceiving fraud schemes, this group has the luxury of being creative because it has access to a vast range of variables with which to conceive all sorts of wrongdoing:</span></div>
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</blockquote>
<div>
<div class="m_5540137648245313956ydpb5e9a979yiv0902398095ydp99797941content" style="background-color: whitesmoke; border-image: none; border: 0px currentColor; color: #555555; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">
<ul style="border-image: none; border: 0px currentColor; font-family: inherit; font-size: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; line-height: inherit; list-style: none; margin: 0px 0px 18px; padding: 0px 0px 0px 20px;"><ul>
<li style="border-image: none; border: 0px currentColor; font-family: inherit; font-size: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px 0px 12px; padding: 0px 0px 0px 15px;">The entire population of our nation's patients;</li>
<li style="border-image: none; border: 0px currentColor; font-family: inherit; font-size: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px 0px 12px; padding: 0px 0px 0px 15px;">The entire range of potential medical conditions and treatments on which to base false claims; and</li>
<li style="border-image: none; border: 0px currentColor; font-family: inherit; font-size: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px 0px 12px; padding: 0px 0px 0px 15px;">The ability to spread false billings among many insurers simultaneously, including public programs such as Medicare and Medicaid, increasing fraud proceeds while lessening their chances of being detected by any a single insurer.</li>
</ul>
</ul>
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<blockquote style="border-image: none; border: currentColor; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px;">
<div>
<div class="m_5540137648245313956ydpb5e9a979yiv0902398095ydp99797941content" style="background-color: whitesmoke; border-image: none; border: 0px currentColor; color: #555555; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">
<div style="border-image: none; border: 0px currentColor; font-family: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; line-height: 1.8em; margin: 0px 0px 18px; padding: 0px;">
<span style="border-image: none; border: 0px currentColor; font-family: inherit; font-size: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">The most common types of fraud committed by dishonest providers include:</span></div>
</div>
</div>
</blockquote>
<div>
<div class="m_5540137648245313956ydpb5e9a979yiv0902398095ydp99797941content" style="background-color: whitesmoke; border-image: none; border: 0px currentColor; color: #555555; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">
<ul style="border-image: none; border: 0px currentColor; font-family: inherit; font-size: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; line-height: inherit; list-style: none; margin: 0px 0px 18px; padding: 0px 0px 0px 20px;"><ul>
<li style="border-image: none; border: 0px currentColor; font-family: inherit; font-size: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px 0px 12px; padding: 0px 0px 0px 15px;">Billing for services that were never rendered-either by using genuine patient information, sometimes obtained through identity theft, to fabricate entire claims or by padding claims with charges for procedures or services that did not take place.</li>
<li style="border-image: none; border: 0px currentColor; font-family: inherit; font-size: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px 0px 12px; padding: 0px 0px 0px 15px;">Billing for more expensive services or procedures than were actually provided or performed, commonly known as "upcoding"-i.e., falsely billing for a higher-priced treatment than was actually provided (which often requires the accompanying "inflation" of the patient's diagnosis code to a more serious condition consistent with the false procedure code).</li>
<li style="border-image: none; border: 0px currentColor; font-family: inherit; font-size: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px 0px 12px; padding: 0px 0px 0px 15px;">Performing medically unnecessary services solely for the purpose of generating insurance payments-seen very often in nerve-conduction and other diagnostic-testing schemes.</li>
<li style="border-image: none; border: 0px currentColor; font-family: inherit; font-size: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px 0px 12px; padding: 0px 0px 0px 15px;">Misrepresenting non-covered treatments as medically necessary covered treatments for purposes of obtaining insurance payments-widely seen in cosmetic-surgery schemes, in which non-covered cosmetic procedures such as "nose jobs" are billed to patients' insurers as deviated-septum repairs.</li>
<li style="border-image: none; border: 0px currentColor; font-family: inherit; font-size: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px 0px 12px; padding: 0px 0px 0px 15px;">Falsifying a patient's diagnosis to justify tests, surgeries or other procedures that aren't medically necessary.</li>
<li style="border-image: none; border: 0px currentColor; font-family: inherit; font-size: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px 0px 12px; padding: 0px 0px 0px 15px;">Unbundling - billing each step of a procedure as if it were a separate procedure.</li>
<li style="border-image: none; border: 0px currentColor; font-family: inherit; font-size: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px 0px 12px; padding: 0px 0px 0px 15px;">Billing a patient more than the co-pay amount for services that were prepaid or paid in full by the benefit plan under the terms of a managed care contract.</li>
<li style="border-image: none; border: 0px currentColor; font-family: inherit; font-size: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px 0px 12px; padding: 0px 0px 0px 15px;">Accepting kickbacks for patient referrals.</li>
<li style="border-image: none; border: 0px currentColor; font-family: inherit; font-size: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px 0px 12px; padding: 0px 0px 0px 15px;">Waiving patient co-pays or deductibles for medical or dental care and over-billing the insurance carrier or benefit plan (insurers often set the policy with regard to the waiver of co-pays through its provider contracting process; while, under Medicare, routinely waiving co-pays is prohibited and may only be waived due to "financial hardship").</li>
</ul>
</ul>
</div>
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<blockquote style="border-image: none; border: currentColor; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px;">
<div>
<div class="m_5540137648245313956ydpb5e9a979yiv0902398095ydp99797941content" style="background-color: whitesmoke; border-image: none; border: 0px currentColor; color: #555555; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">
<div style="border-image: none; border: 0px currentColor; font-family: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; line-height: 1.8em; margin: 0px 0px 18px; padding: 0px;">
<span style="border-image: none; border: 0px currentColor; font-family: inherit; font-size: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;"><strong style="border-image: none; border: 0px currentColor; font-family: inherit; font-size: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; font-style: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">Consider Some Risks of Health Care Fraud to You</strong></span></div>
</div>
</div>
<div>
<div class="m_5540137648245313956ydpb5e9a979yiv0902398095ydp99797941content" style="background-color: whitesmoke; border-image: none; border: 0px currentColor; color: #555555; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">
<div style="border-image: none; border: 0px currentColor; font-family: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; line-height: 1.8em; margin: 0px 0px 18px; padding: 0px;">
<span style="border-image: none; border: 0px currentColor; font-family: inherit; font-size: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;"><strong style="border-image: none; border: 0px currentColor; font-family: inherit; font-size: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; font-style: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">False Patient Diagnoses, Treatment and Medical Histories</strong></span></div>
</div>
</div>
<div>
<div class="m_5540137648245313956ydpb5e9a979yiv0902398095ydp99797941content" style="background-color: whitesmoke; border-image: none; border: 0px currentColor; color: #555555; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">
<div style="border-image: none; border: 0px currentColor; font-family: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; line-height: 1.8em; margin: 0px 0px 18px; padding: 0px;">
<span style="border-image: none; border: 0px currentColor; font-family: inherit; font-size: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">Health care fraud, like any fraud, demands that false information be represented as truth. An all too common health care fraud scheme involves perpetrators who exploit patients by entering into their medical records false diagnoses of medical conditions they do not have, or of more severe conditions than they actually do have. This is done so that bogus insurance claims can be submitted for payment.</span></div>
</div>
</div>
<div>
<div class="m_5540137648245313956ydpb5e9a979yiv0902398095ydp99797941content" style="background-color: whitesmoke; border-image: none; border: 0px currentColor; color: #555555; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">
<div style="border-image: none; border: 0px currentColor; font-family: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; line-height: 1.8em; margin: 0px 0px 18px; padding: 0px;">
<span style="border-image: none; border: 0px currentColor; font-family: inherit; font-size: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">Unless and until this discovery is made (and inevitably this occurs when circumstances are particularly challenging for a patient) these phony or inflated diagnoses become part of the patient's documented medical history, at least in the health insurer's records.</span></div>
</div>
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<div>
<div class="m_5540137648245313956ydpb5e9a979yiv0902398095ydp99797941content" style="background-color: whitesmoke; border-image: none; border: 0px currentColor; color: #555555; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">
<blockquote style="border-left-color: rgb(221, 221, 221); border-left-style: solid; border-width: 0px 0px 0px 1px; color: #777777; font-family: inherit; font-size: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; line-height: 20px; margin: 0px 0px 18px; padding: 9px 20px 0px 19px;">
<em style="border-image: none; border: 0px currentColor; font-family: inherit; font-size: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; font-weight: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">A Boston-area psychiatrist, for example, forfeited $1.3 million and was sentenced to several years in federal prison following his late-1990s conviction on 136 counts of mail fraud, money laundering and witness intimidation related to his fraudulent billing of several health insurers for psychiatric therapy sessions that never took place-using the names and insurance information of many people whom he actually had never met, let alone treated. (He also went so far as to write fictitious longhand session notes to ensure phony backup for his phony claims. )</em></blockquote>
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</div>
<div>
<div class="m_5540137648245313956ydpb5e9a979yiv0902398095ydp99797941content" style="background-color: whitesmoke; border-image: none; border: 0px currentColor; color: #555555; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">
<blockquote style="border-left-color: rgb(221, 221, 221); border-left-style: solid; border-width: 0px 0px 0px 1px; color: #777777; font-family: inherit; font-size: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; line-height: 20px; margin: 0px 0px 18px; padding: 9px 20px 0px 19px;">
<em style="border-image: none; border: 0px currentColor; font-family: inherit; font-size: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; font-weight: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">In fabricating the claims, the psychiatrist also fabricated diagnoses for those "patients"-many of them adolescents. The phony conditions he assigned to them included "depressive psychosis," "suicidal ideation," "sexual identity problems" and "behavioral problems in school."</em></blockquote>
</div>
</div>
<div>
<div class="m_5540137648245313956ydpb5e9a979yiv0902398095ydp99797941content" style="background-color: whitesmoke; border-image: none; border: 0px currentColor; color: #555555; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">
<div style="border-image: none; border: 0px currentColor; font-family: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; line-height: 1.8em; margin: 0px 0px 18px; padding: 0px;">
<span style="border-image: none; border: 0px currentColor; font-family: inherit; font-size: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;"><strong style="border-image: none; border: 0px currentColor; font-family: inherit; font-size: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; font-style: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">Theft of Patients' Finite Health Insurance Benefits</strong></span></div>
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</div>
<div>
<div class="m_5540137648245313956ydpb5e9a979yiv0902398095ydp99797941content" style="background-color: whitesmoke; border-image: none; border: 0px currentColor; color: #555555; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">
<div style="border-image: none; border: 0px currentColor; font-family: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; line-height: 1.8em; margin: 0px 0px 18px; padding: 0px;">
<span style="border-image: none; border: 0px currentColor; font-family: inherit; font-size: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">Patients who have private health insurance often have lifetime caps or other limits on benefits under their policies. So every time a false claim is paid in a patient's name, the dollar amount counts toward that patient's lifetime or other limits. This means that when a patient legitimately needs his or her insurance benefits the most, they may have already been exhausted.</span></div>
</div>
</div>
<div>
<div class="m_5540137648245313956ydpb5e9a979yiv0902398095ydp99797941content" style="background-color: whitesmoke; border-image: none; border: 0px currentColor; color: #555555; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">
<div style="border-image: none; border: 0px currentColor; font-family: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; line-height: 1.8em; margin: 0px 0px 18px; padding: 0px;">
<span style="border-image: none; border: 0px currentColor; font-family: inherit; font-size: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;"><strong style="border-image: none; border: 0px currentColor; font-family: inherit; font-size: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; font-style: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">Medical Identity Theft</strong></span></div>
</div>
</div>
<div>
<div class="m_5540137648245313956ydpb5e9a979yiv0902398095ydp99797941content" style="background-color: whitesmoke; border-image: none; border: 0px currentColor; color: #555555; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">
<div style="border-image: none; border: 0px currentColor; font-family: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; line-height: 1.8em; margin: 0px 0px 18px; padding: 0px;">
<span style="border-image: none; border: 0px currentColor; font-family: inherit; font-size: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">As a consumer, you are surely aware of the perils of identity theft and the devastating affects it can have on your financial health-jeopardizing bank accounts, credit ratings and your ability to borrow. But are you as familiar with the risks posed by medical identity theft? You should be, considering that 250,000 to 500,000 individuals have been victims of this escalating crime.</span></div>
</div>
</div>
<div>
<div class="m_5540137648245313956ydpb5e9a979yiv0902398095ydp99797941content" style="background-color: whitesmoke; border-image: none; border: 0px currentColor; color: #555555; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">
<div style="border-image: none; border: 0px currentColor; font-family: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; line-height: 1.8em; margin: 0px 0px 18px; padding: 0px;">
<span style="border-image: none; border: 0px currentColor; font-family: inherit; font-size: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">When a person's name or other identifying information is used without that person's knowledge or consent to obtain medical services or goods, or to submit false insurance claims for payment, that's medical identity theft. Medical identity theft frequently results in erroneous information being added to a person's medical record, or even the creation of an entirely fictitious medical record in the victim's name.</span></div>
</div>
</div>
<div>
<div class="m_5540137648245313956ydpb5e9a979yiv0902398095ydp99797941content" style="background-color: whitesmoke; border-image: none; border: 0px currentColor; color: #555555; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">
<div style="border-image: none; border: 0px currentColor; font-family: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; line-height: 1.8em; margin: 0px 0px 18px; padding: 0px;">
<span style="border-image: none; border: 0px currentColor; font-family: inherit; font-size: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">Victims of medical identity theft may receive the wrong medical treatment, find that their health insurance benefits have been exhausted, and could become uninsurable for both life and health insurance coverage.</span></div>
</div>
</div>
<div>
<div class="m_5540137648245313956ydpb5e9a979yiv0902398095ydp99797941content" style="background-color: whitesmoke; border-image: none; border: 0px currentColor; color: #555555; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">
<div style="border-image: none; border: 0px currentColor; font-family: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; line-height: 1.8em; margin: 0px 0px 18px; padding: 0px;">
<span style="border-image: none; border: 0px currentColor; font-family: inherit; font-size: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">A medical identity theft victim may unexpectedly fail a physical exam for employment because a disease or condition for which he's never been diagnosed or received treatment has been unknowingly documented in his health record.</span></div>
</div>
</div>
<div>
<div class="m_5540137648245313956ydpb5e9a979yiv0902398095ydp99797941content" style="background-color: whitesmoke; border-image: none; border: 0px currentColor; color: #555555; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">
<div style="border-image: none; border: 0px currentColor; font-family: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; line-height: 1.8em; margin: 0px 0px 18px; padding: 0px;">
<span style="border-image: none; border: 0px currentColor; font-family: inherit; font-size: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">Untangling the web of deceit spun by perpetrators of medical identity theft can be a grueling and stressful endeavor. The effects of this crime can plague a victim's medical and financial status for years to come.</span></div>
</div>
</div>
<div>
<div class="m_5540137648245313956ydpb5e9a979yiv0902398095ydp99797941content" style="background-color: whitesmoke; border-image: none; border: 0px currentColor; color: #555555; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">
<div style="border-image: none; border: 0px currentColor; font-family: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; line-height: 1.8em; margin: 0px 0px 18px; padding: 0px;">
<span style="border-image: none; border: 0px currentColor; font-family: inherit; font-size: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;"><strong style="border-image: none; border: 0px currentColor; font-family: inherit; font-size: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; font-style: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">Physical Risk to Patients</strong></span></div>
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</div>
<div>
<div class="m_5540137648245313956ydpb5e9a979yiv0902398095ydp99797941content" style="background-color: whitesmoke; border-image: none; border: 0px currentColor; color: #555555; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">
<div style="border-image: none; border: 0px currentColor; font-family: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; line-height: 1.8em; margin: 0px 0px 18px; padding: 0px;">
<span style="border-image: none; border: 0px currentColor; font-family: inherit; font-size: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">Shockingly, the perpetrators of some types of health care fraud schemes deliberately and callously place trusting patients at significant risk of injury or even death. It's distressing to imagine, but there have been many cases where patients have been subjected to unnecessary or dangerous medical procedures simply because of greed.</span></div>
</div>
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<div>
<div class="m_5540137648245313956ydpb5e9a979yiv0902398095ydp99797941content" style="background-color: whitesmoke; border-image: none; border: 0px currentColor; color: #555555; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">
<blockquote style="border-left-color: rgb(221, 221, 221); border-left-style: solid; border-width: 0px 0px 0px 1px; color: #777777; font-family: inherit; font-size: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; line-height: 20px; margin: 0px 0px 18px; padding: 9px 20px 0px 19px;">
<em style="border-image: none; border: 0px currentColor; font-family: inherit; font-size: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; font-weight: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">In June, 2002, for example, a Chicago cardiologist was sentenced to 12-1/2 years in federal prison and was ordered to pay $16.5 million in fines and restitution after pleading guilty to performing 750 medically unnecessary heart catheterizations, along with unnecessary angioplasties and other tests as part of a 10-year fraud scheme.</em></blockquote>
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<div class="m_5540137648245313956ydpb5e9a979yiv0902398095ydp99797941content" style="background-color: whitesmoke; border-image: none; border: 0px currentColor; color: #555555; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">
<blockquote style="border-left-color: rgb(221, 221, 221); border-left-style: solid; border-width: 0px 0px 0px 1px; color: #777777; font-family: inherit; font-size: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; line-height: 20px; margin: 0px 0px 18px; padding: 9px 20px 0px 19px;">
<em style="border-image: none; border: 0px currentColor; font-family: inherit; font-size: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; font-weight: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">Three other physicians and a hospital administrator also pleaded guilty and received prison sentences for their part in the scheme, which resulted in the deaths of at least two patients.</em></blockquote>
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<div class="m_5540137648245313956ydpb5e9a979yiv0902398095ydp99797941content" style="background-color: whitesmoke; border-image: none; border: 0px currentColor; color: #555555; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">
<blockquote style="border-left-color: rgb(221, 221, 221); border-left-style: solid; border-width: 0px 0px 0px 1px; color: #777777; font-family: inherit; font-size: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; line-height: 20px; margin: 0px 0px 18px; padding: 9px 20px 0px 19px;">
<em style="border-image: none; border: 0px currentColor; font-family: inherit; font-size: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; font-weight: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">The physicians and hospital induced hundreds of homeless persons, substance abusers, and elderly men and women to feign symptoms and be admitted to the hospital for the unnecessary procedures. How? By offering them incentives such as food, cash and cigarettes. "There were 750 people who had needles stuck into their hearts purely for profit, not because they needed it," said one of the federal prosecutors.</em></blockquote>
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<div class="m_5540137648245313956ydpb5e9a979yiv0902398095ydp99797941content" style="background-color: whitesmoke; border-image: none; border: 0px currentColor; color: #555555; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">
<div style="border-image: none; border: 0px currentColor; font-family: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; line-height: 1.8em; margin: 0px 0px 18px; padding: 0px;">
<span style="border-image: none; border: 0px currentColor; font-family: inherit; font-size: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;"><strong style="border-image: none; border: 0px currentColor; font-family: inherit; font-size: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; font-style: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">Health Care Fraud and Organized Criminal Groups</strong></span></div>
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<div class="m_5540137648245313956ydpb5e9a979yiv0902398095ydp99797941content" style="background-color: whitesmoke; border-image: none; border: 0px currentColor; color: #555555; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">
<div style="border-image: none; border: 0px currentColor; font-family: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; line-height: 1.8em; margin: 0px 0px 18px; padding: 0px;">
<span style="border-image: none; border: 0px currentColor; font-family: inherit; font-size: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">Health care fraud is not just committed by dishonest health care providers. So enticing an invitation is our nation's ever-growing pool of health care money that in certain areas - Florida, for example - law enforcement agencies and health insurers have witnessed in recent years the migration of some criminals from illegal drug trafficking into the safer and far more lucrative business of perpetrating fraud schemes against Medicare, Medicaid and private health insurance companies.</span></div>
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<div class="m_5540137648245313956ydpb5e9a979yiv0902398095ydp99797941content" style="background-color: whitesmoke; border-image: none; border: 0px currentColor; color: #555555; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">
<div style="border-image: none; border: 0px currentColor; font-family: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; line-height: 1.8em; margin: 0px 0px 18px; padding: 0px;">
<span style="border-image: none; border: 0px currentColor; font-family: inherit; font-size: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">In South Florida alone, government programs and private insurers have lost hundreds of millions of dollars in recent years to criminal rings - some of them based in Central and South America - that fabricate claims from non-existent clinics, using genuine patient-insurance and provider-billing information that the perpetrators have bought and/or stolen for that purpose. When the bogus claims are paid, the mailing address in most instances belongs to a freight forwarder that bundles up the mail and ships it off shore.</span></div>
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<div class="m_5540137648245313956ydpb5e9a979yiv0902398095ydp99797941content" style="background-color: whitesmoke; border-image: none; border: 0px currentColor; color: #555555; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">
<div style="border-image: none; border: 0px currentColor; font-family: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; line-height: 1.8em; margin: 0px 0px 18px; padding: 0px;">
<span style="border-image: none; border: 0px currentColor; font-family: inherit; font-size: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;"><strong style="border-image: none; border: 0px currentColor; font-family: inherit; font-size: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; font-style: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">A Federal Crime with Stiff Penalties</strong></span></div>
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<div class="m_5540137648245313956ydpb5e9a979yiv0902398095ydp99797941content" style="background-color: whitesmoke; border-image: none; border: 0px currentColor; color: #555555; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">
<div style="border-image: none; border: 0px currentColor; font-family: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; line-height: 1.8em; margin: 0px 0px 18px; padding: 0px;">
<span style="border-image: none; border: 0px currentColor; font-family: inherit; font-size: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">In response to these realities, Congress-through the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act of 1996 (HIPAA)-specifically established health care fraud as a federal criminal offense, with the basic crime carrying a federal prison term of up to 10 years in addition to significant financial penalties. [<em style="border-image: none; border: 0px currentColor; font-family: inherit; font-size: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; font-weight: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">United States Code, Title 18, Section 1347</em>.]</span></div>
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<div class="m_5540137648245313956ydpb5e9a979yiv0902398095ydp99797941content" style="background-color: whitesmoke; border-image: none; border: 0px currentColor; color: #555555; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">
<div style="border-image: none; border: 0px currentColor; font-family: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; line-height: 1.8em; margin: 0px 0px 18px; padding: 0px;">
<span style="border-image: none; border: 0px currentColor; font-family: inherit; font-size: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">The federal law also provides that should a perpetrator's fraud result in the injury of a patient, the prison term can double, to 20 years; and should it result in a patient's death, a perpetrator can be sentenced to life in federal prison.</span></div>
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<div class="m_5540137648245313956ydpb5e9a979yiv0902398095ydp99797941content" style="background-color: whitesmoke; border-image: none; border: 0px currentColor; color: #555555; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">
<div style="border-image: none; border: 0px currentColor; font-family: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; line-height: 1.8em; margin: 0px 0px 18px; padding: 0px;">
<span style="border-image: none; border: 0px currentColor; font-family: inherit; font-size: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">Congress also mandated the establishment of a nationwide "Coordinated Fraud and Abuse Control Program," to coordinate federal, state and local law enforcement efforts against health care fraud and to include "the coordination and sharing of data" with private health insurers.</span></div>
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<div class="m_5540137648245313956ydpb5e9a979yiv0902398095ydp99797941content" style="background-color: whitesmoke; border-image: none; border: 0px currentColor; color: #555555; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">
<div style="border-image: none; border: 0px currentColor; font-family: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; line-height: 1.8em; margin: 0px 0px 18px; padding: 0px;">
<span style="border-image: none; border: 0px currentColor; font-family: inherit; font-size: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">Many states also have responded vigorously since the early 1990s, not only by strengthening their insurance fraud laws and penalties, but also by requiring health insurers to meet certain standards of fraud detection, investigation and referral as a condition of maintaining their insurance or HMO licenses.</span></div>
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<div class="m_5540137648245313956ydpb5e9a979yiv0902398095ydp99797941content" style="background-color: whitesmoke; border-image: none; border: 0px currentColor; color: #555555; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">
<div style="border-image: none; border: 0px currentColor; font-family: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; line-height: 1.8em; margin: 0px 0px 18px; padding: 0px;">
<span style="border-image: none; border: 0px currentColor; font-family: inherit; font-size: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;"><strong style="border-image: none; border: 0px currentColor; font-family: inherit; font-size: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; font-style: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">Private-Public Cooperation Against Fraud is Essential</strong></span></div>
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<div class="m_5540137648245313956ydpb5e9a979yiv0902398095ydp99797941content" style="background-color: whitesmoke; border-image: none; border: 0px currentColor; color: #555555; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">
<div style="border-image: none; border: 0px currentColor; font-family: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; line-height: 1.8em; margin: 0px 0px 18px; padding: 0px;">
<span style="border-image: none; border: 0px currentColor; font-family: inherit; font-size: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">Founded in 1985 by a handful of private insurers and law enforcement personnel, the National Health Care Anti-Fraud Association is a private-public non-profit organization focused solely on improving the private and public sectors' ability to detect, investigate, prosecute and, ultimately, prevent fraud against our private and public health insurance systems.</span></div>
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<div class="m_5540137648245313956ydpb5e9a979yiv0902398095ydp99797941content" style="background-color: whitesmoke; border-image: none; border: 0px currentColor; color: #555555; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">
<div style="border-image: none; border: 0px currentColor; font-family: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; line-height: 1.8em; margin: 0px 0px 18px; padding: 0px;">
<span style="border-image: none; border: 0px currentColor; font-family: inherit; font-size: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">Today NHCAA represents the combined efforts of the anti-fraud units of the majority of our country's private health payers and the entire spectrum of federal and some state law enforcement agencies that have jurisdiction over the crime, along with hundreds of individual members from the private health insurance sector and from federal, state and local law enforcement.</span></div>
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<div class="m_5540137648245313956ydpb5e9a979yiv0902398095ydp99797941content" style="background-color: whitesmoke; border-image: none; border: 0px currentColor; color: #555555; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">
<div style="border-image: none; border: 0px currentColor; font-family: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; line-height: 1.8em; margin: 0px 0px 18px; padding: 0px;">
<span style="border-image: none; border: 0px currentColor; font-family: inherit; font-size: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">The NHCAA pursues its mission by fostering private-public cooperation against health care fraud at both the case and policymaking levels, by facilitating the sharing of investigative information among health insurers and law enforcement agencies and by providing information on health care fraud to all interested parties.</span></div>
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<div class="m_5540137648245313956ydpb5e9a979yiv0902398095ydp99797941content" style="background-color: whitesmoke; border-image: none; border: 0px currentColor; color: #555555; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">
<div style="border-image: none; border: 0px currentColor; font-family: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; line-height: 1.8em; margin: 0px 0px 18px; padding: 0px;">
<span style="border-image: none; border: 0px currentColor; font-family: inherit; font-size: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">The NHCAA Institute for Health Care Fraud Prevention, a non-profit educational foundation, provides professional education and training to industry and government anti-fraud investigators and other personnel.</span></div>
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<div class="m_5540137648245313956ydpb5e9a979yiv0902398095ydp99797941content" style="background-color: whitesmoke; border-image: none; border: 0px currentColor; color: #555555; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">
<div style="border-image: none; border: 0px currentColor; font-family: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; line-height: 1.8em; margin: 0px 0px 18px; padding: 0px;">
<span style="border-image: none; border: 0px currentColor; font-family: inherit; font-size: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;"><strong style="border-image: none; border: 0px currentColor; font-family: inherit; font-size: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; font-style: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">What Can You Do To Avoid or Prevent Health Care Fraud?</strong></span></div>
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<div class="m_5540137648245313956ydpb5e9a979yiv0902398095ydp99797941content" style="background-color: whitesmoke; border-image: none; border: 0px currentColor; color: #555555; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">
<div style="border-image: none; border: 0px currentColor; font-family: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; line-height: 1.8em; margin: 0px 0px 18px; padding: 0px;">
<span style="border-image: none; border: 0px currentColor; font-family: inherit; font-size: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">Here are some simple ways you can protect yourself from health care fraud, and keep health care costs down for everyone:</span></div>
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<div class="m_5540137648245313956ydpb5e9a979yiv0902398095ydp99797941content" style="background-color: whitesmoke; border-image: none; border: 0px currentColor; color: #555555; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">
<ul style="border-image: none; border: 0px currentColor; font-family: inherit; font-size: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; line-height: inherit; list-style: none; margin: 0px 0px 18px; padding: 0px 0px 0px 20px;"><ul>
<li style="border-image: none; border: 0px currentColor; font-family: inherit; font-size: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px 0px 12px; padding: 0px 0px 0px 15px;">Protect your health insurance ID card like you would a credit card. In the wrong hands, a health insurance card is a license to steal. Don't give out policy numbers to door-to-door salespeople, telephone solicitors or over the Internet. Be careful about disclosing your insurance information and if you lose your insurance ID card, report it to your insurance company immediately.</li>
<li style="border-image: none; border: 0px currentColor; font-family: inherit; font-size: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px 0px 12px; padding: 0px 0px 0px 15px;">Report fraud. Call your insurance company immediately if you suspect you may be a victim of health insurance fraud. Many insurers now offer the opportunity to report suspected fraud online through their Website.</li>
<li style="border-image: none; border: 0px currentColor; font-family: inherit; font-size: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px 0px 12px; padding: 0px 0px 0px 15px;">Be informed. Be informed about the health care services you receive, keep good records of your medical care, and closely review all medical bills you receive.</li>
<li style="border-image: none; border: 0px currentColor; font-family: inherit; font-size: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px 0px 12px; padding: 0px 0px 0px 15px;">Read your policy and benefits statements. Read your policy, Explanation of Benefits (EOB) statements and any paperwork you receive from your insurance company. Make sure you actually received the treatments for which your insurance was charged, and question suspicious expenses. Are the dates of service documented on the forms correct? Were the services identified and billed for actually performed?</li>
<li style="border-image: none; border: 0px currentColor; font-family: inherit; font-size: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px 0px 12px; padding: 0px 0px 0px 15px;">Beware of "free" offers. Is it too good to be true? Offers of free health care services, tests or treatments are often fraud schemes designed to bill you and your insurance company illegally for thousands of dollars of treatments you never received.</li>
</ul>
</ul>
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<div>
<div class="m_5540137648245313956ydpb5e9a979yiv0902398095ydp99797941content" style="background-color: whitesmoke; border-image: none; border: 0px currentColor; color: #555555; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">
<div style="border-image: none; border: 0px currentColor; font-family: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; line-height: 1.8em; margin: 0px 0px 18px; padding: 0px;">
<span style="border-image: none; border: 0px currentColor; font-family: inherit; font-size: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">Health care fraud is a serious crime that affects everyone and should concern everyone-government officials and taxpayers, insurers and premium-payers, health care providers and patients-and it is a costly reality that none of us can afford to overlook.</span></div>
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<b>The above quote does not tell the entire story - but it does not take a Philadelphia Lawyer to see the birds in the trees and the reason Larkin and his 18 USCA 371 conspirators are laughing all the way to the Bank. The State of Illinois is on the verge of Bankruptcy - Yet the billions of proceeds from HEALTH CARE FRAUD are untaxed. Even the USA does not express real interest in taxing these funds -- BUT APPROPRIATING MORE MONEY to be stolen is a priority!</b></div>
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<b style="background-color: black;"><span style="color: white;"><br /></span></b></div>
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<b style="background-color: black;"><span style="color: white;">I know it is unethical for a lawyer to make such a statement in Illinois - BUT WE NEED AN HONEST INVESTIGATION followed by HONEST AND DILIGENT PROSECUTIONS of not only the miscreants but the public officials (such as Jerome Larkin) who make the HEALTH CARE FRAUDS possible by their cover-ups and 18 USCA 371 conspiracy!</span></b></div>
<div class="m_5540137648245313956ydpb5e9a979yiv0902398095ydp90a30f19signature">
<span style="font-style: italic;"><span style="font-family: "comic sans ms";"><span style="font-size: medium;"><span style="color: #4040ff;">Ken Ditkowsky</span></span></span></span><br />
<span style="font-style: italic;"><span style="font-family: "comic sans ms";"><span style="font-size: medium;"><span style="color: #4040ff;"><a data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?hl=en&q=http://www.ditkowskylawoffice.com&source=gmail&ust=1504882539391000&usg=AFQjCNGgAIFGZKQcFwDSFxnM_5CK5GVhVw" href="http://www.ditkowskylawoffice.com/" rel="nofollow" style="color: #1155cc;" target="_blank">www.ditkowskylawoffice.com</a></span></span></span></span></div>
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Probate Sharkhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15689669875393000741noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4778927784145048761.post-4864739141617052762017-09-04T13:28:00.000-05:002017-09-04T13:28:22.369-05:00The Saudi Arabian "honesty" app takes internet by storm...<div class="nH">
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Saudi Arabian 'honesty' app takesr intenet by storm https://finance.yahoo.com/news/saudi-arabian-honesty-app-takes-internet-storm-032358621.html?soc_src=social-sh&soc_trk=ma</h2>
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Important mainly because of the people in the conversation.<br /><span class="aol"><em><span style="color: #666666;">Click to teach Gmail this conversation is not important.</span></em></span></div>
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<span class="hb">to <span class="g2" data-hovercard-id="verenusl@gmail.com" dir="ltr" email="verenusl@gmail.com" name="me">me</span>, <span class="g2" data-hovercard-id="joanne@justice4every1.com" dir="ltr" email="joanne@justice4every1.com" name="JoAnne">JAnne</span>, <span class="g2" data-hovercard-id="aaapgusa@gmail.com" dir="ltr" email="aaapgusa@gmail.com" name="Sam">Sam</span>, <span class="g2" data-hovercard-id="nasga.org@gmail.com" dir="ltr" email="nasga.org@gmail.com" name="Nasga">Nasga</span>, <span class="g2" data-hovercard-id="andy@andyostrowski.com" dir="ltr" email="andy@andyostrowski.com" name="Andy">Andy</span>, <span class="g2" data-hovercard-id="ajo@bsolaw.com" dir="ltr" email="ajo@bsolaw.com" name="Andy">Andy</span>, <span class="g2" data-hovercard-id="webmaster@abajournal.com" dir="ltr" email="webmaster@abajournal.com" name="ABAJournal.com">ABAJournal.com</span>, <span class="g2" data-hovercard-id="info@bettergov.org" dir="ltr" email="info@bettergov.org" name="Better">Better</span>, <span class="g2" data-hovercard-id="diversitycommission@americanbar.org" dir="ltr" email="diversitycommission@americanbar.org" name="ABA">ABA</span>, <span class="g2" data-hovercard-id="chachaangelina@yahoo.com" dir="ltr" email="chachaangelina@yahoo.com" name="Angela">Angela</span>, <span class="g2" data-hovercard-id="statesattorney@cookcountyil.gov" dir="ltr" email="statesattorney@cookcountyil.gov" name="Cook">Cook</span>, <span class="g2" data-hovercard-id="loamu@aol.com" dir="ltr" email="loamu@aol.com" name="Lanre">Lanre</span>, <span class="g2" data-hovercard-id="aclu@aclu.org" dir="ltr" email="aclu@aclu.org" name="ACLU">ACLU</span>, <span class="g2" data-hovercard-id="contact_aging@aging.senate.gov" dir="ltr" email="contact_aging@aging.senate.gov" name="Aging">Aging</span>, <span class="g2" data-hovercard-id="llessura@gmail.com" dir="ltr" email="llessura@gmail.com" name="Alyece">ce</span>, <span class="g2" data-hovercard-id="acluofillinois@aclu-il.org" dir="ltr" email="acluofillinois@aclu-il.org" name="ACLU">ACLU</span>, , <span class="g2" data-hovercard-id="illinois.ardc@gmail.com" dir="ltr" email="illinois.ardc@gmail.com" name="Illinois">Illinois</span>, <span class="g2" data-hovercard-id="agnews@myfloridalegal.com" dir="ltr" email="agnews@myfloridalegal.com" name="Attorney">Attorney</span><span class="g2" data-hovercard-id="aag_consumer@atg.state.il.us" dir="ltr" email="aag_consumer@atg.state.il.us" name="Lisa">Lisa</span>, <span class="g2" data-hovercard-id="member@email.aarp.org" dir="ltr" email="member@email.aarp.org" name="AARP">AARP</span>, <span class="g2" data-hovercard-id="jelarkin@iardc.org" dir="ltr" email="jelarkin@iardc.org" name="Administrator">Administrator</span>, <span class="g2" data-hovercard-id="abaminority@americanbar.org" dir="ltr" email="abaminority@americanbar.org" name="ABA">ABA</span>, <span class="g2" data-hovercard-id="chicagotribune@em.chicagotribune.com" dir="ltr" email="chicagotribune@em.chicagotribune.com" name="Tribune">Tribune</span>, <span class="g2" data-hovercard-id="legalabuse@gmail.com" dir="ltr" email="legalabuse@gmail.com" name="Legal">Legal</span>, </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: verdana, helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: small;">The First Amendment is the enemy of terrorist, the subversive, and the extremist whether on the right or the left. Candid free speech promotes honest government of every kind and nature; however, corrupt public officials and demigods find themselves at a disadvantage in such an environment. Thus, a corrupt public official - such as Jerome Larkin, the administrator of the IARDC, must silence every attorney who speaks out for HONEST INVESTIGATIONS of corruption.</span></div>
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<li><span style="font-family: verdana, helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: small;"> The Lanre Amu - who pulls no punches, and by accident of birth has a dark hue to his skin color is cannot be tolerated by the dishonest public official. Amu is not a step and fetch it - he has a following and shoots rifle bullets into the corruption. <b>Crains Chicago Business</b>, as an example made the very same averments that Amu voiced! This embarrass the 'status quo' of corruption and Larkin's rubber=stamp lawyer clones had no trouble prostituting themselves at Larkin's beck and call. Ditto for the Supreme Court of Illinois. </span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: verdana, helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: small;">JoAnne Denison - who is computer literate pulled no punches as she exposed serious crimes committed by criminals in black robes in her blog Justice4All and MaryGSykes. Larkin, who has no moral compass characterized her blogs as being akin to "yelling fire in a crowded theater.</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: verdana, helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: small;">Andy Ostrowski was not an Illinois Lawyer, however the Pa authorities flush from their 'cover=ups' at Penn State could not tolerate Lawyer Ostrowski's refusal to adopt and mimic the party line - worse yet Ostrowski openly and notoriously lobbied for HONESTY not only in the LAW profession, but in government itself. Such ethically challenged conduct (i.e. honest government run by honest people) had to be stamped out!</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: verdana, helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: small;"> *******</span></li>
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<span style="font-family: verdana, helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: small;">Indeed, all the foregoing is 'old hat!' and being echoed by a groundswell of people who are speaking out by deed and action against the conspiracy of Political correctness. New evidence of the rebellion was noted by the popularity of the Saudi Arabian honesty app -- </span></div>
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<b><span style="background-color: #fdef2b; font-family: verdana, helvetica, sans-serif;"><div style="color: black; display: inline; font-size: small;">
Saudi Arabian 'honesty' app takes internet by storm <a data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?hl=en&q=https://finance.yahoo.com/news/saudi-arabian-honesty-app-takes-internet-storm-032358621.html?soc_src%3Dsocial-sh%26soc_trk%3Dma&source=gmail&ust=1504635250568000&usg=AFQjCNH9tA1yG-AXDha6nyoWJRqcMceYPw" href="https://finance.yahoo.com/news/saudi-arabian-honesty-app-takes-internet-storm-032358621.html?soc_src=social-sh&soc_trk=ma" target="_blank"><span style="color: #1155cc;">https://finance.yahoo.com/<wbr></wbr></span>news/saudi-arabian-honesty-<wbr></wbr>app-takes-internet-storm-<wbr></wbr>032358621.html?soc_src=social-<wbr></wbr>sh&soc_trk=ma</a></div>
<span style="color: #777777;"> </span></span></b></div>
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<span style="color: #4040ff; font-family: verdana, helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: medium;"><i>Honesty in word and deed is the enemy of many of our Political class and media class. It is hard for them to accept the fact that other citizens might disagree with them and worse yet might even be correct! The Bernie Sanders success in the DNC primary for president was an indication of gross dis=satisfaction with obvious corruption and the Donald Trump defeat of Hillary Clinton was a loud and clear message that Americans can be lead to water, but you cannot make us drink. We demand that every man, woman, and child in America have the right to speak out and utter an opinion EVEN IF IT IS DEAD WRONG.</i></span></div>
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<span style="color: #4040ff; font-family: verdana, helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: medium;"><i>The concept of subversive and "anti= American" and 'hateful' words being provided the same forum and respect as "Apple Pie, and all that is good" is per se reprehensible - BUT such is our RULE OF LAW and our core value. Indeed, listening to a rabble rousing Nazi turns my blood to hot lava - and my personal history is contrary to everything I've said supra - however, while I have zero tolerance for the hate of the Alt Left, Alt Right and the various 'hate groups' that vie for attention, as an American I agreed to fight for their right to utter their vile ignorance in the forum of their choice - SO LONG AS THEY do the same peacefully and restrict their embarrassment to words and phrases (or their equivalent). </i></span></div>
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<span style="color: #4040ff; font-family: verdana, helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: medium;"><i>Even a corrupt public official such as Jerome Larkin has a First Amendment Right to call JoAnne Denison's blog exposing judicial corruption as being akin to yelling fire in a crowded theater. However, when he uses his public position to separate her from her law license stating such words under oath and with perjured facts he crosses the line and commits a criminal act. When he acts as part of an 18 USCA 371 conspiracy to aid and abet the theft of Federal Health Care funds he enjoys no protection - even if the policy of the current Administration of the STate of Illinois is to foster the theft of FEDERAL HEALTH CARE FUNDS and elder cleanze the helpless senior citizens who let their guard down! The Alvarez case points out that even false statements utter by Americans are protected by the First Amendment! (Larkin's arguments were specifically rejected).</i></span></div>
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<span style="color: #4040ff; font-family: verdana, helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: medium;"><i>The app, to wit: <div style="color: black; display: inline; font-family: Calibri; font-size: small;">
Saudi Arabian 'honesty' app takes internet by storm <a data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?hl=en&q=https://finance.yahoo.com/news/saudi-arabian-honesty-app-takes-internet-storm-032358621.html?soc_src%3Dsocial-sh%26soc_trk%3Dma&source=gmail&ust=1504635250568000&usg=AFQjCNH9tA1yG-AXDha6nyoWJRqcMceYPw" href="https://finance.yahoo.com/news/saudi-arabian-honesty-app-takes-internet-storm-032358621.html?soc_src=social-sh&soc_trk=ma" target="_blank"><span style="color: #1155cc;">https://finance.yahoo.com/<wbr></wbr></span>news/saudi-arabian-honesty-<wbr></wbr>app-takes-internet-storm-<wbr></wbr>032358621.html?soc_src=social-<wbr></wbr>sh&soc_trk=ma</a></div>
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<span style="color: #4040ff; font-family: comic sans ms; font-size: medium;"><i> is yet another expression of the quiet revolution against the attempts by the dishonest political and judicial elite to deny us - i.e. you and me - out right to protest dishonesty and assaults on our First Amendment core values. THE NEXT STEP HAS TO BE AN HONEST INVESTIGATION and the diligent and prompt PROSECUTION of every public official who has aided and abetted the HEALTH CARE FRAUDS. </i></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: comic sans ms; font-size: medium;"><i><span style="color: #4040ff;">NB. I 've noted that the USA very recently formed a unit here in Chicago to address this problem. I've also be advised that Federal authorities have and are conducting that Honest investigation. The Philip Esformes prosecution in Florida (</span><b><span style="color: #cd232c;">Mr. Esformes if a small potato = even though he stole a BILLION DOLLARS from Medicare)</span></b><span style="color: #4040ff;"> suggests that the United States government is acting Nationally. Some of the bigger fish are here in Chicago and in major American cities. They are being protected by corrupt political and judicial officials and massive vote fraud! (almost every nursing home resident votes in elections and just happens to vote as the nursing home executive desires - usually for the corrupt political elite!) </span><b><span style="color: #9d1811;">The mainstream media appears to be suppressing not only the vote fraud but the 700% surcharge on health care occasioned by the Frauds referred to supra</span></b><span style="color: #4040ff;">!) </span></i></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: comic sans ms; font-size: medium;"><i><span style="color: #4040ff;"><br /></span></i></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: comic sans ms; font-size: medium;"><i><span style="color: #4040ff;">Please note - I've sent copies of these e-mails to the Illinois Attorney Registration and Disciplinary Commission -- the fraud of their administrator in the lawyer disciplinary cases is a serious ethical violation that should result in his disbarment (and criminal prosecution). Of course I do not expect the IARDC to act any more than I expect the tax authorities to scoop down on the 18 USCA 371 public officials and collect that INCOME TAXES plus interest and penalties that are due. In Illinois we are on the verge of bankruptcy - why should Illinois collect the taxes due from corrupt public officials - I believe that we have at least one governor who is still in jail! </span><b style="background-color: black;"><span style="color: white;">EQUAL PROTECTION of the Law is another core American principle - but - first we have to fight for our FREE SPEECH! </span></b><span style="color: #4040ff;"> Rome was not built in day. Hell, Jerome Larkin teaches ethics to Lawyers! (comment censored!) In the Denison disciplinary case he openly and notoriously subordinated perjury and perfected the same by engaging an unlicensed court reporter ---- The Illinois Supreme Court's response: "Oh Hum!") </span></i></span></div>
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<span style="font-style: italic;"><span style="font-family: comic sans ms;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><span style="color: #4040ff;">Ken Ditkowsky</span></span></span></span></div>
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<span></span><span alt="Mon, Sep 4, 2017 at 5:51 AM" class="g3" id=":bl" title="Mon, Sep 4, 2017 at 5:51 AM">5:51 AM (7 hours ago)</span><div aria-checked="false" aria-label="Starred" class="zd bi4" role="checkbox" style="outline: 0px;" tabindex="0">
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<span class="hb">to <b><span class="g2 ac2" data-hovercard-id="JoAnne@denisonlaw.com" dir="ltr" email="JoAnne@denisonlaw.com" name="JoAnne">JoAnne</span></b> </span></div>
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Under DT the Justice Department has set up two task forces - a National, and a 7th Circuit.</div>
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This is a major breakthrough. The President's focus on VOTE FRAUD also works for us -- The fraud coming out of the nursing homes is pervasive and has kept the miscreants in power for years. They are now being threatened for the first time on a bunch of fronts.</div>
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<b><span style="background-color: #fdef2b; font-family: verdana, helvetica, sans-serif;">THIS IS ALL IRRELEVANT -- The actions of Jerome Larkin in first subordinating perjury and then assaulting the FIRST AMENDMENT must become a focal point -- his claim that your blog exposing corruption is akin to "yelling fire in a crowded theater" is about as obscene a statement as any public figure has ever made! The fact is that the corrupt jurists and political elite actually believe the statements as part of the gospel. THE ONLY WAY TO REALLY GIVE THE ATTENTION THAT THE STATEMENT DESERVES IS FOR YOU TO HAMMER IT HOME with demands for the reinstatement of you license and compensation for the wrongful loss thereof.</span></b></div>
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<span style="font-style: italic;"><span style="font-family: comic sans ms;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><span style="color: #4040ff;">Ken Ditkowsky</span></span></span></span><br />
<span style="font-style: italic;"><span style="font-family: comic sans ms;"><span style="color: #1155cc; font-size: medium;"><span style="color: #4040ff;"><a data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?hl=en&q=http://www.ditkowskylawoffice.com&source=gmail&ust=1504635250580000&usg=AFQjCNFo8Mx2j58YOEQJNIWl1IdXCJM76A" href="http://www.ditkowskylawoffice.com/" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">www.ditkowskylawoffice.com</a></span></span></span></span></div>
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Probate Sharkhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15689669875393000741noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4778927784145048761.post-17417156600422084282017-08-21T08:03:00.000-05:002017-08-21T08:03:05.979-05:00Who is MS? Let's have a contest...no prize for correct guess....just satifaction.<div style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: "courier new", courier, monaco, monospace, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; orphans: 2; text-decoration-color: initial; text-decoration-style: initial; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px;">
Until about labor day - see you all bright eyed and busy tailed!</div>
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<b style="background-color: #fdf869;">This morning I saw a squirrel who was lying incapacitated on the side of the bike trail. Many of my neighbors and friends also saw the sight. It was so sad and there was nothing we either individually or collectively could do. = except call Animal control. The poor thing just lay there suffering. We were absolutely helpless!</b></div>
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<b style="background-color: #fdf869;">As I covered the miles of bike trail - which is now a ritual - it occurred to me just how much of life is outside of our control. Almost everything is in the hands of powers beyond us or our comprehension. Take the most disreputable person you know -- I nominate MS. She schemed and plotted every which way to gain treasure and had absolutely no conscience and no moral compass. Her orchestration of the gold rush in Alice Gore's mouth/teeth was close to the nadir of her accomplishments ***** and she did gain treasure BUT I understand that she is now sick and alone - a perfect commodity for her companions - Morrie, Philly, Ricky, et al. They can now share with her her treasure -- As they turn her into a zombie, the treasure has less and less value and no meaning. The anguish and heartache she (MS) promulgated *****.</b></div>
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<b style="background-color: #fdf869;">In all probability MS will get to experience first hand the MarySykes/Alice Gore extravaganza or elder cleansing. What goes around, comes around! It is a bit poetic!</b></div>
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<span style="font-size: medium;"><span style="font-family: "comic sans ms";"><i><b style="background-color: #cd232c;"><span style="color: white;">I know that the poetic justice meted out to the various miscreants personally does not provide a remedy for the injury that so many have suffered at the hands of the aforesaid miscreants/criminals, but it does add one more fact to the scenario. </span></b></i></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: medium;"><span style="font-family: "comic sans ms";"><i><b><span style="color: white;"><span style="background-color: #cd232c;"> That said, there is no guaranty that one or more of the miscreants will not prosper and enjoy the fruits of his/her lack of moral compass;</span><span style="background-color: black;"> however</span><span style="background-color: #cd232c;">, if I were a betting man, I would rather be me than the most prosperous and/or fortunate of the miscreants. I earned all the anguish I will suffer, if any. Each of the miscreants also earned their fate and no one elected me (or you) Judge.</span></span></b><span style="color: #4040ff;"> </span></i></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-style: italic;"><span style="font-family: "comic sans ms";"><span style="font-size: medium;"><span style="color: #4040ff;">Ken Ditkowsky</span></span></span></span></div>
<span style="font-style: italic;"><span style="font-family: "comic sans ms";"><span style="font-size: medium;"><span style="color: #4040ff;"><a data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?hl=en&q=http://www.ditkowskylawoffice.com&source=gmail&ust=1503406320698000&usg=AFQjCNH5bb1SPKiJSysP1PDe9lCiz1Itwg" href="http://www.ditkowskylawoffice.com/" rel="nofollow" style="color: #1155cc;" target="_blank">www.ditkowskylawoffice.com</a></span></span></span></span></div>
Probate Sharkhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15689669875393000741noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4778927784145048761.post-6212987918922541842017-08-19T08:58:00.001-05:002017-08-19T08:58:45.167-05:00Federal decision in ADA, 1983 and wrongful death guardianship case! YES!<div class="nH br6" style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background-color: white; color: black; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: medium; font-style: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; orphans: 2; text-decoration-color: initial; text-decoration-style: initial; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px;">
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Federal decision in ADA, 1983 and wrongful death guardianship case! YES!</h2>
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<span class="gD" data-hovercard-id="kenditkowsky@yahoo.com" email="kenditkowsky@yahoo.com" name="kenneth ditkowsky" style="color: #222222; display: inline; font-size: 12.8px; font-weight: bold; vertical-align: top; white-space: nowrap;">kenneth ditkowsky</span></h3>
<span style="color: red; font-size: large;">Editor's note:</span><br />
<span style="color: red; font-size: large;">Unlike Ken Ditkowsky's brother, Alice R. Gore, a 99 year old disabled ward of the Probate Court of Cook County did not receive the best care. Alice was robbed of her 1.5 million dollar estate, her gold teeth, her health and her family by </span></td></tr>
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<span alt="Sat, Aug 19, 2017 at 6:03 AM" class="g3" id=":as" style="margin-right: 3px; vertical-align: top;" title="Sat, Aug 19, 2017 at 6:03 AM">6:03 AM (2 hours ago)</span><br />
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<tr><td class="ady" style="-ms-text-overflow: ellipsis; font-family: arial, sans-serif; margin: 0px; overflow: hidden; white-space: nowrap;"><span style="color: red; font-size: large;"> the parasites hired by the Probate Court of Cook County. Alice was then systematically starved to death. </span><br />
<span style="color: red; font-size: large;">Lucius Verenus,Schoolmaster, ProbateSharks.com. </span></td></tr>
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The entire issue of dying is horrific. A year and 1/2 ago I watched my brother die. </div>
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He had the best care that we could provide, and he directed the attendance to his needs. It was horrible - Indeed it is horrible to endure, especially when the death watch is of long duration. </div>
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the problem in recent years has become much worse as the GOVERNMENT has made it very profitable to drag the process out, out, out until every available dollar is spent. No - I am not debating Medicare, etc - I am just pointing out a fact. Here in Chicago our nursing home cabal considers the elderly - actually you and me - as a commodity. Thus, the elder cleansing scandal that is and has been very successfully 'covered up.' Pointing out the enormous profits and windfall available to the criminals (especially political and judicial elite) preying the streets in search of victims is according to high ranking Illinois public officials (in the words of Jerome Larkin) is the equivalent of "yelling fire in a crowded theater!" </div>
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Indeed - the promise that our Political Elite provide as a tease so that they can garner the votes to get elected is the Barnam and Bailey - THERE IS A SUCKER BORN EVERY MINUTE scam. Obamacare/Trumpcare et al are in the market place NOT FOR US, BUT AS A SOURCE OF EASY MONEY FOR THE criminals who endeavor to exploit us -- individual and your benefit is an incidential unintended consequence. If it were NOT you would have the media hysterical over the Philip Esformes, Seth Gillman, **** cases. They would leading the fight against the current WAR ON THE ELDERLY AND THE DISABLED and the words HONEST INVESTIGATION would not cause Lawyers to be suspended from the practice of Law.</div>
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I am speaking to the choir! The GAO has about 4 ignored reports to Congress out on the subject, and every day the blogs: Probate Sharks, NASGA, AAAPG, MaryGSykes expose more corruption and profiteering by the plenary guardians of the elderly and the public trust. The perfidy of the "cover up" of the AMERICAN HOLOCAUST is the most UNREPORTED NEWS STORY of the 21st Century and the most successful 'cover up' ever. HERE IN ILLINOIS even the ATTORNEY REGISTRATION AND DISCIPLINARY COMMISSION - an Arm of the SCOI and the Supreme Court of Illinois are leaders in the Gulag! The SCOI is re=elected without shame as ALICE GORE'S teeth rot as a silent memorial to the POLITICAL AND JUDICIAL ELITE's most recent "gold rush!" Indeed - Sherry Johnson's mother was starved to death - so was Grandmother Gore! In addition the Court appointed Guardian ad Litem caused to be pulled 29 teeth from Alice's mouth when she discovered a few grains of gold therein that might be enrich her! When the 3rd Reich engaged in such activities outrage was heard - however, when our Political and Judicial elite mimicked their forebears the Media et al changed the subject --- DID YOU HEAR WHAT ***** SAID: " I am outraged!" is the mantra. The offending words are echoed hour after hour and day after day on the media, but Alice Gore's dignity *******</div>
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SHAME!</div>
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Face it - to our POLITICAL AND JUDICIAL ELITE, the elderly are a commodity! </div>
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<span style="font-style: italic;"><span style="font-family: "comic sans ms";"><span style="font-size: medium;"><span style="color: #4040ff;">Ken Ditkowsky</span></span></span></span><br />
<span style="font-style: italic;"><span style="font-family: "comic sans ms";"><span style="font-size: medium;"><span style="color: #4040ff;"><a data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?hl=en&q=http://www.ditkowskylawoffice.com&source=gmail&ust=1503227300783000&usg=AFQjCNFVTLbgcDhersDgr4K2b7cQZOM_vQ" href="http://www.ditkowskylawoffice.com/" rel="nofollow" style="color: #1155cc;" target="_blank">www.ditkowskylawoffice.com</a></span></span></span></span></div>
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Probate Sharkhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15689669875393000741noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4778927784145048761.post-50801249608654973362017-08-11T11:34:00.001-05:002017-08-11T11:34:33.204-05:00Financial Abuse of the Elderly: Sometimes Unnoticed, Always Predatory<div style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: "courier new", courier, monaco, monospace, sans-serif; font-size: medium; font-style: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; orphans: 2; text-decoration-color: initial; text-decoration-style: initial; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px;">
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Financial Abuse of the Elderly: Sometimes Unnoticed, Always Predatory</h1>
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<a class="m_-3792188173326543973ydpa9852c30byline-column-link" data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?hl=en&q=https://www.nytimes.com/column/retiring&source=gmail&ust=1502555164991000&usg=AFQjCNGMefHLWaYQz3-KxIfhL0oMX5fhIQ" href="https://www.nytimes.com/column/retiring" rel="nofollow" style="color: black; margin-right: 15px; text-decoration-line: none;" target="_blank">Retiring</a></div>
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By <span style="margin-right: 9px;"><a class="m_-3792188173326543973ydpa9852c30byline-author-link" data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?hl=en&q=https://www.nytimes.com/by/elizabeth-olson&source=gmail&ust=1502555164991000&usg=AFQjCNE7ych3XQyitEBaEdB2JqhCOhXf2A" href="https://www.nytimes.com/by/elizabeth-olson" rel="nofollow" style="color: #888888; text-decoration-line: none;" target="_blank" title="More Articles by ELIZABETH OLSON"><span class="m_-3792188173326543973ydpa9852c30byline-author" style="padding-top: 0px; white-space: nowrap;">ELIZABETH OLSON</span> </a></span>NOV. 27, 2015 </div>
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<span class="m_-3792188173326543973ydpa9852c30caption-text">Mariana Cooper, 86,with her granddaughter, Amy Lecoq, 39. Ms. Cooper was bilked out of much of her savings by someone she considered a friend.</span> <span class="m_-3792188173326543973ydpa9852c30credit" style="color: #999999; display: inline-block; font-family: nyt-cheltenham-sh, georgia, "times new roman", times, serif;"><span class="m_-3792188173326543973ydpa9852c30visually-hidden" style="border-image: none; border: 0px currentColor; min-height: 1px; padding: 0px; width: 1px;">Credit</span>Ruth Fremson/The New York Times</span><div class="m_-3792188173326543973ydpa9852c30story-body-text m_-3792188173326543973ydpa9852c30story-content" style="font-family: georgia, "times new roman", times, serif; margin: 0px 0px 1em 75px; max-width: none; width: 570px;">
It was only after Mariana Cooper, a widow in Seattle, found herself with strained finances that she confessed to her granddaughter that she was afraid she had been bilked out of much of her savings.</div>
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Over three years, Ms. Cooper, 86, had written at least a dozen checks totaling more than $217,000 to someone she considered a friend and confidante. But the money was never paid back or used on her behalf, according to court documents, and in early November the woman who took advantage of Ms. Cooper, Janet Bauml, was convicted on nine counts of felony theft. (She faces sentencing on<span> </span><span class="aBn" data-term="goog_1485332103" style="border-bottom-color: rgb(204, 204, 204); border-bottom-style: dashed; border-bottom-width: 1px; position: relative; top: -2px; z-index: 0;" tabindex="0"><span class="aQJ" style="position: relative; top: 2px; z-index: -1;">Dec. 11</span></span>.)</div>
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Ms. Cooper, who lost her home and now lives in a <a data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?hl=en&q=http://topics.nytimes.com/your-money/retirement/index.html?inline%3Dnyt-classifier&source=gmail&ust=1502555164991000&usg=AFQjCNGPUKHresHij82a1HmO4TCPFhgL6w" href="http://topics.nytimes.com/your-money/retirement/index.html?inline=nyt-classifier" rel="nofollow" style="color: #326891;" target="_blank" title="More articles about retirement.">retirement</a> community, is one of an estimated five million older American residents annually who are victimized to some extent by a caregiver, friend, family member, lawyer or <a data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?hl=en&q=http://topics.nytimes.com/your-money/planning/financial-planners/index.html?inline%3Dnyt-classifier&source=gmail&ust=1502555164991000&usg=AFQjCNEk0KH4DQm-G-k5b2SXWUqWm0FDlA" href="http://topics.nytimes.com/your-money/planning/financial-planners/index.html?inline=nyt-classifier" rel="nofollow" style="color: #326891;" target="_blank" title="More articles about financial planners.">financial adviser</a>.</div>
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With 10,000 people turning 65 every day for the next decade, a growing pool of retirees are susceptible to such exploitation. As many as one in 20 older adults said they were financially mistreated in the recent past, according to a study financed by the Justice Department.</div>
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Traditionally, such exploitation, whether by family, friends or acquaintances, often has been minimized as a private matter, and either dismissed with little or no penalty or handled in civil court. </div>
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Even when the sums are large, cases like Ms. Cooper’s are often difficult to prosecute because of their legal complexity and because the exploitation goes unnoticed or continues for long periods. Money seeps out of savings and <a class="m_-3792188173326543973ydpa9852c30meta-classifier" data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?hl=en&q=http://topics.nytimes.com/your-money/retirement/index.html?inline%3Dnyt-classifier&source=gmail&ust=1502555164991000&usg=AFQjCNGPUKHresHij82a1HmO4TCPFhgL6w" href="http://topics.nytimes.com/your-money/retirement/index.html?inline=nyt-classifier" rel="nofollow" style="color: #326891;" target="_blank" title="More articles about retirement.">retirement</a> funds so slowly it draws attention only after it is too late.</div>
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Ms. Cooper, for example, wrote her first check, for $3,000, in early 2008, and later gave Ms. Bauml her power of attorney. In early 2012, after Ms. Cooper realized that Ms. Bauml was not going to repay her in time for her to afford a new roof for her house, she told her granddaughter, Amy A. Lecoq, about the checks. She later called the police.</div>
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Ms. Bauml maintained that Ms. Cooper gave her money for services she provided as a home organizer or as loans.</div>
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Later, testing by a geriatric mental health specialist found that Ms. Cooper had moderate dementia, which showed her judgment had been impaired.</div>
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The diagnosis “helped the jury to understand why she would keep signing all these checks to this woman as loans when she was never being paid back,” said Page B. Ulrey, senior deputy prosecutor for King County, Wash., who pressed the case against Ms. Bauml.</div>
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The case was challenging in part because Washington State does not have an elder abuse statute, said Ms. Ulrey, who is one of a small but growing number of prosecutors around the country with the specific duty of prosecuting those who take financial advantage of elders, whether it is connected to investments, contracts or other fraud.</div>
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As the number of complaints grows, more municipalities are trying to combat such abuse, which is often intertwined with physical or sexual abuse, and emotional neglect.</div>
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Some organizations also have set up shelters, modeled on those for victims of domestic abuse. In the Bronx, for example, the Weinberg Center for Elder Abuse Prevention at the Hebrew Home in Riverdale started such a shelter in 2005. Since then, 14 other such shelters have been opened in various long-term care operations around the country to deal with urgent cases of financial abuse.</div>
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More Information on Financial Abuse</h2>
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To help older people, families and friends should be on the lookout for some of the warning signs of financial abuse. These include not being able to cover normal expenses; paying for excessive, unexpected gifts to others; and signing over power of attorney or transferring property to unrelated individuals.<br /><br />To learn more about protecting the savings of the elderly and helping them avoid being exploited financially, these publications are worth reading:</div>
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One such woman, who agreed to talk only if she was not identified by her last name, stayed at Riverdale after she was threatened with eviction. A neighbor discovered that the woman, a 73-year-old widow named Irene, had not paid her rent<span> </span><span class="aBn" data-term="goog_1485332104" style="border-bottom-color: rgb(204, 204, 204); border-bottom-style: dashed; border-bottom-width: 1px; position: relative; top: -2px; z-index: 0;" tabindex="0"><span class="aQJ" style="position: relative; top: 2px; z-index: -1;">in six months</span></span><span> </span>because relatives living with her had been withdrawing money from her account and leaving her short of funds.</div>
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“I had to leave with one small suitcase,” Irene said. “They were abusing me.”</div>
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She was later able to move to federally subsidized housing away from the abusive situation.</div>
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To help elders in financial and other distress, more municipalities, using federal funds, are training law enforcement officers, prosecutors, and social workers how to spot the sometimes subtle signals that may indicate someone has been swindled.</div>
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“We see many cases where someone convinces an older person to give them the power of attorney, and then uses that authority to strip their bank accounts, or take the title of their home,” said Amy Mix, a lawyer at the AARP Legal Counsel for the Elderly, which works with the Adult Protective Services division in the District of Columbia government as well as the city’s police department.</div>
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In the most recent fiscal year, 934 cases of abuse were reported in Washington. About one-quarter of those were financial exploitation, according to Sheila Y. Jones, chief of Adult Protective Services. “And they involve millions of dollars,” she said.</div>
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But many cases are not counted officially because older people are reluctant to pursue legal remedies against relatives and friends. Louise Pearson, 80, a retired government computer analyst, declined to press charges against a security guard in her building who had befriended her and later obtained $30,000 from her savings.</div>
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“There was something about him you just had to take to,” Ms. Pearson said.</div>
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When she finally asked Malika Moore, a social worker at Iona Senior Services in Washington, for some assistance with her shaky finances, the social worker realized that the situation was serious.</div>
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One clue, she said, was that, “When I opened her refrigerator, it was empty.”</div>
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Ms. Moore was able to get Ms. Pearson home-delivered meals, and after the bank confirmed that she was missing savings, help to find a conservator to handle her money. Ms. Pearson, who now lives in a housing complex for the elderly, said, “I get money whenever I need it, and more than I did before.”</div>
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In Seattle, Ms. Cooper’s granddaughter expressed determination to educate others on the warning signs of financial abuse. “I wish we had known some of the red flags,” she said.</div>
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But even though she’s a trained social worker, it’s not surprising she missed the signs. She was deeply involved in caring for her mother, Ms. Cooper’s daughter, who was fighting cancer and died shortly before the period when her grandmother was writing the checks.</div>
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“Our family saw her regularly,” Ms. Lecoq said, “but we just didn’t see indications of what was going on.”</div>
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In retrospect, she might have been more suspicious with “my grandmother suddenly having a new friend and a friend who got so close so fast.”</div>
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Once Ms. Lecoq and her husband, John, recognized what had happened, they pushed for prosecution. Ms. Ulrey, the prosecutor, said the case required medical tests and search warrants for both the victim’s and the suspect’s financial accounts.</div>
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Ms. Cooper was unable to recover her lost money and worries about how long she will be able to pay for her retirement home. “She’s ashamed and embarrassed and feels guilty,” Ms. Lecoq said of her grandmother. “But I tell her: ‘You were a victim of a crime.’”</div>
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<span style="font-style: italic;"><span style="font-family: "comic sans ms";"><span style="font-size: medium;"><span style="color: #4040ff;">Ken Ditkowsky</span></span></span></span><br />
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<br class="Apple-interchange-newline" />Probate Sharkhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15689669875393000741noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4778927784145048761.post-30767822129977983382017-08-09T10:39:00.000-05:002017-08-09T10:39:28.420-05:00Quality Care warns of receivership for big U.S. nursing home chain (HCP)<div class="aeH" id=":5">
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Re: What is "fake news?" - IT IS TIME TO DRAIN THE SWAMP!</h2>
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<span class="gD" data-hovercard-id="kenditkowsky@yahoo.com" email="kenditkowsky@yahoo.com" name="kenneth ditkowsky" style="color: #222222; display: inline; font-size: 12.8px; font-weight: bold; vertical-align: top; white-space: nowrap;">kenneth ditkowsky</span></h3>
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<span alt="Tue, Aug 8, 2017 at 5:23 PM" class="g3" id=":ej" style="margin-right: 3px; vertical-align: top;" title="Tue, Aug 8, 2017 at 5:23 PM">5:23 PM (17 hours ago)</span><br />
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<span class="hb" style="color: #777777; vertical-align: top;">to <span class="g2" data-hovercard-id="summer.chicago@yahoo.com" dir="ltr" email="summer.chicago@yahoo.com" name="chicago">chicago</span>, <span class="g2" data-hovercard-id="joanne@justice4every1.com" dir="ltr" email="joanne@justice4every1.com" name="JoAnne">JoAnne</span>, <span class="g2" data-hovercard-id="noethics2@gmail.com" dir="ltr" email="noethics2@gmail.com" name="Dave">Dave</span>, <span class="g2" data-hovercard-id="pirahana1@gmail.com" dir="ltr" email="pirahana1@gmail.com" name="Joe">Joe</span>, <span class="g2" data-hovercard-id="adam@openthebooks.com" dir="ltr" email="adam@openthebooks.com" name="OpenTheBooks">OpenTheBooks</span>, <span class="g2" data-hovercard-id="openlineblog@gmail.com" dir="ltr" email="openlineblog@gmail.com" name="openlineblog">openlineblog</span>, <span class="g2" data-hovercard-id="ccorry@ejfi.org" dir="ltr" email="ccorry@ejfi.org" name="Charles">Charles</span>, <span class="g2" data-hovercard-id="press@sanders.senate.gov" dir="ltr" email="press@sanders.senate.gov" name="press">press</span>, <span class="g2" data-hovercard-id="jdit@aol.com" dir="ltr" email="jdit@aol.com" name="Ditkowsky">Ditkowsky</span>, <span class="g2" data-hovercard-id="verenusl@gmail.com" dir="ltr" email="verenusl@gmail.com" name="me">me</span>, <span class="g2" data-hovercard-id="nasga.org@gmail.com" dir="ltr" email="nasga.org@gmail.com" name="Nasga">Nasga</span>, <span class="g2" data-hovercard-id="info@bettergov.org" dir="ltr" email="info@bettergov.org" name="Better">Better</span>, <span class="g2" data-hovercard-id="statesattorney@cookcountyil.gov" dir="ltr" email="statesattorney@cookcountyil.gov" name="Cook">Cook</span>, <span class="g2" data-hovercard-id="illinois.ardc@gmail.com" dir="ltr" email="illinois.ardc@gmail.com" name="Illinois">Illinois</span>, <span class="g2" data-hovercard-id="aag_consumer@atg.state.il.us" dir="ltr" email="aag_consumer@atg.state.il.us" name="Lisa">Lisa</span>, <span class="g2" data-hovercard-id="webmaster@abajournal.com" dir="ltr" email="webmaster@abajournal.com" name="ABAJournal.com">ABAJournal.com</span>, <span class="g2" data-hovercard-id="ajo@bsolaw.com" dir="ltr" email="ajo@bsolaw.com" name="Andy">Andy</span>, <span class="g2" data-hovercard-id="bev.cooperscorner@yahoo.com" dir="ltr" email="bev.cooperscorner@yahoo.com" name="Bev">Bev</span>, <span class="g2" data-hovercard-id="helpelders@hotmail.com" dir="ltr" email="helpelders@hotmail.com" name="Beverly">Beverly</span>, <span class="g2" data-hovercard-id="activistpost@gmail.com" dir="ltr" email="activistpost@gmail.com" name="Eric">Eric</span>, <span class="g2" data-hovercard-id="agnews@myfloridalegal.com" dir="ltr" email="agnews@myfloridalegal.com" name="Attorney">Attorney</span>, <span class="g2" data-hovercard-id="chicago@ic.fbi.gov" dir="ltr" email="chicago@ic.fbi.gov" name="Chicago">Chicago</span>, <span class="g2" data-hovercard-id="ecarter@atg.state.il.us" dir="ltr" email="ecarter@atg.state.il.us" name="Edward">Edward</span>, <span class="g2" data-hovercard-id="schwagerlawfirm@live.com" dir="ltr" email="schwagerlawfirm@live.com" name="Candice">Candice</span>, <span class="g2" data-hovercard-id="cynthiastphns@gmail.com" dir="ltr" email="cynthiastphns@gmail.com" name="Cynthia">Cynthia</span></span></div>
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Reading “fake news!”</div>
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Not all ‘fake news’ involves the Political field – it is everywhere and anywhere. The propaganda machine works 24 hours a day. Sometimes the approach is obvious, other times it is subtle, and yet on other occasions the facts are recited just a little bit off center so as to create a false impression. As you know because of certain litigation involving nursing homes, and a stretch at representing the principals of a few nursing homes I got to view the bodies.</div>
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I ran across the following newspaper article. My comments are in red:</div>
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<b><span style="font-family: , serif; font-size: 39pt; letter-spacing: 0.7pt;"><br />Quality Care warns of receivership for big U.S. nursing home chain (HCP)</span></b></div>
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<span style="color: #111111; font-family: "faktsmconpro" , serif; font-size: 11.5pt;">Reuters</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "faktsmconpro" , serif; font-size: 10pt;"> </span><span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 10pt; letter-spacing: 0.2pt;">Jul. 21, 2017, 04:42 PM</span><span style="font-family: "faktsmconpro" , serif; font-size: 10pt;"></span></div>
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<span style="color: #222222; font-family: "georgia" , serif; font-size: 15pt;">By Tracy Rucinski</span></div>
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<span style="color: #222222; font-family: "georgia" , serif;">CHICAGO, July 21 (Reuters) - U.S. healthcare landlord Quality Care Properties Inc said <span class="aBn" data-term="goog_1408671379" style="border-bottom-color: rgb(204, 204, 204); border-bottom-style: dashed; border-bottom-width: 1px; position: relative; top: -2px; z-index: 0;" tabindex="0"><span class="aQJ" style="position: relative; top: 2px; z-index: -1;">on Friday</span></span> that it can seek receivership for the country's second-largest nursing home chain, HCR ManorCare, after it failed to make a $79.6 million payment for current and past rent. </span><span style="color: red; font-family: "bookman old style" , serif; font-size: 10pt;">Comment: there is a progression in the nursing home business. The initial business model creates a wholly owner (Eron style) operation. (venture 1) This business owns the land for about a decade and is an integrated operation. Toward the end of the first cycle the business’ return on capital commences to decrease. For Phase 2, another group of investors is brought into the picture and they lease the property from Venture 1, with an option to purchase. This phase has two elements - a) wherein there is a lease arrangement and b) wherein there is an ownership relationship. This phase also is about a decade long, and again the business is sold to Venture 3. Venture 3 mirrors Venture 2. Because of deterioration in the infra=structure and thus the appearance of the property the clientele becomes at each juncture a little less prosperous. The venture that is being discussed in the article is property a Venture 5, 6, or 7. (or group thereof)</span></div>
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<span style="color: #222222; font-family: "georgia" , serif;">In a statement, Quality Care said it had delivered a notice of default to HCR ManorCare, its main tenant, regarding the missed payment, which Quality Care said triggers immediate payment of $265 million in additional overdue rent. </span><span style="color: red; font-family: "georgia" , serif;">Comment: this gambit is typical – it induces the investors to be more adaptable and more willing to accept payouts. </span><span style="color: #222222; font-family: "georgia" , serif;"></span></div>
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<span style="color: #222222; font-family: "georgia" , serif;">HCR ManorCare spokeswoman Julie Beckert declined to comment on the threat of receivership.</span></div>
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<span style="color: #222222; font-family: "georgia" , serif;">U.S. nursing homes have struggled to reconcile a tumultuous, low-margin business with declining reimbursements and increasing costs for medical supplies, insurance, aging buildings and litigation. </span><span style="color: red; font-family: "georgia" , serif;">Comment: Notice the loaded word: “low-margin” With the Nursing home moguls supplying all the materials for operation, the expenditures are very adjustable. The Utilities are supplied by Multiuit. Operation Draiman can set prices at will. At one point in time he choose not pay his supplier and went into Bankruptcy himself. In a similar manner the Nursing home moguls own a company that supplies nurses, another linens, another pharmaceuticals, another janitorial, another insurance, another management ******. Want a profit – lower the costs of supplies! Want a loss – raise the costs. The profit and loss is all fictional. The real costs unadjusted are about 2000 a month, and the billings in excess of 7000 a month for the welfare clients to 15 – 20,000 a month for the better heeled. (Physical Therapy for instance in many of the Venture 2 and 3 homes consists of placing the patient in a wheel chair and letting him/her sit in front of the television for an hour or so. In the 4 homes, it is sufficient to wheel the patient out in the hall. </span><span style="color: #222222; font-family: "georgia" , serif;"></span></div>
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<span style="color: #222222; font-family: "georgia" , serif;">To protect their investments, lenders and landlords of distressed healthcare operators can ask the courts to appoint a receiver to take control of the business in the event of a default.</span></div>
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<span style="color: #222222; font-family: "georgia" , serif;">In the case of Toledo, Ohio-based HCR ManorCare, Quality Care said the default allows it "to terminate the master lease, appoint receivers or exercise other remedies with respect to any and all leased properties." </span><span style="color: red; font-family: "bookman old style" , serif;">Comment: This persuades the investors to take just about anything for their interest</span><span style="color: #222222; font-family: "georgia" , serif;">.</span></div>
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<span style="color: #222222; font-family: "georgia" , serif;">Quality Care, one of the largest U.S. healthcare landlords, last month said it was seeking up to $500 million to acquire HCR ManorCare. <span class="aBn" data-term="goog_1408671380" style="border-bottom-color: rgb(204, 204, 204); border-bottom-style: dashed; border-bottom-width: 1px; position: relative; top: -2px; z-index: 0;" tabindex="0"><span class="aQJ" style="position: relative; top: 2px; z-index: -1;">On Friday</span></span> it said it remains in talks with the skilled nursing home operator about the default and other matters. </span><span style="color: red; font-family: "georgia" , serif;">Comment: how many of the investors in Quality care are also investors in HCR ManorCare? Obviously a search of names will not reveal that information – but, an HONEST INVESTIGATION *****</span></div>
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<span style="color: #222222; font-family: "georgia" , serif;">HCR ManorCare -- which also operates assisted living facilities, memory care communities, outpatient rehabilitation clinics and home health care agencies across the country -- confirmed ongoing discussions with its landlord.</span></div>
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<span style="color: #222222; font-family: "georgia" , serif;">In addition, HCR ManorCare received a $550 million loan from Centerbridge Partners this week to repay an existing term loan and outstanding loans, Beckert told Reuters in an e-mail.</span></div>
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<span style="color: #222222; font-family: "georgia" , serif;">Quality Care Properties was spun off from HCP Inc, a large healthcare real estate investment trust, in 2016 as HCR ManorCare was in decline. </span><span style="color: red; font-family: "georgia" , serif;">Comment; here we go – confirmation of the change in Venture!</span></div>
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<span style="color: #222222; font-family: "georgia" , serif;">Private equity firm Carlyle Group bought HCR ManorCare in a 2007 leveraged buyout for $6.3 billion and sold the properties to HCP for $6.1 billion in 2010. (Reporting by Tracy Rucinski; Editing by Tom Hals and Leslie Adler)</span></div>
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The impression given by the article was that one of the nursing home groups was in serious trouble and faced possible involuntary liquidation. Such would be a possibility if in fact there was interaction between non-related competitors of such a nature. Here in Chicago, the group of nursing home moguls is quite small and has a religious orientation. The group that I investigated has an orientation that claims to be Jewish Orthodox. A neighbor (in Sauganash) works for a group that has a different religious orientation. Both groups are aware of each other and there is a degree of co-operation. My experience is solely limited to the Jewish group. However, it is my understanding that the reach of the Moguls that I am familiar with extends one way or another into the nursing homes of the other groups. </div>
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A person who has not had the opportunity to examine the operations of the ‘for profit’ nursing home operation, but who has some knowledge of business would be seriously misled by the article. The loaded word: “ thin margin” is completely verifiable as every cost is augmented for Janitorial to nursing care. If you are into fiction, you will believe that there are Physical Therapists treating every resident twice a day, speech Therapists falling all over themselves, and kosher gourmet food served 3 times a day. Visit a nursing home and observe the wheel chairs lined up around the television set, or the patients doped to the gills lying in bed developing bed sores. One thing you will find – almost every patient is being tranquilized at great expense and real doctors are as rare as moon landings.</div>
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That said, there are ‘special care’ patients. These individuals are people with ‘clout’ or in the facility for a short term. Knee operation and similar patients are given royal treatment. The get real food and real care – of course they also have family advocates who wander in at hours of the day and night. A family advocate has no problem making trouble and unless his/her ward is treated with respect et al serious problems can and will occur. In certain situations, the family advocate might actually have more clout than the nursing home operator = and then ******.</div>
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Visit a nursing home at a time when you are not expected to visit. Make the visit a surprise, and get away from the areas wherein the staff is comfortable with you present. </div>
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The ‘fake news’ story will become evident. “Fake News” does not have to be Political and does not be directed at President Trump. It is what we used to call propaganda or misleading. It has been around forever, but today much of it is protected by POLITICAL CORRECTNESS and the balance by pure clout. The article supra is just part of the ‘fake news’ chain. We do not have the entire chain as you and I are not the targets, except, the nursing home industry is embarrassed by the obscene profits that they earn and the disclosure of their activities. This does not mean that they will not continue to bring in the vote for the political elite and cease being a source of extra income for Judges, *****. </div>
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<span style="font-style: italic;"><span style="font-family: "comic sans ms";"><span style="font-size: medium;"><span style="color: #4040ff;">Ken Ditkowsky</span></span></span></span><br />
<span style="font-style: italic;"><span style="font-family: "comic sans ms";"><span style="font-size: medium;"><span style="color: #4040ff;"><a data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?hl=en&q=http://www.ditkowskylawoffice.com&source=gmail&ust=1502378475812000&usg=AFQjCNHrRrBmEctVa59BahDJEYqQw_BHUw" href="http://www.ditkowskylawoffice.com/" rel="nofollow" style="color: #1155cc;" target="_blank">www.ditkowskylawoffice.com</a></span></span></span></span></div>
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On Tuesday, August 8, 2017, 11:42:37 AM CDT, kenneth ditkowsky <<a href="mailto:kenditkowsky@yahoo.com" style="color: #1155cc;" target="_blank">kenditkowsky@yahoo.com</a>> wrote:</div>
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When I heard that one of the cabal of ELDER CLEANSERS here in Illinois in league with the Public Guardian’s office was trafficking in the “homeless” that lived on lower Wacker Drive in Chicago, I was stunned. When I checked out to allegation and satisfied myself that it was true, I had to sit down and contemplate the gravity of the situation, to wit:</div>
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1.<span style="font-size: 7pt; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;"> </span>the cabal had no respect for the RULE OF LAW and or humanity. We had right here in the beast of America our own version of Nazi and Communist terror. The horror of the Alice Gore case had not subsided - i.e. a guardian at litem directing the pulling of 29 perfectly healthy teeth to garner the few grains of gold therein contained. And</div>
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2.<span style="font-size: 7pt; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;"> </span>Official entities of the STATE OF ILLINOIS were actively aiding and abetting the criminal human trafficking. I, of course, knew that in the Mary Sykes case the attorney for the guardian appointed sans ‘due process” and both the Guardians at litem were alumni of the Public Guardian’s office. I also knew that the ‘elder cleansing’ of Mary Sykes 09 P 4585 and the accompanying theft of government health care funds was aided and abetted by the Illinois Attorney Registration and Disciplinary Commission – a entity under the supervision of the Supreme Court of Illinois. </div>
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However, up until known the malevolent activities of STATE OF ILLINIOIS entities was clandestine. The evidence was circumstantial - though obvious. The incidents in which there is a direct tie-in between the corrupt public officials (usually State employees) and the criminal element up until the most recent of times has been more implication, conjecture, and speculation. Public officials were ashamed to be observed fostering “ghost” employment, bribery schemes, trading of favors, etc. The Judicial elite at the very least tried to maintain an appearance of integrity. Indeed, misrepresenting a SCOTUS decision was subtle and the author of the misrepresentation actually read the case. In the JoAnne Denison Petitions, Jerome Larkin in his Petition to the Supreme Court of Illinois seized on one of the rejected arguments in the SCOTUS A<u>lvarez</u> case and cited it as the SCOTUS’ ruling. </div>
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Of course, Larkin never apologized to either Ms. Denison or the Court for his obvious misrepresentation of the <u>Alvarez</u> and <u>Sawyer</u> cases. The state of morality in the State of Illinois had been reduced to the nadir and the RULE OF LAW and the Constitution were mere technicalities. The Soviet Gulag had reached its full maturity. Indeed, the media, the civil rights organization, the legal associations (such as the American Bar Association, Illinois Bar Association, Chicago Bar Association) et al were silent. Some actually appeared to be denigrating citizen and lawyer efforts to defend the Rule of Law! The ABA, when it appeared that comments were running 100% against its preferred position of attornment to the most corrupt members of the Judicial and Political elite, shut down the comments and ultimately removed their article. THE ASSAULT ON THE CONSTITUTION OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA, the CONSTITUTION OF THE STATE OF ILLINOIS, the RULE OF LAW and the Canons of Ethics (Rule 8.3) was attorned to by the American Bar Association AND the opinion makers.</div>
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The foregoing is terrible – however, in my previous e-mails I beaten this dead horse before. The foregoing is in the category of “old news!” What is not in the category of old news is an explanation of why this category of political correctness not only prevails but flourishes. </div>
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Again, it is old news that the corrupt jurists, both elite and not so elite find the profit motive for their criminal conduct quite compelling. In Seth Gillman’s hospice and MEDICARE FRAUDS the profit motive was not only obvious but Gillman confessed. Other members of the ELDER CLEANSING fraternity also have given statements to the Federal Law Enforcement authorities and recruited State political and judicial leaders with shares in the profit venture. The obviousness of the profit is connoted in the indictment of Philip Esformes. He is charged with stealing a billion dollars! from Medicare. His venture with Omnicare is also the stuff the legends are made. It is interesting to note that the cabal operates the very same type of operation that Esformes was operating in South Florida and not one of the members of the cabal has been charged here in Illinois or even charged with not paying income taxes on the booty. (booty being the funds stolen from Federal health care and from the individuals who come into the ‘care’ of the unholy operators of sheltered care facilities)</div>
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When the family of Alice Gore, shocked and stunned by the quest to prospect for gold in the mouth of grandmother Alice Gore asked one of the nursing home operators – HOW CAN YOU BE SO CRUEL? His answer is classic, to wit: </div>
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The answer: “Because I can” begs the question. Of course he can. In the <u>Mary Sykes</u> case 09 P4585 (old news) the presiding judge in the case admitted that she was bribed (i.e. fixed, wired – see page 91 of her evidence deposition). Her punishment: she was elevated to the Appellate Court of Illinois in recognition of her service to the WAR ON THE ELDERLY AND THE DISABLED. The two guardian ad litem who ‘covered up’ the fact that 755 ILCS 5/11a – 10 was almost completely ignored by the Court, the attorneys, the two guardian ad litem, the media, law enforcement *****, were rewarded with a “ tax exempt” share in the booty stolen from the Mary Sykes Estate and very substantial fees from the Estate. The co-conspirators, such as Jerome Larkin and his lackeys at the IARDC, still continue to silence mention of the rampant ELDER CLEANSING going on at the Circuit Court and it is assumed that they do not perform their extraordinary services for ‘free!’ 18 USCA 371 has not as yet been applied to them, and they are all laughing at us (the great unwashed) as they currently enjoy the illegal fruits of the WAR ON THE ELDERLY AND THE DISABLED. </div>
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The words: “because I can” also are telling as they point out the malady of the system. How can it be that a group of people ‘temporarily in power’ can exert such nefarious influence on the lives of the ELDERLY AND THE DISABLED. Indeed, no one is exempt! Any person, including the members of the corrupt Judicial and political elite can be literally stolen off the street to be ELDER CLEANSED! Even the man who uttered the words: ‘because I can” can be a victim of this horrific trafficking in the elderly and disabled Americans. (Yes, even President Trump can be a victim – in fact some of the cabal have been quite candid as to their efforts to enroll him into the legends of zombies created by the ELDER CLEANSERS. </div>
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The words “because I can” also connote the fact that few escape the cabal and the gulag. Upon entry into a sheltered care facility, the victim is administered a tranquilizer – usually an Opioid. This administration provides the victim with aid in adjusting to his/her new surroundings. The addictive effects are an added bonus to the gulag effect and reducing the victim to a zombie keeps the costs of operation of the elder cleansing facility profitable. It also assures that come election time, the elder cleansed individual VOTES for the right political candidate. </div>
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Unfortunately, the answer to the query is not subtle and not profound, to wit:</div>
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<i><span style="font-size: 11.5pt;"> </span></i><strong style="font-style: inherit; outline: 0px;"><span style="font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; outline: 0px;"><i><span style="font-size: 11.5pt;">Dr. Roland Borrasi chuckled as he told three doctors how he used kickbacks and cash bribes to shuttle unsuspecting nursing home residents into Chicago-area hospitals and psychiatric wards.</span></i></span></strong></div>
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<strong style="font-style: inherit; outline: 0px;"><span style="font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; outline: 0px;"><i><span style="font-size: 11.5pt;">“<span style="background-color: #fdef2b;">Basically, I have a commodity; my commodity is nursing home patients,</span>” Borrasi explained.</span></i></span></strong></div>
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<strong><span style="font-size: 11.5pt;">Indeed</span></strong><strong><span style="font-size: 11.5pt;">, Dr. Borrasi ‘s simple explanation was very candid and accurate. Even though a decade plus has passed since the revelation was granted, Federal Administration after Federal Administration has kept its distance and allowed the elder cleansing racket to florish. It is true that</span></strong></div>
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<strong style="font-style: inherit; outline: 0px;"><span style="font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; outline: 0px;"><i><span style="font-size: 11.5pt;">He (sic Dr. Borrasi) didn’t know it at the time, but federal agents were secretly recording that meeting.</span></i></span></strong></div>
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<strong style="font-style: inherit; outline: 0px;"><span style="font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; outline: 0px;"><i><span style="font-size: 11.5pt;">One of the doctors was wearing a wire as Borrasi matter-of-factly explained the mechanics of patient brokering to physicians in his medical group.</span></i></span></strong><i><span style="font-size: 11.5pt;"></span></i></div>
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<strong style="font-style: inherit; outline: 0px;"><span style="font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; outline: 0px;"><i><span style="font-size: 11.5pt;">Those recordings, along with court documents and federal investigative reports obtained by the Tribune, describe a web of corruption in which hundreds of thousands of dollars flowed among doctors, nursing home executives and hospital administrators as the facility operators sought to fill their beds with a steady flow of destitute patients.</span></i></span></strong></div>
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<strong><span style="font-size: 11.5pt;">What did the media do with the information? What did law enforcement do? What did the Courts do? The answer is N O T H I N G! to speak up, though to be fair, the Chicago Tribune reported:</span></strong></div>
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<strong style="font-style: inherit; outline: 0px;"><span style="font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; outline: 0px;"><i><span style="font-size: 11.5pt;">While taxpayers paid millions of dollars in fraudulent <a data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?hl=en&q=http://www.chicagotribune.com/topic/health/healthcare/medicaid-HEPRG00001-topic.html&source=gmail&ust=1502378475813000&usg=AFQjCNG5uG9Q9_ZazJX_MPofv-FuUHLn3g" href="http://www.chicagotribune.com/topic/health/healthcare/medicaid-HEPRG00001-topic.html" id="m_-3871571093633117129ydpc09fb867yiv0066910369ydp46dfef4dHEPRG00001" rel="nofollow" shape="rect" style="color: #1155cc; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; outline: 0px;" target="_blank" title="Medicaid"><span style="color: #882451; text-decoration-line: none;"> Medicaid</span></a> and <a data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?hl=en&q=http://www.chicagotribune.com/topic/health/healthcare/medicare-HEPRG00002-topic.html&source=gmail&ust=1502378475813000&usg=AFQjCNG3aQvyVavN5iW423UFLW2FsztRuA" href="http://www.chicagotribune.com/topic/health/healthcare/medicare-HEPRG00002-topic.html" id="m_-3871571093633117129ydpc09fb867yiv0066910369ydp46dfef4dHEPRG00002" rel="nofollow" shape="rect" style="color: #1155cc; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; outline: 0px;" target="_blank" title="Medicare"><span style="color: #882451; text-decoration-line: none;"> <wbr></wbr>Medicare</span></a> bills, one <a data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?hl=en&q=http://www.chicagotribune.com/topic/health/diseases-illnesses/alzheimers-disease-HEDAI000007-topic.html&source=gmail&ust=1502378475813000&usg=AFQjCNHct6KZeVnQ4f8KB2bQn-B9OhK5-A" href="http://www.chicagotribune.com/topic/health/diseases-illnesses/alzheimers-disease-HEDAI000007-topic.html" id="m_-3871571093633117129ydpc09fb867yiv0066910369ydp46dfef4dHEDAI000007" rel="nofollow" shape="rect" style="color: #1155cc; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; outline: 0px;" target="_blank" title="Alzheimer's Disease"><span style="color: #882451; text-decoration-line: none;"> Alzheimer’s</span></a> patient was given inappropriate brain radiation treatments, a Borrasi associate told federal agents. A second patient, a disoriented elderly woman, was sent to an acute psychiatric ward after she refused to eat in her nursing home dining hall, another medical professional told federal agents.</span></i></span></strong><i><span style="font-size: 11.5pt;"></span></i></div>
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<strong style="font-style: inherit; outline: 0px;"><span style="font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; outline: 0px;"><i><span style="font-size: 11.5pt;">“The fact that … greed subordinated the care of elderly and infirm patients who really needed it is horrific at best,” federal prosecutors wrote in a court filing earlier this year after Borrasi was sentenced for accepting more than $500,000 in kickbacks to steer vulnerable patients. Prosecutors described “the scope and breadth of the bribes” as “extraordinary .”</span></i></span></strong><i><span style="font-size: 11.5pt;"></span></i></div>
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Thus, in Summary – we, the great unwashed, are a commodity! Therefore, just like peaches, and nuts we are there for the Political and Judicial Elite to exploit – or be the victims of human trafficking. The 700% fraud surcharge i.e. 7 dollars for every dollar spent on health care to the political sophisticated is a small price to pay for the “billions” of health care dollars that will flow into their pockets! It does not matter if you call the vehicle OBAMACARE, TRUMPCARE, MEDICARE, MEDICAID **** the vehicle for those who consider themselves the “best and the brightest” to unjustly enrich themselves is a fact of life.</div>
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><b>Supra and Infra may both be politically incorrect, but America elected PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP to end this façade. <span style="color: #cd232c;">The concept of cleaning the swamp means more than replacing the cancer, but restoring the integrity of health care and eliminating the profit from the corrupt political and judicial leaders who have fostered elder cleansing and the WAR ON THE ELDERLY AND THE DISABLED. </span></b></span> Health care is supposed to aid in the treatment of disease and illness – it is not a tool for human trafficking, exploitation and abuse. <b style="background-color: #fdef2b;">We, the great unwashed have a vital stake in putting the health care cabal out of business not only here in Illinois, but in every State in the Union.</b></div>
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<span style="font-style: italic;"><span style="font-family: "comic sans ms";"><span style="font-size: medium;"><span style="color: #4040ff;">Ken Ditkowsky</span></span></span></span><br />
<span style="font-style: italic;"><span style="font-family: "comic sans ms";"><span style="font-size: medium;"><span style="color: #4040ff;"><a data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?hl=en&q=http://www.ditkowskylawoffice.com&source=gmail&ust=1502378475813000&usg=AFQjCNFKdZtnzPXev4jY9pGSl-7JclWPmg" href="http://www.ditkowskylawoffice.com/" rel="nofollow" shape="rect" style="color: #1155cc;" target="_blank">www.ditkowskylawoffice.com</a></span></span></span></span></div>
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On Tuesday, August 8, 2017, 9:51:59 AM CDT, kenneth ditkowsky <<a href="mailto:kenditkowsky@yahoo.com" style="color: #1155cc;" target="_blank">kenditkowsky@yahoo.com</a>> wrote:</div>
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Chicago Summer:</div>
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Since you are not an attorney your expose of corruption in the Illinois courts cannot be labeled by Mr. Larkin and the Illinois Supreme Court as being akin to yelling fire in a crowded theater. <span style="font-family: "verdana" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">However, even though the people you are exposing are all PUBLIC FIGURES and commenting on people who run for election cannot claim defamation protection, in the Cook County environment you can expect and will be subject to harassment by those who have breached their public trust and those who act in conspiracy with the</span>m. </div>
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<b style="background-color: #fdef2b;">It is the total lack of a moral compass that the Political and Judicial elite display that prompts me to forward you e-mail to law enforcement and DEMAND that Illinois officials do their sworn duty and provide you with EQUAL PROTECTION OF THE LAW and in particular protect your FIRST AMENDMENT RIGHTS.</b></div>
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<b style="background-color: #fdef2b;">I</b><b style="background-color: white;">llinois is on the verge of Bankruptcy and losing population because of the rampant corruption that this State enjoys. The WAR ON THE ELDERLY AND THE DISABLED rages with the aid and comfort of the POLITICAL AND JUDICIAL CLASS and elected officials and the Illinois Department of Revenue </b><span style="background-color: #cd232c;"><span style="color: #fdf869;">FUND</span></span><b style="background-color: white;"> THE PERFIDY by ignoring the INCOME TAX LIABILITY that the co-conspirators jointly and severally are liable. </b></div>
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<b style="background-color: white;">The Medicare Fraud that was exposed in the Philip Esformes indictments in South Florida are rampant here in Illinois - however, there are no Illinois indictments! Indeed, the ELDER CLEANSING scandals abound and billions of dollars are stolen from guardianship estates and there are not taxes paid by either the miscreants or their co-conspirators. In the Mary Sykes case over 3 million dollars was removed by the villains and NOT ONE DIME of taxes was paid or assessed! The miscreants and their co-conspirators laughed and still laugh all the way to the Bank - HOWEVER, the ILLINOIS TAXPAYER has to pay more Income taxes, taxes on his Pepsi, taxes on gasoline, taxes on his purchases of sundries and food, taxes on *******. (Indeed, the two guardians ad litem in the Mary Sykes case, the guardian in said case, Mr. Larkin and all the other co-conspirators walked away allegedly with about 3 million dollars - see Gloria Sykes affidavit) tax free. The Medicare funds paid unnecessarily also were TAX FREE. Even the gold stolen from the mouth of Alice Gore is tax free!)</b></div>
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<b style="background-color: white;">My demand for an HONEST INVESTIGATION published in PROBATE SHARKS cost law license suspensions for both JoAnne Denison and yours truly -- Yes the action taken by the authorities was wrong - BUT the RULE OF LAW has been abrogated unilaterally by the corrupt POLITICAL AND JUDICIAL elite. Such is the bottom line.</b></div>
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<span style="background-color: #fdef2b; font-family: "verdana" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: x-large;">Democracy is not a spectator sport - here in Illinois it is a high wire action without a net! I copied Federal and State authorities and by this memo beg for them to MAKE AMERICA GREAT AGAIN by just enforcing the RULE OF LAW without discrimination and with an eye to making us (the great unwashed) equal in the eyes of the LAW to the REINING MEMBER OF THE POLITICAL AND JUDICIAL ESTABLISHMENT!</span></div>
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<span style="font-style: italic;"><span style="font-family: "comic sans ms";"><span style="font-size: medium;"><span style="color: #4040ff;">Ken Ditkowsky</span></span></span></span><br />
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Probate Sharkhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15689669875393000741noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4778927784145048761.post-20079301260059978472017-08-05T11:12:00.001-05:002017-08-05T11:12:58.672-05:00The Philip Esformes indictments have created interest in Chicago<div style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: "courier new", courier, monaco, monospace, sans-serif; font-size: medium; font-style: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; orphans: 2; text-decoration-color: initial; text-decoration-style: initial; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px;">
<span style="color: red; font-size: large;">Editor's note: Your ProbateShark wishes that the FBI and DOJ would indict all of the Esformes type criminals (judges, lawyers, healthcare providers, and insurance companies) who forged and fabricated the case for the destruction of Alice R. Gore, her life and estate. Just contact this Shark for complete evidence against these crooks. Lucius Verenus, Schoolmaster, ProbateSharks.com</span><br />
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The Philip Esformes indictments have created interest in Chicago. The scuttlebutt is interesting as it is common belief - though not necessarily accurate belief that it is only a question of a really short period of time before the excreta hits the fan. All the posturing in the world cannot hide the fact that several of Esformes' compatriots have been and are terrified appropriately that if the FBI catches them in an untruth their world will come to an end. The rumor was that the USA has electronic material (some video) that backs up the averments of criminal activity. Co-conspirators (Delgato) actually taped some of their encounters with Esformes. </div>
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This morning I was told that the Miami Herald has disclosed the fact that were tapes. I could not find that account, but I did find:</div>
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‘Explosive’ New Charge Added To $1 Billion Fraud Case</h1>
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February 13, 2017 by <span class="m_-1390872665476021019ydpf9172619entry-author"><a class="m_-1390872665476021019ydpf9172619entry-author-link" data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?hl=en&q=http://seniorhousingnews.com/author/tmullaney/&source=gmail&ust=1502034904202000&usg=AFQjCNGYPst2l-nF5-T5Ho2Exn641Vu-WQ" href="http://seniorhousingnews.com/author/tmullaney/" rel="nofollow" style="border-bottom-color: rgb(221, 221, 221); border-bottom-style: solid; border-bottom-width: 1px; color: #00a5e1; line-height: 18px; text-decoration-line: none;" target="_blank"><span class="m_-1390872665476021019ydpf9172619entry-author-name">Tim Mullaney</span></a></span></div>
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The owner of a number of Miami-based assisted living and health care facilities who was <a data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?hl=en&q=http://seniorhousingnews.com/2016/07/22/senior-living-owner-arrested-in-1-billion-billings-scam/&source=gmail&ust=1502034904202000&usg=AFQjCNGdORlbN9SjKDs54A7Sm0aAVICI5g" href="http://seniorhousingnews.com/2016/07/22/senior-living-owner-arrested-in-1-billion-billings-scam/" rel="nofollow" style="border-bottom-color: rgb(221, 221, 221); border-bottom-style: solid; border-bottom-width: 1px; color: #00a5e1; line-height: 18px; text-decoration-line: none;" target="_blank">arrested</a> in a $1 billion Medicare fraud scheme last year has been slammed with another charge.</div>
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This month, health care executive Philip Esformes, 47, had another charge added to his laundry list of other charges. The new charge accuses him of paying thousands of dollars to an employee with the Agency for Health Care Administration (AHCA) to obtain patient complaints and inspection schedules for his facilities, the <em>Miami Herald </em><a data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?hl=en&q=http://www.miamiherald.com/news/local/article132038739.html&source=gmail&ust=1502034904202000&usg=AFQjCNEHOUaaDjt-SUXovTyei4xatuddbg" href="http://www.miamiherald.com/news/local/article132038739.html" rel="nofollow" style="border-bottom-color: rgb(221, 221, 221); border-bottom-style: solid; border-bottom-width: 1px; color: #00a5e1; line-height: 18px; text-decoration-line: none;" target="_blank">reports</a>.</div>
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The facilities owned by Esformes were known as the Esformes Network. He owned and operated Adar Associates, Eden Gardens LLC, Lauderhill Manor LLC, Flamingo Park Manor LLC and La Serena Retirement Living LLC.</div>
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The newest charge<span style="font-weight: 700;">—</span>which Herald reporter Jay Weaver describes as “explosive”<span style="font-weight: 700;"> </span>comes from an incident when Esformes gave $5,000 to a friend to bribe the employee at the AHCA in order to fix certain problems in his facilities before the state showed up. Little did he know, his confidant Gabriel Delgado was working for the other side.</div>
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Delgado videotaped the encounter with Esformes to help investigators target him after he and his brother had gotten into legal issues themselves, according to the article.</div>
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Esformes has been in jail since July on the charges of conspiracy, obstruction, money laundering and health care fraud.</div>
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Almost all of his assets had been temporarily frozen under a judge’s order including 13 real estate properties (including a house renovated into a private basketball facility) in Miami Beach, Miami, Chicago and Los Angeles, a number of bank accounts with $9 million, a Ferrari Aperta sports car and a Grubel Forsey watch, according to the <em>Miami Herald</em>.</div>
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The executive also allegedly used the fraud money for stays at the Ritz-Carlton and to pay for a basketball coach for one of his three children.</div>
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Esformes has not obtained bail, even with $3 million from supporters including a rabbi from Chicago, where Esformes is originally from.</div>
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Prosectors said that Esformes’ $78 million in assets around the country, as well as a plan to help Delgado flee to Israel to avoid trial in 2015, was sufficient enough evidence to prove the defendant’s intent to flee, the article says.</div>
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If convicted at trial, he could spend the rest of his life in prison.</div>
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Read the full <a data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?hl=en&q=http://www.miamiherald.com/news/local/article132038739.html&source=gmail&ust=1502034904202000&usg=AFQjCNEHOUaaDjt-SUXovTyei4xatuddbg" href="http://www.miamiherald.com/news/local/article132038739.html" rel="nofollow" style="border-bottom-color: rgb(221, 221, 221); border-bottom-style: solid; border-bottom-width: 1px; color: #00a5e1; line-height: 18px; text-decoration-line: none;" target="_blank">story</a> from the Miami Herald.</div>
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It appears that the Trump Administration and the Congress are not ignorant of the fact that the health care frauds and in particular the crimes perpetrated against the elderly and the disabled (i.e. Medicare/Medicaid frauds) are out of control and re=establishing order, honesty, and control over the system is a condition precedent to any health care reform. It has apparently not been lost upon the Administration that the success of most of its programs is also tied to putting the bad guys out of business and ending the human trafficking in elderly. I had a bit of experience in the Brewer case - my client was defeated for election by the nursing home vote.</div>
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As I said before - I believe that Philip Esformes is 'small potatoes' even though he stole a large amount of money (a billion dollars). Apparently I am not alone in my belief that Esformes is 'small potatoes' by comparison with some of the other 'actors.' I wonder just how much booty is at stake in this and related prosecutions. I was almost as surprised by the trial date delay as I was by the scheduling during the High Holy Days - HOWEVER, I assume that there is good reason for the delay. Maybe Philip has gotten religion and is co-operating with the Fed! Had it been me - I would be singing so loudly and openly that I would be the leading candidate for a grammy! The more I look into this prosecution the more convinced I am that Philip's conviction and jailing is a sure fire certainty. I certainly would like this tragic situation yield a benefit for humanity and American health care. </div>
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Draining the swamp is not easy! </div>
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<span style="font-style: italic;"><span style="font-family: "comic sans ms";"><span style="font-size: medium;"><span style="color: #4040ff;">Ken Ditkowsky</span></span></span></span><br />
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Probate Sharkhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15689669875393000741noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4778927784145048761.post-73495393705326025312017-08-01T09:04:00.001-05:002017-08-01T09:04:26.436-05:00Illinois is not the only State wherein guardianship fraud is running rampant<div style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: "courier new", courier, monaco, monospace, sans-serif; font-size: medium; font-style: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; orphans: 2; text-decoration-color: initial; text-decoration-style: initial; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px;">
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<span style="font-family: verdana, helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: small;">Illinois is not the only State wherein guardianship fraud is running rampant</span><span style="font-family: nyt-cheltenham, georgia, "times new roman", times, serif;">. </span></h1>
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Calls for Court Reform as Legal Guardians Abuse Older Adults</h1>
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By <span style="margin-right: 9px;"><span class="m_-4620342650364321984ydp4d1e2d16byline-author" style="padding-top: 0px; white-space: nowrap;">SUSAN B. GARLAND</span> </span>JULY 28, 2017</div>
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<span class="m_-4620342650364321984ydp4d1e2d16caption-text" style="font-family: nyt-cheltenham, georgia, "times new roman", times, serif;">Richard and Terri Black at their home in Cornelius, N.C.</span><span style="font-family: nyt-cheltenham, georgia, times new roman, times, serif;"> </span><span class="m_-4620342650364321984ydp4d1e2d16credit" style="color: #999999; display: inline-block; font-family: nyt-cheltenham-sh, georgia, "times new roman", times, serif;"><span class="m_-4620342650364321984ydp4d1e2d16visually-hidden" style="border-image: none; border: 0px currentColor; min-height: 1px; padding: 0px; width: 1px;">Credit</span>Travis Dove for The New York Times</span><div class="m_-4620342650364321984ydp4d1e2d16story-body-text m_-4620342650364321984ydp4d1e2d16story-content" style="font-family: georgia, "times new roman", times, serif; margin: 0px 0px 1em 75px; max-width: none; width: 570px;">
Terri Black had always planned to care for her widowed father in her home if he ever became too frail to care for himself. In June 2013, Mrs. Black, an only child, decided it was time: Her father’s longtime companion in Las Vegas had informed her that she could no longer handle his dementia, diabetes and other health issues, and asked the daughter to take him.</div>
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Not long before, Mrs. Black discovered that the companion, Helen Natko, had transferred $200,000 from her father’s bank account — a move that would eventually end in a criminal conviction.</div>
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But when Mrs. Black and her husband, Richard, flew to Las Vegas to take her father, Delford Mencarelli, to their home in Cornelius, N.C., Ms. Natko refused to let them in the house, according to an account Mrs. Black filed with the Clark County District Court, in Nevada. The Blacks called the Las Vegas police, and the officers who showed up told Mrs. Black that her only recourse was obtaining legal guardianship.</div>
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<span style="background-color: #fdef2b;">And thus began a harrowing two-year odyssey in the guardianship system. Soon after Mrs. Black filed a court petition,<span> </span></span>Ms. Natko countered with her own petition. A judge ordered a trial and appointed a temporary professional guardian. Mr. Mencarelli continued to live with Ms. Natko.</div>
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<b><span style="background-color: #fdef2b; font-family: verdana, helvetica, sans-serif;">Mrs. Black’s experience is far from unusual: The Government Accountability Office has found that state guardianship systems across the country are rife with exploitation. State courts appoint guardians to protect the vulnerable, but the G.A.O. has identified hundreds of cases of negligence, as well as physical and financial abuse.</span></b></div>
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<b><span style="background-color: #fdef2b; font-family: verdana, helvetica, sans-serif;">In Mrs. Black’s case, the guardian set a schedule for telep</span></b><span style="font-family: georgia, times new roman, times, serif;">hone calls between father and daughter. Once, Mrs. Black recalled, when she sought permission to take her father to a restaurant, the guardian and lawyers on both sides negotiated the terms, racking up, she estimated, $2,500 in fees. “I was treated like a criminal for wanting to take my dad out for dinner,” Mrs. Black said in an interview. The outing never occurred.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: #fdef2b;">During a 12-day trial in June 2014, Mrs. Black’s lawyers submitted evidence that Ms. Natko had neglected Mr. Mencarelli’s medical needs</span>. Casino records also showed that she had amassed thousands of dollars in gambling losses. And according to bank documents,<span> </span><span style="background-color: #fdef2b;">Mr. Mencarelli had transferred two checks totaling $200,000 from a Pennsylvania account he held jointly with Mrs. Black to a new joint account with Ms. Natko.</span><span> </span>At the time of the transfers, neurological tests showed, Mr. Mencarelli was too cognitively impaired to know what he was signing. At one point, according to court papers, Ms. Natko transferred $195,000 to her own account but eventually moved it back to the joint account on the advice of her lawyers.</div>
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<span class="m_-4620342650364321984ydp4d1e2d16caption-text" style="color: #333333; font-family: nyt-cheltenham, georgia, "times new roman", times, serif;">Mrs. Black holds a photo of herself with her husband, Rick; their son, Dan; and her father, Delford Mencarelli. The Blacks found themselves in a guardianship battle trying to protect Mrs. Black’s elderly father and his assets that spanned years and cost them hundreds of thousands of dollars. They have since been lobbying for regulations that will help others in a similar situation.</span><span style="color: #333333; font-family: nyt-cheltenham, georgia, times new roman, times, serif;"> </span><span class="m_-4620342650364321984ydp4d1e2d16credit" style="color: #999999; display: inline-block; font-family: nyt-cheltenham-sh, georgia, "times new roman", times, serif;"><span class="m_-4620342650364321984ydp4d1e2d16visually-hidden" style="border-image: none; border: 0px currentColor; min-height: 1px; padding: 0px; width: 1px;">Credit</span>Travis Dove for The New York Times</span><div class="m_-4620342650364321984ydp4d1e2d16story-body-text m_-4620342650364321984ydp4d1e2d16story-content" style="color: #333333; font-family: georgia, "times new roman", times, serif; margin: 0px 0px 1em 75px; max-width: none; width: 570px;">
Ms. Natko and her lawyer did not respond to requests for comment. In a deposition in November 2013, Ms. Natko said that she and Mr. Mencarelli had decided to open a joint account in July 2012 with $150,000 from the account he held with his daughter. He had been hospitalized a couple of months earlier, and they decided he should have money in Las Vegas in case of an “emergency,” she said. Ms. Natko also said that they had lived together for a long time, and “he wanted to make sure I was taken care of if something happened to him.”</div>
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<span style="background-color: #fdef2b;">In a huge blow to Mrs. Black, the judge awarded sole guardianship to Ms. Natko on July 11, 2014<span> </span></span>— even while noting that Mr. Mencarelli had lacked cognitive capacity at the time of the transfers. The judge ordered the money moved to a guardianship account, which Ms. Natko came to control substantially as the guardian.</div>
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<span style="color: #333333;">Mrs. Black, who is 56 and<span> </span></span><b style="background-color: #fdef2b; color: #333333;">a retired accountant</b><span style="color: #333333;">, was devastated. “I felt such emotional stress that this was my loved one and that there was nothing I could do to help him,” she said. <span> </span></span><span style="color: #cd232c;"><b>Comment: This explains the whole case - having a competent guardian who has a profession means that Medicare Fraud and other health care frauds are curtailed. <span> </span></b>Obviously having an accountant family member also prevents extra circular enrichment to the Court, the judge et al!</span></div>
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<b style="background-color: #fdef2b;">Ms. Natko remained guardian even after prosecutors,<span> </span><span class="aBn" data-term="goog_277543788" style="border-bottom-color: rgb(204, 204, 204); border-bottom-style: dashed; border-bottom-width: 1px; position: relative; top: -2px; z-index: 0;" tabindex="0"><span class="aQJ" style="position: relative; top: 2px; z-index: -1;">three months later</span></span>, charged her with felony exploitation of a vulnerable person</b>, accusing her of taking thousands of dollars from Mr. Mencarelli. A jury convicted Ms. Natko in April on the exploitation charge, as well as on theft for the $195,000 transfer to her personal account. She is scheduled to be sentenced on Monday.</div>
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Mr. Mencarelli remained in Ms. Natko’s house until he died, on July 3, 2015, at age 84.</div>
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Though state laws differ, a judge who rules that a person is cognitively impaired can appoint a guardian, sometimes a company, to oversee the person’s well-being. The guardian can decide to sell the ward’s house and move him or her into a nursing home. The guardian can also choose which of the ward’s friends and relatives can visit.</div>
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T<b style="background-color: #fdef2b;">he National Center for State Courts, a nonprofit think tank, estimates that guardians across the country supervise 1.3 million adults and an aggregate of $50 billion of their assets.<span> </span></b>Brenda K. Uekert, the center’s principal court research consultant, said that with the “aging of the baby boomers and the onset of dementia, we expect those numbers to go up.”</div>
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<b style="background-color: #fdef2b;">In November 2016, the G.A.O. reported that in eight cases it examined in six states, guardians were found to have stolen more than $600,000 from their elderly wards. A 2010 G.A.O. report found that from 1990 to 2010 guardians in 20 cases stole $5.4 million</b>.</div>
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One reason for guardianship exploitation: a lack of money for oversight, according to Dr. Uekert and other reform advocates. State courts cannot afford to hire enough people to monitor the well-being of wards and to scrutinize the guardians’ stewardship of assets. They also say that many judges, who usually preside in probate or family court,<span> </span><span style="background-color: #fdef2b;">do not have the</span><span> </span>time or<span> </span><span style="background-color: #fdef2b;">expertise</span><span> </span>to conduct more than a cursory review before granting a guardianship petition.</div>
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<span class="m_-4620342650364321984ydp4d1e2d16caption-text" style="color: #333333; font-family: nyt-cheltenham, georgia, "times new roman", times, serif;">The paperwork from Mr. and Mrs. Black’s guardianship battle fills several boxes at their home.</span><span class="m_-4620342650364321984ydp4d1e2d16credit" style="color: #999999; display: inline-block; font-family: nyt-cheltenham-sh, georgia, "times new roman", times, serif;"><span class="m_-4620342650364321984ydp4d1e2d16visually-hidden" style="border-image: none; border: 0px currentColor; min-height: 1px; padding: 0px; width: 1px;">Credit</span>Travis Dove for The New York Times</span><div class="m_-4620342650364321984ydp4d1e2d16story-body-text m_-4620342650364321984ydp4d1e2d16story-content" style="color: #333333; font-family: georgia, "times new roman", times, serif; margin: 0px 0px 1em 75px; max-width: none; width: 570px;">
More than 10 percent of guardians are professionals, who typically charge hourly fees of $70 to $150, which are paid from a ward’s assets. About 75 percent are family members or friends.</div>
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<span style="background-color: #fdef2b;">The costs, which can include the guardian’s legal expenditures, can sap or erase an older person’s savings. By the time he died, Mr. Mencarelli’s $480,000 nest egg had dwindled to about $60,00</span>0.</div>
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As reports of guardian exploitation mount, court experts and advocates for the elderly are pushing for better judicial oversight. Dr. Uekert’s group is training judges to find alternatives to full guardianship. She is also working with several states to create automated systems that would detect misspending.</div>
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In Minnesota, the Conservator Account Auditing Program requires the state’s 5,500 court-appointed guardians to file electronic annual reports on their expenses and on the $900 million in assets they manage. Before the system started in 2011, guardians would file boxes of receipts with the local courts — or not file at all, said Cate Boyko, the program manager.</div>
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Ms. Boyko said nine auditors, assisted by a computer program, look for red flags like high fees and questionable expenses. “If someone with Alzheimer’s disease is in a nursing home and the guardian has reported vehicle expenses, does that make sense?” Ms. Boyko said.</div>
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In Texas, the state’s top judge, alarmed by reports of abuse, asked the legislature in 2015 to fund a two-year pilot project designed to improve court oversight of guardianship cases. Its four compliance specialists have worked with courts in eleven of Texas’ 254 counties since November 2015. “As soon as judges found out about the project, they begged us to come,” said David Slayton, the project manager.</div>
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<b style="background-color: #fdf869;">Auditors found that 48 percent of the cases were missing annual accountings</b>. In about 10 percent, auditors uncovered misappropriation of funds, Mr. Slayton said.</div>
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Based on those findings, the Texas legislature this year approved $5 million for the hiring of 31 staff members to monitor nearly 55,000 guardians and $5 billion in assets statewide. On<span> </span><span class="aBn" data-term="goog_277543789" style="border-bottom-color: rgb(204, 204, 204); border-bottom-style: dashed; border-bottom-width: 1px; position: relative; top: -2px; z-index: 0;" tabindex="0"><span class="aQJ" style="position: relative; top: 2px; z-index: -1;">June 15</span></span>, Gov. Greg Abbott used his line item veto to strike the funding from the budget bill, noting in his veto statement that the “creation of a new state bureaucracy should be a last resort.”</div>
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<span style="font-family: georgia, times new roman, times, serif;">Richard Black became so enraged by his experience in Nevada that he left a well-paying job to push for guardianship reforms full time. He is now the volunteer executive director of<span> </span></span><b><span style="font-family: verdana, helvetica, sans-serif;">Americans Against Abusive Probate Guardianship</span></b><span style="font-family: georgia, times new roman, times, serif;">, lobbying legislatures and counseling families engulfed in guardian disputes. “If this can happen to my family, it can happen to anyone,” he said.</span></div>
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A version of this article appears in print on July 30, 2017, on Page BU3 of the <span>New York edition</span> with the headline: Vulnerable Older Adults, Abusive Guardians. <span class="m_-4620342650364321984ydp4d1e2d16story-footer-links" style="display: inline-block;"><a data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?hl=en&q=http://www.nytreprints.com/&source=gmail&ust=1501682357970000&usg=AFQjCNH5k0vMkN541ABB1JX21IQ9NSBi_A" href="http://www.nytreprints.com/" rel="nofollow" style="color: #999999; text-decoration-line: none;" target="_blank">Order Reprints</a><span class="m_-4620342650364321984ydp4d1e2d16pipe" style="color: #cccccc; margin: 0px 3px;">|</span> <a data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?hl=en&q=http://www.nytimes.com/pages/todayspaper/index.html&source=gmail&ust=1501682357970000&usg=AFQjCNEpBr_0-O5iYGQnSQXt3KqOPqHZmg" href="http://www.nytimes.com/pages/todayspaper/index.html" rel="nofollow" style="color: #999999; text-decoration-line: none;" target="_blank">Today's Paper</a><span class="m_-4620342650364321984ydp4d1e2d16pipe" style="color: #cccccc; margin: 0px 3px;">|</span><a data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?hl=en&q=http://www.nytimes.com/subscriptions/Multiproduct/lp839RF.html?campaignId%3D48JQY&source=gmail&ust=1501682357970000&usg=AFQjCNHAltzWvC7Lel3-V5d7vWIwKnVt1g" href="http://www.nytimes.com/subscriptions/Multiproduct/lp839RF.html?campaignId=48JQY" rel="nofollow" style="color: #999999; text-decoration-line: none;" target="_blank">Subscribe</a></span></div>
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<br class="Apple-interchange-newline" />Probate Sharkhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15689669875393000741noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4778927784145048761.post-65635524225622657472017-07-31T08:28:00.000-05:002017-07-31T08:28:14.963-05:00Esformes....bribes....bribes....bribes...<div class="m_5294291848120224846ydp51ebd9deimg-container m_5294291848120224846ydp51ebd9depicture" style="margin: 0px; min-height: 536px; padding: 0px;">
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<div class="m_5294291848120224846ydp649b362apublished-date" style="color: #adadad; font-family: "McClatchy Sans Cond","Roboto Condensed Medium",HelveticaNeue-CondensedBold,sans-serif; line-height: 1; margin: 0px 0px 10px; text-transform: uppercase;">
JULY 29, 2017 7:00 AM</div>
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Philip Esformes is a fabulously rich businessman who once made more than $10 million in a single year from his network of Miami-Dade nursing and assisted living facilities. He also owns two homes next door to each other on exclusive North Bay Road in Miami Beach, along with numerous other properties in Miami, Chicago and Los Angeles.</div>
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Bertha Blanco, a former state administrator who lives in working-class Hialeah, made $31,281 a year overseeing inspections of the very same kinds of healthcare facilities in Miami-Dade. She was fired in late 2016 after working for 29 years at the Florida Agency for Health Care Administration.</div>
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Esformes, 48, and Blanco, 66, lived worlds apart but federal authorities say they were linked in a long-running $1 billion Medicare ripoff.</div>
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Esformes, charged last year in what has been touted as the nation’s biggest Medicare fraud case, supplied tens of thousands of dollars in cash to Blanco but never knew her. Prosecutors say the bribes were passed through four other people who have already pleaded guilty.</div>
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Blanco, according to a new criminal case filed against her, was a small cog in the complicated operation, supplying confidential information on patient complaints and unannounced state inspections at Esformes’ facilities.</div>
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<img alt="Bertha Blanco-2016" class="CToWUd a6T" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/proxy/AVvXsEgA-RHn4up_2b6awgBfI4b_S5dR74Hm577DGY9TVxNNULpGzw3xu2WfYpcqGwHv_gMYV5zNrTRhCtES_Uel8kVOCdkOeq5L-VUeyc7wyZTp2SMhFB4jU0C7JVyA31Dr8H12pkBx95o6tJQ20mjmOC3eBpc_XnKLJkXplw-mWnOPY2ffmxJhwJ6jzfoYg6dXXXmqEXkkyNtdADHCXbaUaSQyO_uhUPUD2g=s0-d-e1-ft" style="border-image: none; border: 0px currentColor; display: inline; vertical-align: middle; width: 350px;" title="Bertha Blanco-2016" /><br />
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Bertha Blanco</div>
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<span style="background-color: #fdef2b;">That inside information helped keep the Medicare tap flowing, according to court records.</span> Esformes would use the information sold by Blanco — the first state AHCA employee ever to be charged with accepting bribes — to “address deficiencies” before state inspectors showed up at his facilities, a Health and Human Services criminal affidavit says. As a result, Esformes avoided the revocation of his licenses and continued to bill Medicare for questionable patient services.</div>
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Esformes relied on two trusted business associates — brothers Gabriel and Guillermo Delgado — to obtain the valuable state information, <span style="background-color: #fdef2b;">by paying $200 cash for each patient complaint and $3,000 cash for each unannounced inspection schedule over the span of five years</span>. Gabriel Delgado then “personally provided these documents to Philip Esformes,” according to the criminal affidavit.</div>
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Two people acted as intermediaries for the Delgados: Isabel Lopez, who also owned several assisted-living facilities, and her son, Gustavo Mustelier. They kept a cut of the cash bribes while delivering the rest to Blanco to obtain patient and inspection records. According to statements filed with their plea deals, they delivered payoffs to the state administrator for the confidential information on two Miami-Dade facilities owned by Esformes: The Nursing Center at Mercy and Fair Havens Center.</div>
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Lopez and her son admitted they paid off Blanco for inside information on Lopez’s assisted-living facilities and on those belonging to at least five ALF owners, including Esformes.</div>
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<span style="background-color: #fdef2b;">At her end, Blanco either provided the confidential documents or called and texted the sensitive information, according to the criminal affidavit. She sometimes made the exchanges at a McDonald’s in Doral, or enlisted her son to make the deliveries.</span></div>
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Blanco’s defense attorney, Robyn Blake, said she is reviewing the Justice Department’s evidence against her client before deciding whether to go to trial or strike a plea deal. Blanco, who was arrested earlier this month and released from custody on a $250,000 bond, is scheduled for arraignment in Miami federal court on <span class="aBn" data-term="goog_2131283618" tabindex="0"><span class="aQJ"><span style="color: #222222;">Sept. 1</span></span></span></div>
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“We don’t know which direction the case is headed right now,” Blake said.</div>
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<span style="background-color: #fdef2b;">Esformes, who was denied bond after his arrest a year ago and is being held at the Federal Detention Center in Miami, faces trial in March 2018 before U.S. District Judge Robert Scola.</span></div>
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<img alt="PhilipEsformes" class="CToWUd a6T" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/proxy/AVvXsEjXfFurVUmkin9QqBZQo0sdyGYcNnnbkSQyIrckpAowpaGMGD7y-x1Rr6vC68oulUy3q5uqelqOtEFXwwP8JgLRBY3cv02xeL64oG6l-jwz1Bu_EB5gnIqDjzpruO2zdHJ8dquBFpgdLkU0ZoOgURiDv7QWRpatHWrJqjvklA4HuebKmTVDBK2Gsyqs6GILY4VhvmZhpgusqXln0A0l23u79w=s0-d-e1-ft" style="border-image: none; border: 0px currentColor; display: inline; vertical-align: middle; width: 350px;" title="PhilipEsformes" /><br />
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Miami Beach healthcare executive Philip Esformes arrives at the 15th Annual Harold and Carole Pump Foundation Gala held at the Hyatt Regency Century Plaza in August 2015.</div>
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<span class="m_5294291848120224846ydp649b362ainline-photographer" style="font-size: 12px; font-weight: 700; line-height: 20px;">Rob Latour </span><span class="m_5294291848120224846ydp649b362ainline-credits" style="font-size: 12px; line-height: 20px;">Invision/AP</span></div>
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His legal team, led by defense attorney Michael Pasano, asserts the Delgado brothers, who have already struck plea deals on Medicare fraud offenses, acted on their own and that Esformes knew nothing about their bribery activity.</div>
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“It may well be that for years the Delgado brothers were committing numerous crimes, including bribing AHCA people to get information,” Pasano said. “<b>The Delgado brothers are crooks. And like most crooks who make deals for lesser sentences, they point their fingers away from themselves and try to blame Philip Esformes for their crimes.”</b></div>
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With the Delgados likely to be critical witnesses for the Justice Department, <b style="background-color: #fdef2b;">Esformes’ defense team has been aggressively waging a pre-trial battle to disqualify the team of prosecutors who charged the multimillionaire. The defense claims some of the evidence gathered by federal agents has been tainted and that the search of the office of Esformes’ longtime business lawyer was illegal</b>.</div>
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<b style="background-color: #fdef2b;">In February, the first sign of the bribery scheme surfaced when Justice Department lawyers added the explosive charge to the original 2016 indictment against Esformes, accusing him of paying thousands of dollars to a then-unnamed employee with the state Agency for Health Care Administration to obtain patient complaints and inspection schedules</b>.</div>
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In an undercover operation two years ago, federal agents used the Delgado brothers to zero in on Esformes.</div>
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In his two-story, Mediterranean-style home on North Bay Road, prosecutors say <span style="background-color: #fdef2b;"><a data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?hl=en&q=http://www.miamiherald.com/news/local/article132038739.html&source=gmail&ust=1501534335600000&usg=AFQjCNF-RWIdqQNW1if2i3gljGf3Ujn7Fw" href="http://www.miamiherald.com/news/local/article132038739.html" rel="nofollow" style="color: #428bca; text-decoration-line: none;" target="_blank" title="">Esformes gave $5,000 to his right-hand man in a bedroom closet </a>to be used to bribe a state regulator to learn what the state knew about his vast network of skilled-nursing and assisted-living facilities,</span> according to the indictment.</div>
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<img alt="5077 North Bay Road (1)" class="CToWUd a6T" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/proxy/AVvXsEhDIaI7NjZu-1wWpB8IV3GzaBMrjxiLIkUrs0ScZM-AXgssaM9nFpwgH9opuO87s59pulX74-PRnoZqUv0jsPvrVO5Ib7wLrP2i4cd9mtqRBfL2f_1tb8R7srTdX6Xx0G5rABmwyWZCzpHYPTQafjM8TcDBJZlzlndzmSSI1R_tKyW5x4UXVRmLQx7f2igkovkApF1BY6si-pgXlDvfmnFIQXzmCqWY-gATku39QeSEGBKh=s0-d-e1-ft(1)" style="border-image: none; border: 0px currentColor; display: inline; vertical-align: middle; width: 350px;" title="5077 North Bay Road (1)" /><br />
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The Justice Department has moved to seize Philip Esformes’ home at 5077 North Bay Road in Miami Beach and other properties as part of a $1 billion Medicare fraud case against him.</div>
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<span class="m_5294291848120224846ydp649b362ainline-photographer" style="font-size: 12px; font-weight: 700; line-height: 20px;">Jay Weaver </span><span class="m_5294291848120224846ydp649b362ainline-credits" style="font-size: 12px; line-height: 20px;">The Miami Herald</span></div>
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<b>Unbeknown to Esformes, the exchange of cash for inside information was videotaped by Esformes’ once-trusted friend, Gabriel Delgado. </b>He had agreed along with his brother, Guillermo, to help investigators target the executive in the summer of 2015 after the brothers got into serious trouble with the feds themselves.</div>
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<b style="background-color: #fdf869;">The charge of bribing a state regulator added a layer of intrigue to the massive Medicare fraud case: Esformes is accused of exploiting his network of about 20 Miami-Dade skilled-nursing and assisted-living facilities to fleece the taxpayer-funded program in a similar scheme by filing false claims for services that were not necessary or in some instances not provided to about 14,000 patients.</b></div>
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<span style="background-color: black;"><span style="color: #fdf869;">Larkin</span></span> Community Hospital, though not identified in the Esformes indictment, referred many of those Medicare patients to his network through kickback payments to physicians and other medical professionals, prosecutors say. <span style="background-color: #fdf869;">Esformes, in turn, recycled the same patients back through the hospital after they stayed in his network,</span> according to the indictment.</div>
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Esformes is charged with conspiring with Arnaldo Carmouze, 57, a Palmetto Bay physician’s assistant, and Odette Barcha, 50, a former director of outreach programs at Larkin, <b style="background-color: #fdf869;">to move the patients in and out of the hospital through Esformes’ facilities to bilk Medicare.</b></div>
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<span style="background-color: #fdf869;"><b>Esformes is also accused of referring the patients in his network to other <a data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?hl=en&q=http://www.miamiherald.com/news/local/community/miami-dade/article51948060.html&source=gmail&ust=1501534335600000&usg=AFQjCNEFiGMLoQZaApEZ_uqRZsPCVyM00g" href="http://www.miamiherald.com/news/local/community/miami-dade/article51948060.html" rel="nofollow" style="color: #428bca; text-decoration-line: none;" target="_blank" title="">convicted healthcare fraud offenders, including the Delgado brothers.</a> According to their indictment, the brothers paid him kickbacks while swindling Medicare for mental health, prescription drug and home healthcare services. As a result of their plea deals and help in the Esformes investigation, they received more lenient prison sentences. Gabriel, 44, got 4 1/2 years and had to repay Medicare $9.1 million</b></span>. For his additional assistance to prosecutors, his term was reduced to 3 years. Guillermo, 47, was imprisoned for 9 years.</div>
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According to the Esformes indictment, <b>some of the kickback payments were “disguised” to cover escort services for him as well as related travel and hotel expenses to the Ritz-Carlton Hotel in Orlando</b>.</div>
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<b style="background-color: #fdf869;">Prosecutors said Esformes’ healthcare network as well as other co-conspirators such as the Delgado brothers billed $1 billion for fraudulent medical services between 2009 and last year. In turn, the Medicare program paid out about $500 million — with Esformes’ network receiving about half that income.</b></div>
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Probate Sharkhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15689669875393000741noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4778927784145048761.post-30273313874623565942017-07-26T12:09:00.000-05:002017-07-26T12:09:48.934-05:00Al Katz<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
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<span style="font-family: Verdana; font-size: 14pt;">Some of you recognize my Dad, Al Katz, who lived in Lawrence Township as a hard-working American from 1956 until he passed away seven years ago, on July 11, 2010.<span> </span>Next to Dad’s photo, taken by one of the classroom teachers in schools where he lectured, is a hand-made card of appreciation from one of the thousands of students whose lives Dad inspired by sharing his experiences in Nazi slave labor for seven years.<span> </span>My Dad was a Holocaust hero during the Holocaust, helping to save the lives of his fellow prisoners, and a Holocaust hero after the Holocaust, speaking with students in scores of schools about the horrors he had experienced, in order to build a safer world for them.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana; font-size: 14pt;">Watch for the upcoming movie, <em><strong>OUTRAGE: The Al Katz Story</strong>, </em>which tracks Dad's life from Nazi Germany to forced guardianship and to the Indiana probate court, where Al Katz's <strong>insolvent </strong>estate is still being litigated, more than seven years after he passed away, by estate attorney and Personal Representative Robert W. York, a long-time adversary of Al Katz's family members, whistleblowers of serious child abuse whom Robert York wished to silence. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana; font-size: 14pt;">Tragically, Dad’s home at <b>4727 North Ritter Avenue</b> in Lawrence Township, Indianapolis, Indiana 46226, is currently involved in an estate conflict, which will take place on <b>July 21, 2017, in Marion Superior Court 13 of the City County Building, 200 East Washington Street in Downtown Indianapolis, at <span class="aBn" data-term="goog_155707698" tabindex="0"><span class="aQJ"><span style="color: #222222;">10:00 AM</span></span></span>, before Judge James A. Joven,</b> former President of the Lawrence Township Chamber of Commerce (along with former Vice President James Masur of the law firm of Robert W. York).</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana; font-size: 14pt;"><span style="background-color: yellow;">Have you ever heard of an estate that has never had any accounting with receipts, bank statements, or financial records produced in over two-and-a-half years?</span><span><span style="background-color: yellow;"> </span> </span>Have you ever heard of an estate in which administrative expenses for out-of-pocket payments of property taxes, insurance, utility bills, and repairs<span> </span>are never reimbursed or even given a hearing?<span> </span><b>Please attend the hearing scheduled for July 21, 2017, at <span class="aBn" data-term="goog_155707699" tabindex="0"><span class="aQJ"><span style="color: #222222;">10:00 AM</span></span></span></b>, to hear for yourself how Al Katz’s house is being sold with administrative expenses left unreimbursed and <span style="background-color: yellow;">no accounting filed by the </span> <b><span style="background-color: yellow;">estate’s attorney and Personal Representative Robert W. York</span></b><span style="background-color: yellow;"> since January 2015.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana; font-size: 14pt;">Pursuant to Robert W. York’s court filings, not one person in Al Katz’s family, including his four beloved great-grandchildren, will ever receive even one dollar of inheritance from him or reimbursement of thousands of dollars in out-of-pocket advances for estate expenses.<span> </span>Please review the file of this probate case, <b>Cause No. 49D13-1009-ES-040244</b>, noting that <span style="background-color: cyan;">motions for reimbursement of estate administrative expenses have been unheard for years </span>and Robert W. York has never been held responsible for refusing to produce his records of the estate’s financial transactions since January 2015, despite the Katz Family’s requests for such records, which requests for an estate accounting were denied by Judge Joven.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana; font-size: 14pt;">Al Katz inspired thousands of students to achieve their dreams, but his dearest dream, to help his great-grandchildren reach their own dreams and potentials, has been extinguished without <b>community outcry</b>.<span> </span>On behalf of Al Katz’s Family and memory, we ask for your voices in prayer and protest of injustice to this hero to our children... Media welcome ....</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana; font-size: 14pt;">Beverly Katz Newman, Ed.D.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana; font-size: 14pt;">Lawrence</span><span style="font-family: Verdana; font-size: 14pt;"> Central Class of 1966</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana; font-size: 14pt;"><a href="mailto:helpelders@hotmail.com" target="_blank"><span style="color: blue;">helpelders@hotmail.com</span></a></span></div>
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Probate Sharkhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15689669875393000741noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4778927784145048761.post-42674533145347397242017-07-24T08:39:00.000-05:002017-07-24T08:39:48.278-05:00The Justice Department has moved to seize Philip Esformes’ property <div class="lead-item" style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; color: black; font-family: "McClatchy Sans", Arial, "Helvetica Neue", Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; font-style: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; margin-bottom: 25px; orphans: 2; overflow: hidden; position: relative; text-decoration-color: initial; text-decoration-style: initial; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px;">
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<picture style="box-sizing: border-box;"><img alt="The Justice Department has moved to seize Philip Esformes’ home at 5077 North Bay Road in Miami Beach and other properties as part of a $1 billion Medicare fraud case against him." srcset="http://www.miamiherald.com/news/local/g3m8av/picture132038709/alternates/FREE_1140/5077%20North%20Bay%20Road" style="border-image: none; border: 0px currentColor; box-sizing: border-box; display: block; margin: auto; max-height: 536px; max-width: 780px; transform: translate3d(0px, 0px, 0px); vertical-align: middle; width: 402px;" title="The Justice Department has moved to seize Philip Esformes’ home at 5077 North Bay Road in Miami Beach and other properties as part of a $1 billion Medicare fraud case against him." /></picture></div>
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<span class="caption-text" style="box-sizing: border-box;">The Justice Department has moved to seize Philip Esformes’ home at 5077 North Bay Road in Miami Beach and other properties as part of a $1 billion Medicare fraud case against him. </span><span class="photographer" style="box-sizing: border-box; font-weight: 700;">Jay Weaver</span> <span class="credits" style="box-sizing: border-box;">The Miami Herald</span></div>
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<a href="http://www.miamiherald.com/news/local/" style="background: 0px 0px; box-sizing: border-box; color: #379ad3; display: block; text-decoration: none;">SOUTH FLORIDA</a></h1>
<span class="published-date pull-right" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #adadad; display: inline; float: right; font-family: "mcclatchy sans cond" , "roboto condensed medium" , , sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 1; padding: 0px; text-transform: uppercase;">FEBRUARY 13, 2017 6:00 AM</span><br />
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Wealthy Miami Beach executive charged anew with bribing state healthcare regulators</h1>
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<span class="ng_byline_name" style="box-sizing: border-box; display: block; text-transform: uppercase;">BY JAY WEAVER</span></div>
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Philip Esformes, a healthcare executive worth millions, has a “very large closet” in his two-story, Mediterranean-style home on North Bay Road near the exclusive La Gorce Country Club in Miami Beach.</div>
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And in that bedroom closet, prosecutors say, Esformes gave $5,000 to his right-hand man to be used to bribe a regulator to learn what the state knew about his vast network of skilled-nursing and assisted-living facilities.</div>
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Unbeknown to Esformes, the exchange of cash for inside information was videotaped by Esformes' once-trusted friend, Gabriel Delgado. He had agreed along with his brother, Guillermo, to help investigators target the executive in the summer of 2015 after the brothers got into serious trouble with the feds themselves.<iframe class="teads-resize" style="border-image: none !important !important; border: currentColor !important; box-sizing: border-box; display: block !important; height: 0px !important; margin: 0px !important; min-height: 0px !important; padding: 0px !important; width: 700px;"></iframe></div>
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Esformes, 48, the main defendant in a colossal $1 billion Medicare fraud case, has been held behind bars since July at the Miami Federal Detention Center as he awaits trial in federal court.</div>
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This month, Justice Department lawyers added an explosive new charge accusing Esformes of paying thousands of dollars to an employee with the state Agency for Health Care Administration to obtain patient complaints and inspection schedules on his facilities — so he could fix the problems before regulators showed up at the door.</div>
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“At the center of this corruption is Mr. Esformes and his way and his ability to gain inspection reports from the Florida agency,” Justice Department lawyer Allan Medina said at Esformes' detention hearing in August, months before the accusation would be added to a new federal grand jury indictment.</div>
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Esformes' defense attorney downplayed the latest allegation, maintaining his client is innocent and that the Delgado brothers, who pleaded guilty, are the real criminals.</div>
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“The newest version of the indictment repeats most of what has already been alleged against Mr. Esformes and is based directly on claims made by admitted criminals who in return for lesser sentences have pointed fingers at Mr. Esformes,” said Miami lawyer Michael Pasano.</div>
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“The crimes, lies, obstructive behavior and pure greed of these men is astounding and will come out at the eventual trial [in September]. ... The Delgado brothers apparently had people on the inside at AHCA. It is Philip Esformes' position that those are crimes by the Delgados and not by him.”</div>
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Prosecutors said Esformes’ healthcare network as well as other co-conspirators such as the Delgado brothers billed $1 billion for fraudulent medical services between 2009 and last year. In turn, the taxpayer-funded Medicare program paid out about $500 million — with Esformes’ network receiving about half that income.</div>
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Justice Department officials — along with South Florida's U.S. attorney, the FBI and Health and Human Services agents — described the Esformes prosecution as the<a href="http://www.miamiherald.com/news/local/community/miami-dade/article91231277.html" style="background: 0px 0px; box-sizing: border-box; color: #428bca; text-decoration: none;" target="_blank" title=""> nation's biggest Medicare fraud case.</a></div>
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Since his arrest in July, Esformes and his team of lawyers have tried in vain to obtain bail for him, pledging $3 million from supporters, including a rabbi from the executive’s native city of Chicago, where he got started in the healthcare business with his father, Morris. Almost all of the son’s assets — including 13 real estate properties in Miami Beach, Miami, Chicago and Los Angeles, as well as numerous bank accounts with $9 million, a Ferrari Aperta sports car and Grubel Forsey watch — have been temporarily frozen under a judge’s order.</div>
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In the criminal case, Magistrate Judge Edwin Torres concluded Esformes could flee the country. More significant, the judge found that Esformes runs the risk of obstructing justice because he had plotted in 2015 with the Delgado brothers to help one of them leave Miami for Israel to avoid trial. The brothers, accused of sharing Medicare patients with him in a kickback scheme, recorded a two-hour conversation with Esformes. It was carried out as part of the brothers' cooperation deal with the feds to plead guilty.</div>
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<a href="http://www.miamiherald.com/news/local/community/miami-dade/article98188142.html" style="background: 0px 0px; box-sizing: border-box; color: #428bca; text-decoration: none;" target="_blank" title="">After striking out with the magistrate</a>, Esformes appealed to U.S. District Judge Joan Lenard, who took an even harsher view of him. She not only denied his renewed bid for bond — which proposed confinement in his $4 million North Bay Road home and 24-hour monitoring by an off-duty police officer — but ordered him to return assets that he wrongfully transferred to his father in Chicago in violation of a court order.</div>
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“The government has presented strong evidence of the defendant’s intent to flee, his intent to obstruct justice and his lack of respect for the court’s authority and disregard for court orders,” Lenard found, adding that “no transfer should have taken place without permission of the court.”</div>
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Prosecutors said Esformes “amassed significant personal wealth” — reporting assets of $78 million, including two North Bay Road homes next door to each other — from his network of skilled-nursing and assisted-living facilities in South Florida. In 2012, Esformes reported making $10.4 million, according to court papers.</div>
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The prosecutors said Esformes continued to fleece the Medicare program even after he, his father and others settled a civil dispute a decade ago with the U.S. government for $15.4 million over allegations of paying kickbacks to physicians in exchange for patient referrals to Larkin Community Hospital. In 2006, Esformes owned a chain of Miami-Dade assisted-living facilities and supplied patients to the South Miami hospital that were then returned to his facilities and recycled again, according to the settlement.</div>
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Now, Esformes is accused of exploiting his network of about 20 Miami-Dade skilled-nursing and assisted-living facilities to fleece the taxpayer-funded Medicare program in a similar scheme by filing false claims for services that were not necessary or in some instances not provided to about 14,000 patients.</div>
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Larkin Community Hospital, though not identified in the Esformes indictment, referred many of those Medicare patients to his network through kickback payments to physicians and other medical professionals, prosecutors say. Esformes, in turn, recycled the same patients back through the hospital after they stayed in his network, according to the indictment.</div>
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Esformes is charged with conspiring with Arnaldo Carmouze, 57, a Palmetto Bay physician's assistant, and Odette Barcha, 50, a former director of outreach programs at Larkin, to move the patients in and out of the hospital through Esformes’ facilities to bilk Medicare.</div>
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Esformes is also accused of referring the patients in his network to other convicted healthcare fraud offenders, including the Delgado brothers. According to their indictment, the brothers paid him kickbacks while swindling Medicare for mental health, prescription drug and home healthcare services. As a result of their plea deals and help in the Esformes investigation, they received more lenient prison sentences. Gabriel, 44, got 4 1/2 years and had to repay Medicare $9.1 million, while Guillermo, 47, was imprisoned for 9 years.</div>
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According to the Esformes indictment, some of the kickback payments were “disguised” to cover escort services for him as well as related travel and hotel expenses to the Ritz-Carlton Hotel in Orlando. Esformes also used some of the Medicare income to pay for a wardrobe at Saks Fifth Avenue and a basketball coach for one of his three children, the indictment said.</div>
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Even before his arrest last summer, Esformes’ life was starting to unravel. In October 2015, Esformes’ wife, Sherri, filed for divorce. Court records reveal it has been a bitter dispute, though the wife’s attorneys described Esformes as a hard-working businessman and “great provider” — before the breakup. “The lifestyle of the parties and the family exceed that of the rich and famous,” her attorneys said in a filing last year. “The numbers are staggering. The expenditures are unlimited and without any restrictions.”</div>
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Esformes not only owns a 7,100-square-foot home on a half-acre corner lot on North Bay Road near Biscayne Bay and the La Gorce Country Club, but a second 4,300-square-foot home next door that is basically styled as the “basketball house,” the filing said. “It is essentially a multimillion-dollar house which has been converted into a basketball gym with additional facilities for workouts and fitness.”</div>
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If he is convicted at trial, Esformes could spend the rest of his life in prison. If they prevail, Justice Department lawyers plan to seize Esformes’ main home, the basketball house next door, another 5,100-square-foot home on Miami Beach, and numerous other properties, claiming he purchased them all with ill-gotten Medicare money.</div>
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Jay Weaver: <a href="tel:305-376-3446" style="background: 0px 0px; box-sizing: border-box; color: #428bca; text-decoration: none;" title="">305-376-3446</a>, <a href="https://twitter.com/jayhweaver" style="background: 0px 0px; box-sizing: border-box; color: #428bca; text-decoration: none;" target="_blank" title="">@jayhweaver</a></div>
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<span data-src="http://www.miamiherald.com/news/local/6veboh/picture132038719/alternates/FREE_160/980%20West%2048th%20St" data-width-160="" style="box-sizing: border-box;"></span><span data-src="http://www.miamiherald.com/news/local/6veboh/picture132038719/alternates/FREE_320/980%20West%2048th%20St" data-width-320="" style="box-sizing: border-box;"></span><span data-src="http://www.miamiherald.com/news/local/6veboh/picture132038719/alternates/FREE_480/980%20West%2048th%20St" data-width-480="" style="box-sizing: border-box;"></span><span data-src="http://www.miamiherald.com/news/local/6veboh/picture132038719/alternates/FREE_640/980%20West%2048th%20St" data-width-640="" style="box-sizing: border-box;"></span><span data-src="http://www.miamiherald.com/news/local/6veboh/picture132038719/alternates/FREE_768/980%20West%2048th%20St" data-width-768="" style="box-sizing: border-box;"></span><span data-src="http://www.miamiherald.com/news/local/6veboh/picture132038719/alternates/FREE_960/980%20West%2048th%20St" data-width-960="" style="box-sizing: border-box;"></span><span data-src="http://www.miamiherald.com/news/local/6veboh/picture132038719/alternates/FREE_1140/980%20West%2048th%20St" data-width-1140="" style="box-sizing: border-box;"></span><img alt="The Justice Department has moved to seize Philip Esformes’ property at 980 West 48th St. in Miami Beach and other real estate as part of a $1 billion Medicare fraud case against him." src="http://www.miamiherald.com/news/local/6veboh/picture132038719/alternates/FREE_768/980%20West%2048th%20St" data-preload="http://www.miamiherald.com/news/local/6veboh/picture132038719/alternates/FREE_768/980%20West%2048th%20St" style="border-image: none; border: 0px currentColor; bottom: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; display: block; left: 0px; margin: auto; max-height: 481px; max-width: 700px; position: absolute; right: 0px; top: 0px; transform: translate3d(0px, 0px, 0px); vertical-align: middle;" title="The Justice Department has moved to seize Philip Esformes’ property at 980 West 48th St. in Miami Beach and other real estate as part of a $1 billion Medicare fraud case against him." /></div>
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<span data-src="http://www.miamiherald.com/news/local/fm7yft/picture132038729/alternates/FREE_160/PhilipEsformes" data-width-160="" style="box-sizing: border-box;"></span><span data-src="http://www.miamiherald.com/news/local/fm7yft/picture132038729/alternates/FREE_320/PhilipEsformes" data-width-320="" style="box-sizing: border-box;"></span><span data-src="http://www.miamiherald.com/news/local/fm7yft/picture132038729/alternates/FREE_480/PhilipEsformes" data-width-480="" style="box-sizing: border-box;"></span><span data-src="http://www.miamiherald.com/news/local/fm7yft/picture132038729/alternates/FREE_640/PhilipEsformes" data-width-640="" style="box-sizing: border-box;"></span><span data-src="http://www.miamiherald.com/news/local/fm7yft/picture132038729/alternates/FREE_768/PhilipEsformes" data-width-768="" style="box-sizing: border-box;"></span><span data-src="http://www.miamiherald.com/news/local/fm7yft/picture132038729/alternates/FREE_960/PhilipEsformes" data-width-960="" style="box-sizing: border-box;"></span><span data-src="http://www.miamiherald.com/news/local/fm7yft/picture132038729/alternates/FREE_1140/PhilipEsformes" data-width-1140="" style="box-sizing: border-box;"></span><img alt="Miami Beach healthcare executive Philip Esformes arrives at the 15th Annual Harold and Carole Pump Foundation Gala held at the Hyatt Regency Century Plaza in August 2015." src="http://www.miamiherald.com/news/local/fm7yft/picture132038729/alternates/FREE_768/PhilipEsformes" data-preload="http://www.miamiherald.com/news/local/fm7yft/picture132038729/alternates/FREE_768/PhilipEsformes" style="border-image: none; border: 0px currentColor; bottom: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; display: block; left: 0px; margin: auto; max-height: 481px; max-width: 700px; position: absolute; right: 0px; top: 0px; transform: translate3d(0px, 0px, 0px); vertical-align: middle;" title="Miami Beach healthcare executive Philip Esformes arrives at the 15th Annual Harold and Carole Pump Foundation Gala held at the Hyatt Regency Century Plaza in August 2015." /></div>
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<span data-src="http://www.miamiherald.com/news/local/6veboh/picture132038719/alternates/FREE_160/980%20West%2048th%20St" data-width-160="" style="box-sizing: border-box;"></span><span data-src="http://www.miamiherald.com/news/local/6veboh/picture132038719/alternates/FREE_320/980%20West%2048th%20St" data-width-320="" style="box-sizing: border-box;"></span><span data-src="http://www.miamiherald.com/news/local/6veboh/picture132038719/alternates/FREE_480/980%20West%2048th%20St" data-width-480="" style="box-sizing: border-box;"></span><span data-src="http://www.miamiherald.com/news/local/6veboh/picture132038719/alternates/FREE_640/980%20West%2048th%20St" data-width-640="" style="box-sizing: border-box;"></span><span data-src="http://www.miamiherald.com/news/local/6veboh/picture132038719/alternates/FREE_768/980%20West%2048th%20St" data-width-768="" style="box-sizing: border-box;"></span><span data-src="http://www.miamiherald.com/news/local/6veboh/picture132038719/alternates/FREE_960/980%20West%2048th%20St" data-width-960="" style="box-sizing: border-box;"></span><span data-src="http://www.miamiherald.com/news/local/6veboh/picture132038719/alternates/FREE_1140/980%20West%2048th%20St" data-width-1140="" style="box-sizing: border-box;"></span><img alt="The Justice Department has moved to seize Philip Esformes’ property at 980 West 48th St. in Miami Beach and other real estate as part of a $1 billion Medicare fraud case against him." data-preload="http://www.miamiherald.com/news/local/6veboh/picture132038719/alternates/FREE_768/980%20West%2048th%20St" style="border-image: none; border: 0px currentColor; bottom: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; display: block; left: 0px; margin: auto; max-height: 481px; max-width: 700px; position: absolute; right: 0px; top: 0px; transform: translate3d(0px, 0px, 0px); vertical-align: middle;" title="The Justice Department has moved to seize Philip Esformes’ property at 980 West 48th St. in Miami Beach and other real estate as part of a $1 billion Medicare fraud case against him." /></div>
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<span class="caption-text" style="box-sizing: border-box;">The Justice Department has moved to seize Philip Esformes’ property at 980 West 48th St. in Miami Beach and other real estate as part of a $1 billion Medicare fraud case against him. </span><span class="photographer" style="box-sizing: border-box; font-weight: 700;">Jay Weaver</span> <span class="credits" style="box-sizing: border-box;">The Miami Herald</span></div>
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Probate Sharkhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15689669875393000741noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4778927784145048761.post-61242647016456823492017-07-19T08:41:00.000-05:002017-07-19T08:41:12.423-05:00Nursing Home Violations for 2017 Second Quarter<div class="h7 " role="listitem" style="clear: both; max-width: 100000px; padding-bottom: 0px;" tabindex="-1">
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<br class="Apple-interchange-newline" />Illinois e-News Release</h1>
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<strong><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman";"><span style="font-size: 12pt;">FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE <wbr></wbr> <span> </span></span><span style="font-size: 12pt;">CONTACT:</span></span></strong></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman";"><span style="font-size: 12pt;">July 18, 2017 <span> </span><strong> <wbr></wbr> <span> </span></strong></span><span style="font-size: 12pt;">Melaney Arnold –<span> </span><a href="tel:(217)%20558-0500" style="color: #1155cc;" target="_blank" value="+12175580500">217-558-0500</a></span></span></div>
<strong style="color: #26282a; font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;"><span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 18.4px;"> <wbr></wbr> <wbr></wbr> <wbr></wbr> <span> </span></span></strong><span style="color: #26282a; font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 18.4px;"><a href="mailto:melaney.arnold@illinois.gov" rel="nofollow" style="color: #1155cc;" target="_blank"><span style="color: blue;">melaney.arnold@illinois.gov</span></a></span><br /><h2 style="color: #26282a; font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; text-align: center;">
Nursing Home Violations for 2017 Second Quarter</h2>
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<span style="font-size: 13px;">SPRINGFIELD – The Illinois Department of Public Health (IDPH) today announced the following type “AA” and “A” violations of the Nursing Home Care Act processed during the first quarter of 2017. <span> </span></span><b><span style="font-size: large;">An “AA” violation is cited when there is a condition or occurrence at the facility that proximately caused a resident’s death. An “A” violation pertains to a condition in which there is a substantial probability that death or serious mental or physical harm will result, or has resulted.</span></b></div>
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The<span> </span><a data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?hl=en&q=http://www.dph.illinois.gov/topics-services/health-care-regulation/nursing-homes/violator-quarterly-reports&source=gmail&ust=1500557794008000&usg=AFQjCNFOj4I75tqKKHcJyFp1RJAAS77amg" href="http://www.dph.illinois.gov/topics-services/health-care-regulation/nursing-homes/violator-quarterly-reports" rel="nofollow" style="color: #1155cc;" target="_blank">Quarterly Report of Nursing Home Violators</a><span> </span>can be found on IDPH’s website and contains additional information about the violations.</div>
<span style="color: #26282a; font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; text-decoration: underline;"><strong>April</strong></span><br /><span style="color: #26282a; font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;">Harmony Nursing & Rehab Center, a 180-bed skilled care facility located at 3919 W. Foster Avenue, Chicago, has been cited with an “A” violation and fined $25,000 for failure to conduct a follow-up assessment of an eye condition in which the resident was admitted to the hospital with conjunctival infection, and conduct a skin assessment in which deep tissue injuries were found. The facility has requested a hearing. </span><span style="color: #cd232c;"><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 13px;">This is the place that housed Robert Jaycox. Mr. Jaycox died from aspirated ;pneumonia immediately after the doctor's report of his incompetency was exposed to be fraudulent. The Illinois Public guardian was heavily involved in this homicide. Of course, Jaycox was cremated almost immediately after his death. This avoided any complications - such as a murder investigation! </span></span></span><br />
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<span style="color: #26282a;">Hope Creek Care Center, a 245-bed skilled care facility located at 4343 Kennedy Drive, East Moline, has been cited with an “A” violation and fined $25,000 for failure to safely transfer a resident resulting in the resident sustaining a broken femur. The facility waived its right to a hearing and paid $16,250. <span> </span></span><span style="color: #cd232c;"> When the patient cannot pay his bill, or becomes a collection problem - falling out of bed is a real hazard! This also happened to Jaycox - he broke his hip. Loading a patient up with pain medications and leaving the 'bar' in a down position is very effective!</span></div>
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Lexington Health Care Center of Lombard, a 224-bed skilled care facility located at 2100 South Finley Road, Lombard, has been cited with an “A” violation and fined $25,000 for failure to safely transfer a resident resulting in the resident sustaining a fractured femur. The facility waived its right to a hearing and paid $16,250.</div>
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<span style="color: #26282a; font-size: 13px;">Midway Neurological/Rehab Center, a 404-bed skilled care facility located at 8540 South Harlem Avenue, Bridgeview, has been cited with an “A” violation and fined $25,000 for failure to prevent a resident from entering a restricted room and falling five stories down a laundry chute. The resident sustained multiple broken bones requiring hospitalization and surgery. The facility waived its right to a hearing and paid $25,000. </span><span style="color: #cd232c; font-size: x-large;">Amazing!</span></div>
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Mulberry Manor, a 64-bed intermediate care facility for the developmentally disabled located at 612 East Davie Street, Anna, has been cited with an “A” violation and fined $10,000 for failure to provide oversite on policies concerning resident elopement, ingestion of non-food items (PICA), investigation of peer-to-peer abuse, reporting of incidents, documentation of pressure ulcers. The facility waived its right to a hearing and paid $6,500.</div>
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Pleasant View Rehab & HCC, a 74-bed skilled care facility located at 500 North Jackson Street, Morrison, has been cited with an “A” violation and fined $25,000 for failure to for failure to provide care in a safe manner and prevent a resident from falling from a chair and suffering several fractures. The facility requested a hearing.</div>
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Rosewood Care Center of Galesburg, a 180-bed skilled care facility located at 1250 West Carl Sandburg Drive, Galesburg, has been cited with an “A” violation and fined $25,000 for failure to provide immediate treatment for a resident suffering a femur fracture. The facility requested a hearing and paid $12,500.</div>
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Sharon Health Care Elms, a 98-bed skilled care facility located at 3611North Rochelle, Peoria, has been cited with an “A” violation and fined $25,000 for failure to prevent falls resulting in injury to a resident. The facility requested a hearing and paid $9,821.</div>
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Washington Christian Village, 122-bed skilled care facility located at 1201 Newcastle Road, Washington, has been cited with two “A” violations and fined $50,000 for failure to properly administer one resident’s medications resulting in emergent hospitalization, and prevent stage four pressure sores. The facility requested a hearing and paid $27,776.50.</div>
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Wentworth Rehab and HCC, a 300-bed skilled care facility located at 201 West 69th Street, Chicago, has been cited with two “A” violations and fined $50,000 for failure to provide emergency care to a resident involved in a fire, and to report to the physician the inability to follow a resident’s care plan. The facility requested a hearing.</div>
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<br /><span style="text-decoration: underline;"><strong>May</strong></span><br />DuPage Care Center, a 368-bed skilled care facility located at 400 North County Farm Road, Wheaton, has been cited with an “A” violation and fined $25,000 for failure to safety transfer between a chair and a bed, residents who are dependent upon help, resulting in three residents sustaining injuries. The facility has requested a hearing.</div>
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Manorcare of Westmont, a 149-bed skilled care facility located at 512 East Ogden Avenue, Westmont, has been cited with an “A” violation and fined $25,000 for failure to prevent an avoidable accident when an employee ran over a residents feet with a heavy metal food cart causing multiple injuries. The facility has requested a hearing.</div>
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Meadows Mennonite Home, a 159-bed skilled, intermediate, and shelter care facility located at 24588 Church Street, Chenoa, has been cited with an “A” violation and fined $25,000 for failure to protect six residents from a staff member who mentally abused and humiliated the residents by taking unauthorized pictures and video, which included partial nudity, and posting them on social media. The facility also failed to report the known unauthorized pictures. The facility has requested a hearing.</div>
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Willow Rose Rehab & Health Care, a 98-bed skilled care facility located at 410 Fletcher, Jerseyville, has been cited with an “A” violation and fined $25,000 for failure to include a resident’s Advance Directive in their care plan, resulting in the death of a resident for whom cardiopulmonary resuscitation was not being performed. The facility has requested a hearing.</div>
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<br /><span style="text-decoration: underline;"><strong>June</strong></span><br />Addolorata Villa, a 141-bed skilled, intermediate, and shelter care facility located at 555 McHenry Road, Wheeling, has been cited with an “A” violation and fined $25,000 for failure to supervise a resident at risk for falls, who fell and sustained fractures requiring hospitalization. The facility has requested a hearing.</div>
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Covenant Health Care Center-Batavia, a 99-bed skilled care facility located at 831 North Batavia Avenue, Batavia, has been cited with an “A” violation and fined $25,000 for failure to safely transfer a resident who suffered a fracture, was admitted to hospice, and later died. The facility has requested a hearing.</div>
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Lydia Healthcare, a 412-bed intermediate care facility located at 13901 South Lydia, Robbins, has been cited with an “A” violation and fined $25,000 for failure to supervise a resident to prevent the ingestion of non-edible objects. The facility waived its right to a hearing and paid $16,250.</div>
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Mado Healthcare – Douglas Park, a 172-bed intermediate care facility located at 1550 South Albany, Chicago, has been cited with an “AA” violation and fined $50,000 for failure to intervene when a resident physically assaulted another resident, resulting in hospitalization due head inquiries and subsequent death. The facility has requested a hearing.</div>
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Morton Terrace H &R Centre, a 166-bed skilled and intermediate care facility located at 191 East Queenwood Road, Morton, has been cited with an “A” violation and fined $25,000 for failure to provide prompt medical care for a resident with a worsening lack of blood flow to the leg, contributing the resident’s death. The facility has requested a hearing.</div>
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Pleasant Hill Village, a 98-bed skilled care facility located at 1010 West North Street, Girard, has been cited with an “A” violation and fined $25,000 for failure to assess and monitor the positioning of a resident in bed, which may have contributed to the resident’s death. The facility waived its right to a hearing and paid $17,680.</div>
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Regency Care of Morris, a 123-bed skilled care facility located at 1095 Twilight Drive, Morris, has been cited with an “A” violation and fined $25,000 for failure to identify worsening wounds, notify the physician, and treat the wounds for residents with pressure sores. The facility requested a waiver. </div>
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Rosewood Care Center of Peoria, a 120-bed skilled care facility located at 1500 West Northmoor Road, Peoria, has been cited with an “A” violation and fined $25,000 for failure to identify and prevent pressure sore from worsening, notify a physician for treatment, and maintain clean hand hygiene while providing care to residents. The facility has requested a hearing.</div>
<span style="color: #cd232c;">If the clouted operators were not warned in advance of the inspections this list would be a great deal longer! Take a look at the Lincolnwood house facility in Lincolnwood, Illinois by a surprise inspection! </span><br /><h2 style="color: #26282a; font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;">
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<span class="gD" email="kenditkowsky@yahoo.com" name="kenneth ditkowsky" style="color: #222222; display: inline; font-size: 12.8px; font-weight: bold; vertical-align: top; white-space: nowrap;">kenneth ditkowsky</span></h3>
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<span></span><span alt="Tue, Jul 18, 2017 at 5:25 PM" class="g3" id=":ct" style="margin-right: 3px; vertical-align: top;" title="Tue, Jul 18, 2017 at 5:25 PM">5:25 PM (15 hours ago)</span><div aria-checked="false" aria-label="Starred" class="zd bi4" role="checkbox" style="cursor: pointer; display: inline-block; height: 20px; outline: 0px; user-select: none;" tabindex="0">
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<span class="hb" style="color: #777777; vertical-align: top;">to<span> </span><span> </span></span></div>
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<b><span>It is interesting that the Press does not give any ink to these serious violations! </span></b></div>
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<b><span>This is very serious stuff - people's lives are at stake, and billions of dollars of taxpayer money is being used to fund these hell holes! </span></b></div>
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<b><span>The Nursing home operators have been quoted as pointing out that we - the elderly - are commodities. Medicare/Medicaid fraud is rampant! Obamacare/Trumpcare etc is a joke and a vehicle for the enrichment of the establishment class! If government and government officials were interested in providing affordable health care, the FRAUD surcharge would be eliminated. If the government were serious concerning the opioid problem, the prescriptions would be monitored and it would not be SOP to load up every patron - whether she/he needed it not- with pain pills (opioids!) Doctors would be paid for visiting patients and providing care, not for slowing down their automobiles to 30 MPH as they drive by the nursing home!</span></b></div>
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<b><span>Most importantly the Jerome Larkins who are engaging in a cover-up and enforcing a code of silence would at least have to pay Federal and State Income taxes on the booty that is stolen from the USA and the vulnerable elderly!</span></b></div>
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<span style="font-style: italic;"><span style="font-family: "comic sans ms";"><span style="font-size: medium;"><span style="color: #4040ff;">Ken Ditkowsky</span></span></span></span><br />
<span style="font-style: italic;"><span style="font-family: "comic sans ms";"><span style="font-size: medium;"><span style="color: #4040ff;"><a data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?hl=en&q=http://www.ditkowskylawoffice.com&source=gmail&ust=1500557794022000&usg=AFQjCNFt-kQd8VvpIov4N272R2UyHnu20A" href="http://www.ditkowskylawoffice.com/" rel="nofollow" style="color: #1155cc;" target="_blank">www.ditkowskylawoffice.com</a></span></span></span></span></div>
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Probate Sharkhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15689669875393000741noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4778927784145048761.post-87195005636138319152017-07-15T10:09:00.002-05:002017-07-15T10:09:46.048-05:00HEALTH CARE FRAUD UNIT<div style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: "courier new", courier, monaco, monospace, sans-serif; font-size: medium; font-style: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; orphans: 2; text-decoration-color: initial; text-decoration-style: initial; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px;">
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HEALTH CARE FRAUD UNIT</h1>
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<span style="color: red; font-size: large;"><strong>Editor's note: This Shark suggests that victims of HEALTH CARE FRAUD should check the ProbateShark's Wanted List for any persons who may have victimized you or your family. After that, you may wish to contact Mr. Allan Medina, the Assistant Chief of the Chicago unit, at </strong><span style="color: red;"><span style="color: red;"><span style="background-color: yellow;"><a href="mailto:allan.medina@crm.usdoj.gov"><span style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background-color: white; color: #333333; display: inline !important; float: none; font-family: "normal arial", sans-serif; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; orphans: 2; text-decoration-color: initial; text-decoration-style: initial; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px;">allan.medina</span><wbr style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; font-family: "normal arial", sans-serif; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; orphans: 2; text-decoration-color: initial; text-decoration-style: initial; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px;"></wbr><span style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background-color: white; color: #333333; display: inline !important; float: none; font-family: "normal arial", sans-serif; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; orphans: 2; text-decoration-color: initial; text-decoration-style: initial; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px;">@crm.usdoj.gov</span></a></span></span></span></span><br />
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<strong>Overview</strong></div>
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Health care fraud costs the United States tens of billions of dollars each year. Some estimates put the figure close to $100 billion a year. It is a rising threat, with national health care expenditures estimated to exceed $3 trillion in 2014. Health care fraud schemes continue to grow in complexity and seriousness. The dedicated efforts of law enforcement are a major component of the fight against health care fraud. </div>
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The Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act of 1996 (HIPAA) established a national Health Care Fraud and Abuse Control Program (HCFAC or the Program) under the joint direction of the Attorney General and the Secretary of the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), designed to coordinate Federal, state and local law enforcement activities with respect to health care fraud and abuse. In its seventeenth year of operation, the Program’s continued success confirms the soundness of a collaborative approach to identify and prosecute the most egregious instances of health care fraud, to prevent future fraud and abuse, and to protect program beneficiaries.</div>
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On May 20, 2009, Attorney General Eric Holder and HHS Secretary Kathleen Sebelius announced the Health Care Fraud Prevention & Enforcement Action Team (HEAT), an initiative that combined increased tools and resources, with sustained focus by senior level leadership designed to enhance collaboration between the Department of Justice (DOJ) and investigative agencies. With the creation of the new HEAT effort, DOJ pledged a cabinet-level commitment to prevent and prosecute health care fraud. HEAT is comprisedof top level law enforcement agents, prosecutors, attorneys, auditors, evaluators, and other staff from DOJ, HHS, and their operating divisions, and is dedicated to joint efforts across government to both prevent fraud and enforce current anti-fraud laws around the country.</div>
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The mission of HEAT is:</div>
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<li style="margin-left: 15px;"><strong>To marshal significant resources across government to prevent waste, fraud and abuse in the Medicare and Medicaid programs</strong> and crack down on the fraud perpetrators who are abusing the system and costing us all billions of dollars.</li>
<li style="margin-left: 15px;"><strong>To reduce skyrocketing health care costs and improve the quality of care </strong>by ridding the system of perpetrators who are preying on Medicare and Medicaid beneficiaries.</li>
<li style="margin-left: 15px;"><strong>To highlight best practices by providers and public sector employees</strong> who are dedicated to ending waste, fraud, and abuse in Medicare.</li>
<li style="margin-left: 15px;"><strong>To build upon existing partnerships between DOJ and HHS, such as our Medicare Fraud Strike Force Teams,</strong> to reduce fraud and recover taxpayer dollars.</li>
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The Criminal Division plays a critical role in HEAT. The Criminal Division’s Fraud Section has 40 prosecutors assigned on health care fraud matters across the country. Most of these 40 prosecutors are assigned to the Medicare Fraud Strike Force (MFSF). Partnering with nine U.S. Attorney’s Offices, the MFSF has filed almost 1000 cases, charging over 2100 defendants who collectively billed the Medicare program more than $6.5 billion. Almost 1500 of these defendants pleaded guilty and 200 others were convicted in jury trials; over 1200 defendants were sentenced to imprisonment for an average term of approximately 48 months.</div>
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In addition, the Criminal Division also investigates and prosecutes corporate matters involving larger medical providers and companies. As a result, the Criminal Division is involved in numerous corporate investigations initiated by False Claims Act lawsuits filed by <em>qui </em>tam relators or referrals from law enforcement agencies. In a recent speech, the Assistant Attorney General made clear that addressing large-scale corporate health care fraud is a key Criminal Division priority.</div>
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For particular questions relating to specific conduct, you should seek the advice of counsel, or contact the Department of Justice with the information listed below.</div>
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CONTACT US REGARDING HEALTH CARE FRAUD</h2>
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<strong>By Mail</strong></div>
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Correspondence relating to incidents of health care fraud may be sent to:</div>
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Fraud Section, Criminal Division<br />
U.S. Department of Justice<br />
ATTN: Chief, Health Care Fraud Unit<br />
950 Constitution Ave., NW<br />
Washington, DC 20530</div>
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<strong>By Email</strong></div>
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<u><a class="m_-2000753350029453482ydp56b6f3b8mailto" href="mailto:Joseph.Beemsterboer@usdoj.gov" rel="nofollow" style="color: #8c6e20;" target="_blank">Joe Beemsterboer<span class="m_-2000753350029453482ydp56b6f3b8mailto" style="background-image: url("https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/proxy/AVvXsEjX4pV7HyDxJcfxmzYpt0qLJo4gzsbHRg5w-ifqp8WkzgFG6B7e7sox7dUoRswjlYTqYrPP19oNJB20EFg53H8PdrvmiwM9l0Qf8mUnHp-jgiYtGCSgQecFw1bQGWme6KN7wbBHcpEz0jciYdTQY0pgJq9YDRAumzIaxCwlcbv6QFCoGUP0RdU=s0-d-e1-ft"); min-height: 10px; padding-right: 12px; text-decoration-line: none; width: 10px;"><span class="m_-2000753350029453482ydp56b6f3b8element-invisible" style="min-height: 1px;">(link sends e-mail)</span></span></a>,</u> Chief, Health Care Fraud Unit</div>
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<u><a class="m_-2000753350029453482ydp56b6f3b8mailto" href="mailto:Dustin.Davis@crm.usdoj.gov" rel="nofollow" style="color: #8c6e20;" target="_blank">Dustin Davis<span class="m_-2000753350029453482ydp56b6f3b8mailto" style="background-image: url("https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/proxy/AVvXsEjX4pV7HyDxJcfxmzYpt0qLJo4gzsbHRg5w-ifqp8WkzgFG6B7e7sox7dUoRswjlYTqYrPP19oNJB20EFg53H8PdrvmiwM9l0Qf8mUnHp-jgiYtGCSgQecFw1bQGWme6KN7wbBHcpEz0jciYdTQY0pgJq9YDRAumzIaxCwlcbv6QFCoGUP0RdU=s0-d-e1-ft"); min-height: 10px; padding-right: 12px; text-decoration-line: none; width: 10px;"><span class="m_-2000753350029453482ydp56b6f3b8element-invisible" style="min-height: 1px;">(link sends e-mail)</span></span></a></u>, Assistant Chief, Baton Rouge and New Orleans Strike Force</div>
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<a class="m_-2000753350029453482ydp56b6f3b8mailto" href="mailto:Ashlee.McFarlane@CRM.USDOJ.GOV" rel="nofollow" style="color: #8c6e20;" target="_blank"><u>Ashlee McFarlane</u><span class="m_-2000753350029453482ydp56b6f3b8mailto" style="background-image: url("https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/proxy/AVvXsEjX4pV7HyDxJcfxmzYpt0qLJo4gzsbHRg5w-ifqp8WkzgFG6B7e7sox7dUoRswjlYTqYrPP19oNJB20EFg53H8PdrvmiwM9l0Qf8mUnHp-jgiYtGCSgQecFw1bQGWme6KN7wbBHcpEz0jciYdTQY0pgJq9YDRAumzIaxCwlcbv6QFCoGUP0RdU=s0-d-e1-ft"); min-height: 10px; padding-right: 12px; width: 10px;"><span class="m_-2000753350029453482ydp56b6f3b8element-invisible" style="min-height: 1px;">(link sends e-mail)</span></span></a>, Assistant Chief, Houston Strike Force</div>
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<u><a class="m_-2000753350029453482ydp56b6f3b8mailto" href="mailto:Allan.Medina@CRM.USDOJ.GOV" rel="nofollow" style="color: #8c6e20;" target="_blank"><span style="color: red;">Allan Medina<span class="m_-2000753350029453482ydp56b6f3b8mailto" style="background-image: url("https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/proxy/AVvXsEjX4pV7HyDxJcfxmzYpt0qLJo4gzsbHRg5w-ifqp8WkzgFG6B7e7sox7dUoRswjlYTqYrPP19oNJB20EFg53H8PdrvmiwM9l0Qf8mUnHp-jgiYtGCSgQecFw1bQGWme6KN7wbBHcpEz0jciYdTQY0pgJq9YDRAumzIaxCwlcbv6QFCoGUP0RdU=s0-d-e1-ft"); min-height: 10px; padding-right: 12px; text-decoration-line: none; width: 10px;"><span class="m_-2000753350029453482ydp56b6f3b8element-invisible" style="min-height: 1px;">(link sends e-mail)</span></span></span></a></u><span style="color: red;">, Assistant Chief, Chicago and Detroit Strike Force</span></div>
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<u><a class="m_-2000753350029453482ydp56b6f3b8mailto" href="mailto:Sally.Molloy@CRM.USDOJ.GOV" rel="nofollow" style="color: #8c6e20;" target="_blank">Sally Molloy<span class="m_-2000753350029453482ydp56b6f3b8mailto" style="background-image: url("https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/proxy/AVvXsEjX4pV7HyDxJcfxmzYpt0qLJo4gzsbHRg5w-ifqp8WkzgFG6B7e7sox7dUoRswjlYTqYrPP19oNJB20EFg53H8PdrvmiwM9l0Qf8mUnHp-jgiYtGCSgQecFw1bQGWme6KN7wbBHcpEz0jciYdTQY0pgJq9YDRAumzIaxCwlcbv6QFCoGUP0RdU=s0-d-e1-ft"); min-height: 10px; padding-right: 12px; text-decoration-line: none; width: 10px;"><span class="m_-2000753350029453482ydp56b6f3b8element-invisible" style="min-height: 1px;">(link sends e-mail)</span></span></a></u>, Assistant Chief, Corporate Strike Force</div>
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<u><a class="m_-2000753350029453482ydp56b6f3b8mailto" href="mailto:Diidri.Robinson@CRM.USDOJ.GOV" rel="nofollow" style="color: #8c6e20;" target="_blank">Diidri Robinson<span class="m_-2000753350029453482ydp56b6f3b8mailto" style="background-image: url("https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/proxy/AVvXsEjX4pV7HyDxJcfxmzYpt0qLJo4gzsbHRg5w-ifqp8WkzgFG6B7e7sox7dUoRswjlYTqYrPP19oNJB20EFg53H8PdrvmiwM9l0Qf8mUnHp-jgiYtGCSgQecFw1bQGWme6KN7wbBHcpEz0jciYdTQY0pgJq9YDRAumzIaxCwlcbv6QFCoGUP0RdU=s0-d-e1-ft"); min-height: 10px; padding-right: 12px; text-decoration-line: none; width: 10px;"><span class="m_-2000753350029453482ydp56b6f3b8element-invisible" style="min-height: 1px;">(link sends e-mail)</span></span></a></u>, Assistant Chief, Los Angeles Strike Force</div>
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<u><a class="m_-2000753350029453482ydp56b6f3b8mailto" href="mailto:Brendan.Stewart@CRM.USDOJ.GOV" rel="nofollow" style="color: #8c6e20;" target="_blank">Brendan Stewart<span class="m_-2000753350029453482ydp56b6f3b8mailto" style="background-image: url("https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/proxy/AVvXsEjX4pV7HyDxJcfxmzYpt0qLJo4gzsbHRg5w-ifqp8WkzgFG6B7e7sox7dUoRswjlYTqYrPP19oNJB20EFg53H8PdrvmiwM9l0Qf8mUnHp-jgiYtGCSgQecFw1bQGWme6KN7wbBHcpEz0jciYdTQY0pgJq9YDRAumzIaxCwlcbv6QFCoGUP0RdU=s0-d-e1-ft"); min-height: 10px; padding-right: 12px; text-decoration-line: none; width: 10px;"><span class="m_-2000753350029453482ydp56b6f3b8element-invisible" style="min-height: 1px;">(link sends e-mail)</span></span></a></u>, Assistant Chief, Brooklyn Strike Force</div>
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<u><a class="m_-2000753350029453482ydp56b6f3b8mailto" href="mailto:Nicholas.Surmacz@CRM.USDOJ.GOV" rel="nofollow" style="color: #8c6e20;" target="_blank">Nicholas Surmacz<span class="m_-2000753350029453482ydp56b6f3b8mailto" style="background-image: url("https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/proxy/AVvXsEjX4pV7HyDxJcfxmzYpt0qLJo4gzsbHRg5w-ifqp8WkzgFG6B7e7sox7dUoRswjlYTqYrPP19oNJB20EFg53H8PdrvmiwM9l0Qf8mUnHp-jgiYtGCSgQecFw1bQGWme6KN7wbBHcpEz0jciYdTQY0pgJq9YDRAumzIaxCwlcbv6QFCoGUP0RdU=s0-d-e1-ft"); min-height: 10px; padding-right: 12px; text-decoration-line: none; width: 10px;"><span class="m_-2000753350029453482ydp56b6f3b8element-invisible" style="min-height: 1px;">(link sends e-mail)</span></span></a></u>, Assistant Chief, Miami, and Tampa Strike Force</div>
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Probate Sharkhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15689669875393000741noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4778927784145048761.post-11290336641269028362017-07-14T08:39:00.000-05:002017-07-14T08:39:12.746-05:00Largest Health Care Fraud Enforcement Action in Department of Justice History<div class="site-info" style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background-color: #f8f9f4; box-sizing: border-box; color: #171e24; font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 13px; font-style: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; min-height: 30px; orphans: 2; padding: 0px 0px 15px; text-decoration-color: initial; text-decoration-style: initial; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px;">
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JUSTICE NEWS</h1>
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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE<br />
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<span class="date-display-single" content="2017-07-13T00:00:00-04:00" datatype="xsd:dateTime" property="dc:date" style="box-sizing: border-box;">Thursday, July 13, 2017</span></div>
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National Health Care Fraud Takedown Results in Charges Against Over 412 Individuals Responsible for $1.3 Billion in Fraud Losses</h1>
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Largest Health Care Fraud Enforcement Action in Department of Justice History<br />
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<span style="color: red; font-size: large;">Editor's note: General Sessions, Please take a look at the wanted section of this block to find more "perps" in the Illinois area. Also, consider re-opening the Sykes, Gore, Wyman and Tyler cases which involved the covered up <u>murder</u> of senior citizens. Lucius Verenus, Schoolmaster, ProbateSharks.com</span></div>
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<span style="box-sizing: border-box;">Attorney General Jeff Sessions and Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) Secretary Tom Price, M.D., announced today the largest ever health care fraud enforcement action by the Medicare Fraud Strike Force, involving 412 charged defendants across 41 federal districts, including 115 doctors, nurses and other licensed medical professionals, for their alleged participation in health care fraud schemes involving approximately $1.3 billion in false billings. Of those charged, over 120 defendants, including doctors, were charged for their roles in prescribing and distributing opioids and other dangerous narcotics. Thirty state Medicaid Fraud Control Units also participated in today’s arrests. In addition, HHS has initiated suspension actions against 295 providers, including doctors, nurses and pharmacists. </span></div>
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Attorney General Sessions and Secretary Price were joined in the announcement by Acting Assistant Attorney General Kenneth A. Blanco of the Justice Department’s Criminal Division, Acting Director Andrew McCabe of the FBI, Acting Administrator Chuck Rosenberg of the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA), Inspector General Daniel Levinson of the HHS Office of Inspector General (OIG), Chief Don Fort of IRS Criminal Investigation, Administrator Seema Verma of the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS), and Deputy Director Kelly P. Mayo of the Defense Criminal Investigative Service (DCIS).</div>
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<span style="box-sizing: border-box;">Today’s enforcement actions were led and coordinated by the Criminal Division, Fraud Section’s Health Care Fraud Unit in conjunction with its Medicare Fraud Strike Force (MFSF) partners, a partnership between the Criminal Division, U.S. Attorney’s Offices, the FBI and HHS-OIG. In addition, the operation includes the participation of the DEA, DCIS, and State Medicaid Fraud Control Units. </span></div>
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<span style="box-sizing: border-box;">The charges announced today aggressively target schemes billing Medicare, Medicaid, and TRICARE (a health insurance program for members and veterans of the armed forces and their families) for medically unnecessary prescription drugs and compounded medications that often were never even purchased and/or distributed to beneficiaries. The charges also involve individuals contributing to the opioid epidemic, with a particular focus on medical professionals involved in the unlawful distribution of opioids and other prescription narcotics, a particular focus for the Department. According to the CDC, approximately 91 Americans die every day of an opioid related overdose. </span></div>
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<span style="box-sizing: border-box;">“Too many trusted medical professionals like doctors, nurses, and pharmacists have chosen to violate their oaths and put greed ahead of their patients,” said Attorney General Sessions. “Amazingly, some have made their practices into multimillion dollar criminal enterprises. They seem oblivious to the disastrous consequences of their greed. Their actions not only enrich themselves often at the expense of taxpayers but also feed addictions and cause addictions to start. The consequences are real: emergency rooms, jail cells, futures lost, and graveyards. While today is a historic day, the Department's work is not finished. In fact, it is just beginning. We will continue to find, arrest, prosecute, convict, and incarcerate fraudsters and drug dealers wherever they are.”</span></div>
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“Healthcare fraud is not only a criminal act that costs billions of taxpayer dollars - it is an affront to all Americans who rely on our national healthcare programs for access to critical healthcare services and a violation of trust,” said Secretary Price. “The United States is home to the world’s best medical professionals, but their ability to provide affordable, high-quality care to their patients is jeopardized every time a criminal commits healthcare fraud. That is why this Administration is committed to bringing these criminals to justice, as President Trump demonstrated in his 2017 budget request calling for a new $70 million investment in the Health Care Fraud and Abuse Control Program. The historic results of this year’s national takedown represent significant progress toward protecting the integrity and sustainability of Medicare and Medicaid, which we will continue to build upon in the years to come.”</div>
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<span style="box-sizing: border-box;">According to court documents, the defendants allegedly participated in schemes to submit claims to Medicare, Medicaid and TRICARE for treatments that were medically unnecessary and often never provided. In many cases, patient recruiters, beneficiaries and other co-conspirators were allegedly paid cash kickbacks in return for supplying beneficiary information to providers, so that the providers could then submit fraudulent bills to Medicare for services that were medically unnecessary or never performed. The number of medical professionals charged is particularly significant, because virtually every health care fraud scheme requires a corrupt medical professional to be involved in order for Medicare or Medicaid to pay the fraudulent claims. Aggressively pursuing corrupt medical professionals not only has a deterrent effect on other medical professionals, but also ensures that their licenses can no longer be used to bilk the system.</span></div>
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<span style="box-sizing: border-box;">“This week, thanks to the work of dedicated investigators and analysts, we arrested once-trusted doctors, pharmacists and other medical professionals who were corrupted by greed,” said Acting Director McCabe. “The FBI is committed to working with our partners on the front lines of the fight against heath care fraud to stop those who steal from the government and deceive the American public.”</span></div>
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“Health care fraud is a reprehensible crime. It not only represents a theft from taxpayers who fund these vital programs, but impacts the millions of Americans who rely on Medicare and Medicaid,” said Inspector General Levinson. “In the worst fraud cases, greed overpowers care, putting patients’ health at risk. OIG will continue to play a vital leadership role in the Medicare Fraud Strike Force to track down those who abuse important federal health care programs.”</div>
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<span style="box-sizing: border-box;">“Our enforcement actions underscore the commitment of the Defense Criminal Investigative Service and our partners to vigorously investigate fraud perpetrated against the DoD's TRICARE Program. We will continue to relentlessly investigate health care fraud, ensure the taxpayers' health care dollars are properly spent, and endeavor to guarantee our service members, military retirees, and their dependents receive the high standard of care they deserve,” advised Deputy Director Mayo.</span></div>
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“Last year, an estimated 59,000 Americans died from a drug overdose, many linked to the misuse of prescription drugs. This is, quite simply, an epidemic,” said Acting Administrator Rosenberg. “There is a great responsibility that goes along with handling controlled prescription drugs, and DEA and its partners remain absolutely committed to fighting the opioid epidemic using all the tools at our disposal.”</div>
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<span style="box-sizing: border-box;">“Every defendant in today’s announcement shares one common trait - greed,” said Chief Fort. “The desire for money and material items drove these individuals to perpetrate crimes against our healthcare system and prey upon many of the vulnerable in our society. Thanks to the financial expertise and diligence of IRS-CI special agents, who worked side-by-side with other federal, state and local law enforcement officers to uncover these schemes, these criminals are off the street and will now face the consequences of their actions.”</span></div>
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<span style="box-sizing: border-box;">The Medicare Fraud Strike Force operations are part of a joint initiative between the Department of Justice and HHS to focus their efforts to prevent and deter fraud and enforce current anti-fraud laws around the country. The Medicare Fraud Strike Force operates in nine locations nationwide. Since its inception in March 2007, the Medicare Fraud Strike Force has charged over 3500 defendants who collectively have falsely billed the Medicare program for over $12.5 billion.</span></div>
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<span style="box-sizing: border-box;">For the Strike Force locations, in the Southern District of Florida, a total of 77 defendants were charged with offenses relating to their participation in various fraud schemes involving over $141 million in false billings for services including home health care, mental health services and pharmacy fraud. In one case, the owner and operator of a purported addiction treatment center and home for recovering addicts and one other individual were charged in a scheme involving the submission of over $58 million in fraudulent medical insurance claims for purported drug treatment services. The allegations include actively recruiting addicted patients to move to South Florida so that the co-conspirators could bill insurance companies for fraudulent treatment and testing, in return for which, the co-conspirators offered kickbacks to patients in the form of gift cards, free airline travel, trips to casinos and strip clubs, and drugs.</span></div>
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In the Eastern District of Michigan, 32 defendants face charges for their alleged roles in fraud, kickback, money laundering and drug diversion schemes involving approximately $218 million in false claims for services that were medically unnecessary or never rendered. In one case, nine defendants, including six physicians, were charged with prescribing medically unnecessary controlled substances, some of which were sold on the street, and billing Medicare for $164 million in facet joint injections, drug testing, and other procedures that were medically unnecessary and/or not provided.</div>
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<span style="box-sizing: border-box;">In the Southern District of Texas, 26 individuals were charged in cases involving over $66 million in alleged fraud. Among these defendants are a physician and a clinic owner who were indicted on one count of conspiracy to distribute and dispense controlled substances and three substantive counts of distribution of controlled substances in connection with a purported pain management clinic that is alleged to have been the highest prescribing hydrocodone clinic in Houston, where approximately 60-70 people were seen daily, and were issued medically unnecessary prescriptions for hydrocodone in exchange for approximately $300 cash per visit. </span></div>
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<span style="box-sizing: border-box;">In the Central District of California, 17 defendants were charged for their roles in schemes to defraud Medicare out of approximately $147 million. Two of these defendants were indicted for their alleged involvement in a $41.5 million scheme to defraud Medicare and a private insurer. This was purportedly done by submitting fraudulent claims, and receiving payments for, prescription drugs that were not filled by the pharmacy nor given to patients. </span></div>
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In the Northern District of Illinois, 15 individuals were charged in cases related to six different schemes concerning home health care services and physical therapy fraud, kickbacks, and mail and wire fraud. These schemes involved allegedly over $12.7 million in fraudulent billing. One case allegedly involved $7 million in fraudulent billing to Medicare for home health services that were not necessary nor rendered.</div>
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<span style="box-sizing: border-box;">In the Middle District of Florida, 10 individuals were charged with participating in a variety of schemes involving almost $14 million in fraudulent billing. In one case, three defendants were charged in a $4 million scheme to defraud the TRICARE program. In that case, it is alleged that a defendant falsely represented himself to be a retired Lieutenant Commander of the United States Navy Submarine Service. It is alleged that he did so in order to gain the trust and personal identifying information from TRICARE beneficiaries, many of whom were members and veterans of the armed forces, for use in the scheme.</span></div>
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In the Eastern District of New York, ten individuals were charged with participating in a variety of schemes including kickbacks, services not rendered, and money laundering involving over $151 million in fraudulent billings to Medicare and Medicaid. Approximately $100 million of those fraudulent billings were allegedly part of a scheme in which five health care professionals paid illegal kickbacks in exchange for patient referrals to their own clinics.</div>
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In the Southern Louisiana Strike Force, operating in the Middle and Eastern Districts of Louisiana as well as the Southern District of Mississippi, seven defendants were charged in connection with health care fraud, wire fraud, and kickback schemes involving more than $207 million in fraudulent billing. One case involved a pharmacist who was charged with submitting and causing the submission of $192 million in false and fraudulent claims to TRICARE and other health care benefit programs for dispensing compounded medications that were not medically necessary and often based on prescriptions induced by illegal kickback payments.</div>
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<span style="box-sizing: border-box;">In addition to the Strike Force locations, today’s enforcement actions include cases and investigations brought by an additional 31 U.S. Attorney’s Offices, including the execution of search warrants in investigations conducted by the Eastern District of California and the Northern District of Ohio.</span></div>
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<span style="box-sizing: border-box;">In the Northern and Southern Districts of Alabama, three defendants were charged for their roles in two health care fraud schemes involving pharmacy fraud and drug diversion.</span></div>
<div style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #171e24; margin: 0px 0px 1em;">
<span style="box-sizing: border-box;">In the Eastern District of Arkansas, 24 defendants were charged for their roles in three drug diversion schemes that were all investigated by the DEA.</span></div>
<div style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #171e24; margin: 0px 0px 1em;">
<span style="box-sizing: border-box;">In the Northern and Southern Districts of California, four defendants, including a physician, were charged for their roles in a drug diversion scheme and a health care fraud scheme involving kickbacks.</span></div>
<div style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #171e24; margin: 0px 0px 1em;">
<span style="box-sizing: border-box;">In the District of Connecticut, three defendants were charged in two health care fraud schemes, including a scheme involving two physicians who fraudulently billed Medicaid for services that were not rendered and for the provision of oxycodone with knowledge that the prescriptions were not medically necessary. </span></div>
<div style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #171e24; margin: 0px 0px 1em;">
<span style="box-sizing: border-box;">In the Northern and Southern Districts of Georgia, three defendants were charged in two health care fraud schemes involving nearly $1.5 million in fraudulent billing.</span></div>
<div style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #171e24; margin: 0px 0px 1em;">
<span style="box-sizing: border-box;">In the Southern District of Illinois, five defendants were charged in five separate schemes to defraud the Medicaid program.</span></div>
<div style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #171e24; margin: 0px 0px 1em;">
<span style="box-sizing: border-box;">In the Northern and Southern Districts of Indiana, at least five defendants were charged in various health care fraud schemes related to the unlawful distribution and dispensing of controlled substances, kickbacks, and services not rendered.</span></div>
<div style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #171e24; margin: 0px 0px 1em;">
<span style="box-sizing: border-box;">In the Southern District of Iowa, five defendants were charged in two schemes involving the distribution of opioids. </span></div>
<div style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #171e24; margin: 0px 0px 1em;">
In the Western District of Kentucky, 11 defendants were charged with defrauding the Medicaid program. In one case, four defendants, including three medical professionals, were charged with distributing controlled substances and fraudulently billing the Medicaid program.</div>
<div style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #171e24; margin: 0px 0px 1em;">
In the District of Maine, an office manager was charged with embezzling funds from a medical office.</div>
<div style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #171e24; margin: 0px 0px 1em;">
In the Eastern and Western Districts of Missouri, 16 defendants were charged in schemes involving over $16 million in claims, including 10 defendants charged as part of a scheme involving fraudulent lab testing.</div>
<div style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #171e24; margin: 0px 0px 1em;">
In the District of Nebraska, a dentist was charged with defrauding the Medicaid program. </div>
<div style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #171e24; margin: 0px 0px 1em;">
In the District of Nevada, two defendants, including a physician, were charged in a scheme involving false hospice claims. </div>
<div style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #171e24; margin: 0px 0px 1em;">
In the Northern, Southern, and Western Districts of New York, five defendants, including two physicians and two pharmacists, were charged in schemes involving drug diversion and pharmacy fraud.</div>
<div style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #171e24; margin: 0px 0px 1em;">
In the Southern District of Ohio, five defendants, including four physicians, were charged in connection with schemes involving $12 million in claims to the Medicaid program.</div>
<div style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #171e24; margin: 0px 0px 1em;">
In the District of Puerto Rico, 13 defendants, including three physicians and two pharmacists, were charged in four schemes involving drug diversion, Medicaid fraud, and the theft of funds from a health care program.</div>
<div style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #171e24; margin: 0px 0px 1em;">
In the Eastern District of Tennessee, three defendants were charged in a scheme involving fraudulent billings and the distribution of opioids.</div>
<div style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #171e24; margin: 0px 0px 1em;">
In the Eastern, Northern, and Western Districts of Texas, nine defendants were charged in schemes involving over $42 million in fraudulent billing, including a scheme involving false claims for compounded medications. </div>
<div style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #171e24; margin: 0px 0px 1em;">
In the District of Utah, a nurse practitioner was charged in connection with fraudulently obtaining a controlled substance, tampering with a consumer product, and infecting over seven individuals with Hepatitis C. </div>
<div style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #171e24; margin: 0px 0px 1em;">
In the Eastern District of Virginia, a defendant was charged in connection with a scheme involving identify theft and fraudulent billings to the Medicaid program.</div>
<div style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #171e24; margin: 0px 0px 1em;">
<span style="box-sizing: border-box;">In addition, in the states of Arizona, Arkansas, California, Delaware, Illinois, Iowa, Louisiana, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, Mississippi, New York, Oklahoma, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, South Dakota, Texas, Utah, Vermont, Washington and Wisconsin, 96 defendants have been charged in criminal and civil actions with defrauding the Medicaid program out of over $31 million. These cases were investigated by each state’s respective Medicaid Fraud Control Units. In addition, the Medicaid Fraud Control Units of the states of Alabama, Florida, Georgia, Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Kentucky, Missouri, Nebraska, New York, North Carolina, Ohio, Texas, and Utah participated in the investigation of many of the federal cases discussed above.</span></div>
<div style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #171e24; margin: 0px 0px 1em;">
<span style="box-sizing: border-box;">The cases announced today are being prosecuted and investigated by U.S. Attorney’s Offices nationwide, along with Medicare Fraud Strike Force teams from the Criminal Division’s Fraud Section and from the U.S. Attorney’s Offices of the Southern District of Florida, Eastern District of Michigan, Eastern District of New York, Southern District of Texas, Central District of California, Eastern District of Louisiana, Northern District of Texas, Northern District of Illinois and the Middle District of Florida; and agents from the FBI, HHS-OIG, Drug Enforcement Administration, DCIS and state Medicaid Fraud Control Units.</span></div>
<div style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #171e24; margin: 0px 0px 1em;">
<span style="box-sizing: border-box;">A complaint, information, or indictment is merely an allegation, and all defendants are presumed innocent unless and until proven guilty.</span></div>
<div style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #171e24; margin: 0px 0px 1em;">
<span style="box-sizing: border-box;">Additional documents related to this announcement will shortly be available here: <a href="https://www.justice.gov/opa/documents-and-resources-july-13-2017" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #8c6e20; text-decoration: none;">https://www.justice.gov/opa/documents-and-resources-july-13-2017</a>.</span></div>
<div style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #171e24; margin: 0px 0px 1em;">
<span style="box-sizing: border-box;">This operation also highlights the great work being done by the Department of Justice’s Civil Division. In the past fiscal year, the Department of Justice, including the Civil Division, has collectively won or negotiated over $2.5 billion in judgements and settlements related to matters alleging health care fraud. </span></div>
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<a datatype="" href="http://www.justice.gov/criminal/" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #8c6e20; text-decoration: none;" typeof="skos:Concept">Criminal Division</a></div>
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<a datatype="" href="http://www.justice.gov/ag/" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #8c6e20; text-decoration: none;" typeof="skos:Concept">Office of the Attorney General</a></div>
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17-768</div>
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Probate Sharkhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15689669875393000741noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4778927784145048761.post-62347349977679880382017-07-12T16:30:00.000-05:002017-07-12T16:30:30.398-05:00JURISDICTION<div class="nH br6" style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background-color: white; color: black; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: medium; font-style: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; orphans: 2; text-decoration-color: initial; text-decoration-style: initial; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px;">
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JURISDICTION</h2>
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<span class="gD" email="kenditkowsky@yahoo.com" name="kenneth ditkowsky" style="color: #222222; display: inline; font-size: 12.8px; font-weight: bold; vertical-align: top; white-space: nowrap;">kenneth ditkowsky</span></h3>
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<span alt="Wed, Jul 12, 2017 at 10:31 AM" class="g3" id=":88" style="margin-right: 3px; vertical-align: top;" title="Wed, Jul 12, 2017 at 10:31 AM">10:31 AM (5 hours ago)</span><br />
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<span class="hb" style="color: #777777; vertical-align: top;">to <span class="g2" dir="ltr" email="statesattorney@cookcountyil.gov" name="Cook">Cook</span>, <span class="g2" dir="ltr" email="gov.goca@illinois.gov" name="gov.goca">gov.goca</span>, <span class="g2" dir="ltr" email="civilrights.cv@ic.fbi.gov" name="FBI-">FBI-</span>, , <span class="g2" dir="ltr" email="jdit@aol.com" name="Ditkowsky">Ditkowsky</span></span></div>
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What is good for the goose is not necessary considered to be good for the gander.</div>
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The Federal and State Constitutions plus a bunch of statutes including the Americans With Disabilities Act decree that governmental jurisdiction is limited when the issue of forfeiting or modifying rights of the elderly and/or the disability. 755 ILSC 5/11a - 3b limits guardianship to only that which is necessary to protect the rights of disabled to enjoy the fruits of American civilization. Not only is not a vehicle to forfeit the civil and human liberties of a senior citizen, but it seeks to prevent exactly that result. </div>
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Unfortunately, in the Circuit Court of Cook County reports have filtered in that guardianship is not only venal, but it is imposed without any consideration of the disability. Indeed, such was clearly the situation in the Mary Sykes case 09 P 4585 and a corrupt judge, to wit: Maureen Connors, was not the least bit concerned that 755 ILCS 5/11a - 10 was almost totally ignored, i.e. no service of summons on Mary, no prior notice of hearing to Mary's next of kin, and no hearing on competency ever held. On page 91 of her deposition, Judge Connors explains how this happened - she was 'fixed!' Ditto for Alice Gore *****</div>
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Demands for an HONEST INVESTIGATION resulted in perjured attorney disciplinary complains. The cover up continues.</div>
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In the 7th Circuit Court of Appeals, a Judge connotes discomfort with the casual and cursory treatment of jurisdiction by the bar. Indeed, it is axiomatic that without jurisdiction - no matter how comprehensive and clout heavy the cover up by Jerome Larkin and the Illinois Supreme Court the acts undertaken are unlawful and may even constitute felonies. The Article for the ABA reads as follows:</div>
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<div class="m_-5170880095741585700ydpea63abc4superscript" style="color: #aaaaaa; font-family: Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; text-transform: uppercase;">
CIVIL PROCEDURE</div>
<h1 style="color: #333333; font-family: Helvetica, sans-serif; line-height: 1.1; margin: 20px 0px 10px;">
Harumph! Chief Judge Diane Wood displays irritation with flawed jurisdictional statements</h1>
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POSTED JUL 12, 2017 08:00 AM CDT</div>
<div class="m_-5170880095741585700ydpea63abc4byline" style="color: #aaaaaa; font-family: Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; margin: 0px 0px 10px; text-transform: uppercase;">
BY <a data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?hl=en&q=http://www.abajournal.com/authors/4/&source=gmail&ust=1499981144479000&usg=AFQjCNEfPGsanLidKbKm8WDfyM67r8GmlQ" href="http://www.abajournal.com/authors/4/" rel="nofollow" style="background-color: transparent; color: #337ab7; text-decoration-line: none;" target="_blank" title="View this author's information">DEBRA CASSENS WEISS</a></div>
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Chief Judge Diane Wood/SPDuffy527 via Wikimedia Commons</div>
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<span style="color: #333333; font-family: "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: 14px;">Chief Judge Diane Wood made her frustration clear in a pair of orders <span class="aBn" data-term="goog_1313645328" style="border-bottom-color: rgb(204, 204, 204); border-bottom-style: dashed; border-bottom-width: 1px; position: relative; top: -2px; z-index: 0;" tabindex="0"><span class="aQJ" style="position: relative; top: 2px; z-index: -1;">on Monday</span></span> lamenting litigants’ failure to follow circuit rules that help the Chicago-based 7th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals screen for jurisdictional problems.</span><br />
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<span style="background-color: #fdef2b;">Wood used all caps to order that briefs filed by the Air Line Pilots Association and the U.S. Justice Department be “STRICKEN.” Reuters <a data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?hl=en&q=https://www.reuters.com/article/us-otc-jurisdiction-idUSKBN19W2A8&source=gmail&ust=1499981144479000&usg=AFQjCNEPnPEqz1HRf0FOXtqbjapgNTdkgw" href="https://www.reuters.com/article/us-otc-jurisdiction-idUSKBN19W2A8" rel="nofollow" style="color: #337ab7; text-decoration-line: none;" target="_blank">noted her displeasure</a></span>.</div>
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Circuit rules require those who file appeals to include a jurisdictional statement. Litigants responding to the appeal who see no problems with that statement must state the summary is both complete and correct.</div>
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“These terms are not synonyms,” Wood said in the orders (PDFs, <a data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?hl=en&q=http://media.ca7.uscourts.gov/cgi-bin/rssExec.pl?Submit%3DDisplay%26Path%3DY2017/D07-10/C:17-1438:J:Wood:aut:T:op:N:1991940:S:0&source=gmail&ust=1499981144479000&usg=AFQjCNEf2vCYBJOOpc8_OMjU2gLvYmgYsw" href="http://media.ca7.uscourts.gov/cgi-bin/rssExec.pl?Submit=Display&Path=Y2017/D07-10/C:17-1438:J:Wood:aut:T:op:N:1991940:S:0" rel="nofollow" style="background-color: transparent; color: #337ab7; text-decoration-line: none;" target="_blank">here </a>and <a data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?hl=en&q=https://static.reuters.com/resources/media/editorial/20170711/judgewoodonjurisstatements.pdf&source=gmail&ust=1499981144479000&usg=AFQjCNFHMtr-kf97eKWOnpr7B4vxBhQecw" href="https://static.reuters.com/resources/media/editorial/20170711/judgewoodonjurisstatements.pdf" rel="nofollow" style="background-color: transparent; color: #337ab7; text-decoration-line: none;" target="_blank">here</a>). You can’t list one without the other, she indicated.</div>
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The Justice Department brief said the jurisdictional statement was correct, but said nothing about whether it was complete. The Air Line Pilots Association, on the other hand, said the jurisdictional statement was complete, but said nothing about whether it was correct.</div>
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“There is no reason why, month after month, year after year, the court should encounter jurisdictional statements with such obvious flaws,” Wood wrote. She gave the attorney general and the association seven days to submit new briefs that follow the rules.</div>
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Wood said she was issuing the opinions in hopes that lawyers and pro se litigants “will take heed and avoid these errors in the future.”</div>
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“These requirements may seem straightforward,” Wood wrote, “but a distressing number of briefs filed in this court do not comply with the requirements.”</div>
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<span style="font-style: italic;"><span style="font-family: "comic sans ms";"><span style="font-size: medium;"><span style="color: #4040ff;">Ken Ditkowsky</span></span></span></span><br />
<span style="font-style: italic;"><span style="font-family: "comic sans ms";"><span style="font-size: medium;"><span style="color: #4040ff;"><a data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?hl=en&q=http://www.ditkowskylawoffice.com&source=gmail&ust=1499981144479000&usg=AFQjCNFqxz4IiPo_mszEY19q9egrwDm0pw" href="http://www.ditkowskylawoffice.com/" rel="nofollow" style="color: #1155cc;" target="_blank">www.ditkowskylawoffice.com</a></span></span></span></span></div>
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Probate Sharkhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15689669875393000741noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4778927784145048761.post-24763292470109269792017-07-08T17:48:00.000-05:002017-07-08T17:48:56.674-05:00Dear Gov Rauner Madigan outfoxed you again!<div style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: "courier new", courier, monaco, monospace, sans-serif; font-size: medium; font-style: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; orphans: 2; text-decoration-color: initial; text-decoration-style: initial; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px;">
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<b><span style="background-color: #fdef2b; font-family: "verdana" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: large;">Dear Gov Rauner,</span></b></div>
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<b><span style="background-color: #fdef2b; font-family: "verdana" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: large;">Madigan outfoxed you again! </span><span style="background-color: #fdef2b; color: #9d1811; font-family: "bookman old style" , "new york" , "times" , serif; font-size: large;"><i>However, as Governor you are not impotent. It is time to enforce the Illinois Income tax laws, making it unprofitable for public officials to be corrupt</i></span><span style="background-color: #fdef2b; font-family: "verdana" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: large;">.</span></b></div>
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<b><span style="background-color: #fdef2b; font-family: "verdana" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: large;">I am certain that you are aware of 18 USCA 371 and similar criminal conspiracy statutes. These statutes are in force not only in Illinois but in all jurisdictions. 18 USCA 371 joins all the miscreants in the prosecution of crimes against the United States of America. The theft of Government health care funds - such as Medicare funds - is thus a crime not only for the thief, but those who act in concert with him/her. To be guilty of a criminal conspiracy all that a public official has to do is act in knowing concert with the miscreants who actually carry out the criminal action. Lets take an example. MARY SYKES 09 p 4585, Cook County, Illinois.</span></b></div>
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<b><span style="background-color: #fdef2b; font-family: "verdana" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: large;">"Elder Cleansing" is fast becoming one of the fastest growth industries in Illinois. It has been going on for years and there are literally thousands of examples. The Corrupt Cook County Court system is a hub. </span></b></div>
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<b><span style="background-color: #fdef2b; font-family: "verdana" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: large;">In early 2009 as an example an elderly woman by the name of MARY Sykes discovered that her older daughter had stolen several thousand dollars from her. Naively Mary Sykes made application to the Court system. Her Petition for a Protective order was shuttled to the Probate Division and the Honorable Maureen Connors. Judge Connors on page 91 of her evidence deposition admitted that she was wired. (fixed)</span></b></div>
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<b><span style="background-color: #fdef2b; font-family: "verdana" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: large;">The comprehensive plan of the Illinois Legislature to comply with the Constitution and the ADA found at 755 ILCS 5/11a - 1 et seq and in particular in section 3 and 10 was ignored. </span></b></div>
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<b><span style="background-color: #fdef2b; font-family: "verdana" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: large;">An examination of the file 09 P 4585 reveals a tale of corruption, fraud, over-reaching, isolation, exploitation, deprivation of humanity, theft, murder *****. Worse yet, the 'cover up' was open and notorious. Jerome Larkin, the Illinois attorney registration and disciplinary commission, and the Illinois Supreme Court were not even subtle in their complicity with the 'elder cleansings!' The loss to Federal and State Health care programs was in the thousands of dollars - if not millions, and the theft by the miscreants from Mary was well into the 3 million dollar range.</span></b></div>
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<b><span style="background-color: #fdef2b; font-family: "verdana" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: large;">These funds appear to be all TAX FREE by agreement of the Political elite here in Illinois and no attempt is being made to collect either the taxes, interest or penalties. These Political elite are the very same people who have literally driven Illinois in Bankruptcy and are the very people who you promised to "shake up!" As Larkin, as an example, was active in the cover up he as a co-conspirator enjoys JOINT AND SEVERAL LIABILITY! So does ever single participant public participant in the elder cleansing activity. This is CIVIL and criminal liability.</span></b></div>
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<b><span style="background-color: #fdef2b; font-family: "verdana" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: x-large;">The Sykes case is not even unique. Take a look at the Probate Sharks and the MaryGSykes blogs.</span><span style="background-color: #fdef2b; font-family: "verdana" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: large;"> Therein you will find the Alice Gore case. This case is more than unique - it is a travesty and a cogent example of just how venal the corruption in Illinois is! The miscreants not only stole 1.5 million dollars after isolating, abusing, exploiting, **** Alice Gore, but they were so greedy as to conduct an expedition into Alice's mouth to garner the few grains of gold that he teeth contained! Of Court a Judge attorned and approved the activity. Mr. Jerome Larkin, the IARDC, and the Illinois Supreme Court similarly approved thereby breaching their collective public trust. Today the outrage still continues not only unpunished but the miscreant enjoy the proceeds of their theft TAX FREE!</span></b></div>
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<b><span style="background-color: #fdef2b; font-family: "verdana" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: large;">Governor - I am not asking for criminal prosecutions for the tax evasion by Larkin and his co-conspirators. Why incur the expense as in a civil prosecution the burden of proof is on the taxpayer. The Breach of Trust committed by the public officials and their criminal co-conspirators is devastating to State economy; however, there is no reason why the public officials =such as larkin= should be given a pass, especially when they and their ilk are the very people who are bankrupting the STate! </span></b></div>
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<b><span style="background-color: #fdef2b; font-family: "verdana" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: large;">You campaigned on the promise to 'SHAKE UP SPRINGFIELD!' Indeed making these public officials who breach their trust pay STate Income taxes on the booty would go a long way.</span></b></div>
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<b><span style="background-color: #fdef2b; font-family: "verdana" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: large;">Elder Cleansing is not the only activity in which the public trust is being breached. The Sun=Times pointed out some highly unusual activities of JB Pritzker. It seems that he obtained a benefit from some fast and loose activities relating to his personal REAL ESTATE TAXES. The gain is TAXABLE INCOME! As this gain was due to his hiring the right ATtorney - possibly Mr. Madigan - here again their are INCOME TAXES due jointly and severally from the miscreants. With interest, and penalties this sum would be substantial. </span></b></div>
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<b><span style="background-color: #fdef2b; font-family: "verdana" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: large;">Ditto - for other activities. Judge Connors' actions in ignoring 755 ILCS 5/11a - 3 and 755 ILCS 5/11a - 10 were rewarded. This breach of the trust revealed on page 91 of her evidence deposition is a taxable event for not only Judge Connors, but Mr. Larkin (who covered it up) and Mr. ***** who provided the extraordinary compensation. Each of these individuals is also liable for interest and penalties!</span></b></div>
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<b><span style="background-color: #fdef2b; font-family: "verdana" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: large;">The People of the STate of Illinois are entitled to HONEST GOVERNMENT! </span><span style="background-color: #fdef2b; font-family: "verdana" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: x-large;">We also are entitled to your keeping you campaign promises --- collecting the taxes promulgated by the Breach of the public trust would go a long way toward keeping your promises</span><span style="background-color: #fdef2b; font-family: "verdana" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: large;">. </span></b></div>
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<span style="font-style: italic;"><span style="font-family: "comic sans ms";"><span style="font-size: medium;"><span style="color: #4040ff;">Ken Ditkowsky</span></span></span></span><br />
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<br />Probate Sharkhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15689669875393000741noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4778927784145048761.post-61580363806810791812017-07-06T11:40:00.000-05:002017-07-06T11:43:42.498-05:00Junk by Any Name in Illinois<div style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: "courier new", courier, monaco, monospace, sans-serif; font-size: medium; font-style: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; orphans: 2; text-decoration-color: initial; text-decoration-style: initial; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px;">
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The War against the elderly and the disabled rages on unabated here in Illinois. Every day it appears that the MaryGSykes blog or some other blog discloses another outrage perpetrated against an elderly person. The cover-up is so pervasive that it is Standing Operating Procedure and as acceptable to the public as forcing a child to eat spinach. Indeed, 755 ILCS 5/11a - 1 et seq and in particularly section 3 and 10 are still virtually ignored in Cook County courts, however, a cadre of pay for play criminals with medical certificates now are available to rubber stamp the Gulag procedure and cover for dishonest judges and lawyers. Mr. Larkin and the Illinois Attorney Registration and Disciplinary commission run cover for the criminal enterprise (in violation of 18 USCA 371) and laugh all the way to the Bank with their 'TAX FREE' (by tradition, not law) booty.</div>
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Hope was garnered when Seth Gillman was sequestered and charged by the USA, and Philip Esformes indicted in Florida for stealing a billion dollars; however, hope is fleeting when we see that the main perpetrators and 'cover up' artists not only are still getting away with the perfidy, but with the State of Illinois on the verge of Bankruptcy not even being bothered to pay the TAXES due and/or generated by their illegal enterprises that challenge the conscience of the nation (United STates of America). The holocaust continues as seniors are literally kidnapped, isolated, robbed of their assets and humanity, and used as a commodity to steal billions for Medicare and other Health Care programs.</div>
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Hardly a senior who comes under the control of the miscreants is immune. Chemicals - most irrevocably addictive - are freely administered = at Government expense - so that no senior exposed to elder cleansing can escape = as a matter of routine and profit. Political elite campaign to bring all of us under the spell of these chemicals, the media creates a drum beat, and we march in lock step into the hell holes that are government subsidized for us under Obamacare, Trump care etc. </div>
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A Yale Professor (and one of the promulgators of Obamacare) was quite candid when he remarked that the American public was STUPID! </div>
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Do we need an example? Illinois' fiscal crisis is illustrating the point! To wit: </div>
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<b>Subject:</b> WSJ.com: Junk by Any Name in Illinois</div>
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Politicians and credit raters form a coalition for tax and spend.</div>
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Probate Sharkhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15689669875393000741noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4778927784145048761.post-81149559069282749042017-06-24T10:36:00.002-05:002017-06-24T10:36:50.227-05:00DO YOU WANT HEALTH CARE? WORK TO ELIMINATE CORRUPTION WHERE EVER AND WHENEVER IT APPEARS!<div class="nH">
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DO YOU WANT HEALTH CARE? WORK TO ELIMINATE CORRUPTION WHERE EVER AND WHENEVER IT APPEARS!</h2>
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<span style="color: red; font-size: large;">Editor's note: This Shark is reminded by the pillaging of the Faskowitz, Sykes, Wyman, Gore and Tyler estates by Florida's conduct. Lucius Verenus, Schoolmaster, Probate Sharks.com</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: #dddddd;"><img aria-hidden="true" class="ajn" data-name="kenneth ditkowsky" id=":0_1-e" jid="kenditkowsky@yahoo.com" name=":0" src="https://ssl.gstatic.com/ui/v1/icons/mail/profile_mask2.png" style="background-color: #cccccc;" /></span></div>
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<span class="gD" email="kenditkowsky@yahoo.com" name="kenneth ditkowsky">kenneth ditkowsky</span> </h3>
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<span></span><span alt="Tue, Jun 13, 2017 at 10:19 AM" class="g3" id=":8h" title="Tue, Jun 13, 2017 at 10:19 AM">Jun 13 (11 days ago)</span><div aria-checked="true" aria-label="yellow-star" class="zd bi4" role="checkbox" style="outline: 0px;" tabindex="0">
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Dr. Sugar has informed me that I was mistaken in suggesting that the wives of Philip Esformes and Seth Gillman are sisters. If he is correct, I apologize for my mistake. I do make mistakes and I do sometimes get my facts confused; however, as to this ELDER CLEANSING I am 100% correct. As to the fact that no health care program is viable unless the corruption surrounding 'health care' is substantially reduced is also 100% on the mark. As to corruption in the Courts, it is every where! The venality is becoming pervasive and the MOTION TO FIX is becoming so routine that it appears so often that no one is bothered by it.</div>
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Guardianship is by definition an invasion of the fundamental rights of a citizen. It is allowable only in limited circumstances and then only as is necessary to provide a disabled person the opportunity to continue to enjoy the fruits of America. As reported on blogs such as AAAPG, MaryGSykes, Probate Sharks, NASGA, et al and by court watchers across the fruited plain -- proper guardianships are rare and exist only when law enforcement is really interested in protecting the RIGHTS, PRIVILEGES and IMMUNITIES of the elderly and the disabled.</div>
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More often than not a guardianship is a part of a criminal venture that originates at the Court house and is supervised by a corrupt or incompetent jurist ******. The Esformes/Gillman Medicare Fraud cases provide a wealth or examples and the impotency or ineptitude of the media, honest members of the judiciary, and law enforcement. That said - sometimes the word actually gets out! What do our elected officials do?</div>
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Let's take an example. In the Florida press the following was published:</div>
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Savitt won’t dole out inheritance unless objection is withdrawn</h1>
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By<span class="m_1028269482749982009ydp9753709bApple-converted-space"> </span><a data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?hl=en&q=http://www.mypalmbeachpost.com/staff/john-pacenti/&source=gmail&ust=1498404306534000&usg=AFQjCNFPDjJq-0xXKY_MGsl-x880prERXg" href="http://www.mypalmbeachpost.com/staff/john-pacenti/" rel="nofollow" style="color: #aa787c; text-decoration-line: none;" target="_blank">John Pacenti</a><span class="m_1028269482749982009ydp9753709bApple-converted-space"> </span>- Palm Beach Post Staff Writer</div>
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<span class="m_1028269482749982009ydp9753709bcm-story-share" style="float: right; font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",Times,serif; font-size: 14px; margin: 10px 0px;"><span class="m_1028269482749982009ydp9753709bApple-converted-space"> </span><a class="m_1028269482749982009ydp9753709bcm-share m_1028269482749982009ydp9753709bcm-share-button m_1028269482749982009ydp9753709bcm-share-twitter" data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?hl=en&q=http://twitter.com/intent/tweet?url%3Dhttp%253A%252F%252Fwww.mypalmbeachpost.com%252Fnews%252Fsavitt-won-dole-out-inheritance-unless-objection-withdrawn%252FYiizdVJDyg2qa5TVQNJYaJ%252F%26text%3DSavitt%2520won%25E2%2580%2599t%2520dole%2520out%2520inheritance%2520unless%2520objection%2520is%2520withdrawn&source=gmail&ust=1498404306534000&usg=AFQjCNEVWOKqqArZ3W81IGTJF099zJrArg" href="http://twitter.com/intent/tweet?url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.mypalmbeachpost.com%2Fnews%2Fsavitt-won-dole-out-inheritance-unless-objection-withdrawn%2FYiizdVJDyg2qa5TVQNJYaJ%2F&text=Savitt%20won%E2%80%99t%20dole%20out%20inheritance%20unless%20objection%20is%20withdrawn" rel="nofollow" style="color: #a1a1a1; margin-left: 20px; min-height: 18px; text-decoration-line: none; width: 24px;" target="_blank" title="Share on Twitter"></a><span class="m_1028269482749982009ydp9753709bApple-converted-space"> </span><a class="m_1028269482749982009ydp9753709bcm-share m_1028269482749982009ydp9753709bcm-share-icon" href="https://www.blogger.com/null" style="color: #a1a1a1; display: inline-block; margin-left: 20px; min-height: 17px; width: 17px;"></a><span class="m_1028269482749982009ydp9753709bApple-converted-space"> </span><a class="m_1028269482749982009ydp9753709bcm-share m_1028269482749982009ydp9753709bcm-story-comments" data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?hl=en&q=http://www.mypalmbeachpost.com/news/savitt-won-dole-out-inheritance-unless-objection-withdrawn/YiizdVJDyg2qa5TVQNJYaJ/%23comments&source=gmail&ust=1498404306534000&usg=AFQjCNG3DXNHP_-PXpjvuiUbcFNHWfWXVQ" href="http://www.mypalmbeachpost.com/news/savitt-won-dole-out-inheritance-unless-objection-withdrawn/YiizdVJDyg2qa5TVQNJYaJ/#comments" rel="nofollow" style="color: #a1a1a1; margin-left: 20px; text-decoration-line: none;" target="_blank"><span class="m_1028269482749982009ydp9753709bcm-comment-count" style="background-size: contain; display: inline-block; font-family: arial; font-size: 9px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: 16px; min-height: 19px; text-align: center; vertical-align: middle; width: 24px;">2</span></a></span></div>
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<div class="m_1028269482749982009ydp9753709bphoto m_1028269482749982009ydp9753709blead-related-photo m_1028269482749982009ydp9753709bphoto-medium" id="m_1028269482749982009ydp9753709blead-related-photo" style="display: inline-block; font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",Times,serif; font-size: 14px; margin-top: 13px; max-width: 100%; width: 900px;">
<span class="m_1028269482749982009ydp9753709brelated-photo-caption" style="background-color: #eeeeee; color: #6f6f6f; display: block; font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 12px; line-height: 1.33em; margin: 0px; padding: 10px 10px 7px;">James Vassallo holds a photo of his parents, Albert Vassallo Sr. and Geraldine Mickey Vassallo, in November 015. His father was a senior "ward" of Elizabeth "Betsy" Savitt, wife of Circuit Judge Martin Colin. (John Pacenti/The Palm Beach Post)</span></div>
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Posted: <span class="aBn" data-term="goog_1862887301" tabindex="0"><span class="aQJ"><span style="color: #222222;">8:27 p.m.</span></span></span> Friday, May 12, 2017</div>
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<a data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?hl=en&q=http://www.mypalmbeachpost.com/news/judge-wife-seeks-steer-000-woman-accused-taking-from-dad/SQXMzuWgraG7Nxgte2bxHO/&source=gmail&ust=1498404306534000&usg=AFQjCNG-y0u3t_jBjh_FuDYXJcpvqJzs2w" href="http://www.mypalmbeachpost.com/news/judge-wife-seeks-steer-000-woman-accused-taking-from-dad/SQXMzuWgraG7Nxgte2bxHO/" rel="nofollow" style="color: #aa787c; text-decoration-line: none;" target="_blank">Professional guardian Elizabeth Savitt has threatened</a><span class="m_1028269482749982009ydp9753709bApple-converted-space"> </span>to withhold the last of a family’s inheritance unless an objection to her conduct filed in court is withdrawn. She also said she would decrease the remainder of the inheritance — about $200,000 — if she has to fight the objection in court.</div>
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Savitt was the court-appointed guardian for Albert Vassallo Sr., who died in November. She has distributed about $400,000 of the inheritance to six relatives, but the remaining money is tied up in two investment bonds. She has been the subject of several complaints by other families of incapacitated seniors and is being investigated by the state Office of Public and Professional Guardians.</div>
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<a data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?hl=en&q=https://www.documentcloud.org/documents/3678396-Objection-Vassallo.html%23document/p3/a350618&source=gmail&ust=1498404306534000&usg=AFQjCNFy6pTEezSc5YUpF0nI-IrAexmoew" href="https://www.documentcloud.org/documents/3678396-Objection-Vassallo.html#document/p3/a350618" rel="nofollow" style="color: #aa787c; text-decoration-line: none;" target="_blank">Savitt this past month proposed in an e-mail</a><span class="m_1028269482749982009ydp9753709bApple-converted-space"> </span>that four of the Vassallo heirs give up a total $54,000 to Susan Mast, a sibling who had taken <a data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?hl=en&q=https://www.documentcloud.org/documents/2624806-vassallo-demand-letters-full.html%23document/p2/a264738&source=gmail&ust=1498404306534000&usg=AFQjCNFY5oAPtKlqIF8ocFdlTkrwiGFR7Q" href="https://www.documentcloud.org/documents/2624806-vassallo-demand-letters-full.html#document/p2/a264738" rel="nofollow" style="color: #aa787c; text-decoration-line: none;" target="_blank">about $130,000</a><span class="m_1028269482749982009ydp9753709bApple-converted-space"> </span>from her father prior to the guardianship, according to court documents. James Vassallo, a brother, filed an objection with the guardianship court.</div>
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“Savitt continues to engage in a pattern of behavior which tends to treat the person accused of harming the ward more favorably than other beneficiaries,” the objection read.</div>
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To increase the pressure on James Vassallo, Savitt sent another e-mail to the heirs on Friday saying, “We are asking the court for sanctions and fees for filing scandalous allegations, false and frivolous claims. Also remember, no e-mail was ever sent to James asking him to donate money to Susan.”</div>
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In the original email, Savitt said Mast contends she is owed $128,000 for the care of her father before the guardianship when the senior lived right next to James in Century Village in Deerfield Beach. During that time, the Veterans Administration recognized James Vassallo as his father’s caretaker, he said.</div>
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Savitt under investigation by new state guardianship office</div>
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“These people in the guardianship racket are like cockroaches. They just don’t go away,” James Vassallo said.</div>
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The sister, Susan Mast, has benefited from Savitt as guardian in other ways.</div>
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<a data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?hl=en&q=https://www.documentcloud.org/documents/2624827-vassallo-mediation.html&source=gmail&ust=1498404306534000&usg=AFQjCNEY1mtWzVgayIC8ACuCd8Iswl_7qQ" href="https://www.documentcloud.org/documents/2624827-vassallo-mediation.html" rel="nofollow" style="color: #aa787c; text-decoration-line: none;" target="_blank">Under a December 2014 settlement,</a><span class="m_1028269482749982009ydp9753709bApple-converted-space"> </span>Mast would have to pay back only $62,000 of the money she took and didn’t have to pay it back immediately. She also didn’t have to account for missing assets in her father’s savings deposit box or his vehicle that were listed in a demand letter from Savitt to Mast.</div>
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Savitt also placed the elder Vassallo in Mast’s home and paid her about $2,800 a month to care for him.</div>
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Another brother who took about $50,000 from his father prior to the guardianship also did not have to pay back the money immediately under the settlement.</div>
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Savitt and Mast have refused to comment. </div>
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In the e-mail received by the Vassallo family on Thursday, Savitt said that her lawyers have informed her the objection to “voluntary contributions” to Mast by five of the siblings means that she doesn’t have to distribute the $200,000 until the guardianship is closed.</div>
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“I have sent James’ lawyer through my lawyer a letter asking him to withdraw his objections because they are frivolous and he has not done so yet,” Savitt wrote in the e-mail.</div>
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“If he doesn’t withdraw the objections, we will have to litigate them in the guardianship case and I will need to use the trust funds to fund that litigation and anything the court orders as a result.”</div>
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James Vassallo said he feels if he withdraws the objection, then Savitt will funnel inheritance money to his sister. He said the family had to agree to forgo a review of Savitt’s accounting of their father’s guardianship in order to get the initial payment.</div>
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“We want all this stuff over with and she won’t end it,” Vassallo said. “She needs to go to a judge and explain why she is not giving us the money.”<img alt="Inline image" class="m_1028269482749982009ydp6d7a1fe0inline-image m_1028269482749982009ydp6d7a1fe0yahoo-ignore-inline-image m_1028269482749982009ydp6d7a1fe0emoji-wrapper CToWUd" height="16" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/proxy/AVvXsEjwIluS56kG4nv-I4gnkvNy0IaiJ-8UsDkMXtMRA0Bt_fujy92HUGr-p0og8E9xDrToF5tJ2pUCOAKzmD3VqHbNt-1h7EHHdR4ID-wYtHTSWLgfIA0iqCpod512UU69z9Q0TavJxL6hRl87pwMdulLWmrwf3CDp1V9YyW0VQAn3NDVc=s0-d-e1-ft" style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",Times,serif; font-size: 14px; padding: 0px 2px; vertical-align: middle;" title="Inline image" width="16" /></div>
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<span style="font-style: italic;"><span style="font-family: comic sans ms;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><span style="color: #4040ff;">Ken Ditkowsky</span></span></span></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: #9d1811;"><b><span style="color: #fdf869;">The Florida Attorney General has been copied on the e-mail. So have other law enforcement people. A dollar to your penny --- this extortion by a guardian will go unpunished and the Court, the FLORDIA BAR, the ACLU, et al will all be silent!</span></b></span><div class="m_1028269482749982009ydp9753709barticle-pre-blurb" style="font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 16px; font-style: italic; margin: 30px 0px;">
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<span style="background-color: #9d1811; color: #fdf869; font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, Times, serif;"><b>When the health care system in Florida collapses - YOU SHOULD KNOW THE REASON WHY! If the allegedly corrupt judicial authorities are in conspiracy with this guardian - rest assured that the United States of America (and the Medicare and Federal Health care system are also being robbed blind!) </b></span></div>
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<b><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, Times, serif;">Ken Ditkowsky/</span></b></div>
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Probate Sharkhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15689669875393000741noreply@blogger.com0