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Elder Abuse: How to Protect Your Loved Ones


Human trafficking: It ain’t just for sex anymore : Marti Oakley


Marti Oakley (c)copyright 2011 All Rights Reserved

“Again, once this “guardianship” has been sanctioned by the cooperating probate judge, the victim loses all rights of any kind whatsoever and is for all intents and purposes “dead in the law”. The guardian/conservator now legally owns the victim and can avail themselves of all of the victim’s assets of any kind. ”

When we think of human trafficking most of us immediately assume that this occurs only in the arena of sexual exploitation. At some point in time this may have been true. Today, human trafficking encompasses many forms and there is not one of us who can safely assume that we would somehow be exempt from any type of human trafficking.

While the sexual exploitation and trafficking for the purposes of sex is often highlighted in MSM, rarely do they ever report on the trafficking that occurs courtesy of our courts, unscrupulous politicians and yes, even those demi-gods….doctors, therapists and psychiatrists. There is money to be made exploiting the vulnerable, the sick, the weak, the aging (with assets) and even children who have been unfortunate enough to become wards of the state and forced into foster care. While sexual activity may not be the cause and concern in these instances, what happens to these individuals is no less a form of human trafficking for profit.

In each of the above stated groups, the trafficking of human beings for profit is facilitated by social service agencies, corrupt probate courts, and family courts. To be declared a “ward of the state”, is to be housed by, and to receive necessities and protection of the government. It also means to lose any and all rights of any kind, whatsoever. The “state” now owns what has become a chattel property and may do with that property whatever it desires to do. This oftentimes includes a form of leasing out the ward for pharmaceutical experimentation and profit, as was exposed in Florida and Alaska, just to name two, over the last several years resulting in the exposure of massive Medicaid fraud as foster children are routinely forced to take off-label high gear psychotropic drugs and vaccines. In a May, 2009 article, :author Evelyn Pringle notes:

“It is hard to come up with an adjective that adequately conveys the horror this is inflicting on America’s children and youth. Suffice it to say that when the country wakes up to the carnage this has caused, it will be recognized as the largest iatrogenic (doctor caused) public health disaster in history.”

These days, it seems more evident that the concern for children is not so much their safety and well-being, but rather; How much are they worth in the foster care system? As with our public school systems, big pharma is more than willing to pay for every child added to the forced drugging programs.

    Trafficking of the elderly (with assets)

The human trafficking of the elderly (with assets) has become a national epidemic and disgrace. Probate courts routinely work with predatory professional guardians, payrolling attorneys, owners of notoriously abusive care facilities and social agencies to target and then obtain guardianship/conservatorship of the elderly whose only crime was to age with assets. These predatory professional guardians, strangers to the victim and their families, make their living robbing the estates of their victims.

Again, once this “guardianship” has been sanctioned by the cooperating probate judge, the victim loses all rights of any kind whatsoever and is for all intents and purposes “dead in the law”. The guardian/conservator now legally owns the victim and can avail themselves of all of the victim’s assets of any kind. These predators can and do instruct doctors to begin the administering of psychotropic medications not approved for use on the elderly, and many of the doctors who are also tapping the estate for inflated billing charges, comply with these requests.

Once legally kidnapped with the help of the cooperating probate judge and the local police department who conduct the kidnapping as a swat team raid, the victim is quickly housed in a participating facility and started on a drug regime that is seldom called for.

The drugs are especially useful when administered just prior to what is laughingly called a “competency hearing”.

The profits from human trafficking of the aging (with assets) was documented in the 2007 GAO report with estimates well over a billion in stolen assets obtained by professional predatory guardians/conservators and some family members across 48 states, although the GAO focused on only 20 cases:

“The GAO focused on cases in which a family member, agency, or private business was appointed as a guardian. In 20 cases, guardians appointed and approved by courts stole $5.4 million in assets from 158 incapacitated adults. ”

The recent Committee on Aging hearing very carefully orchestrated and scripted the public hearing to make it appear that the abuse is most always at the hands of family and friends. In truth, the largest percentage of cases of exploitation are committed by professional strangers who have a well established system in place with the same predators routinely involved in these deadly guardianships as is exemplified when examining the cases in a specific geographical area. The same judges, the same predatory professional guardians, the same payrolling attorneys and the same doctors and participating facilities, all involved in one predatory case after another. The staged committee hearing barely touched on this aspect of exploitation of the elderly, if at all.

What are you worth as a prisoner?

When John Ashcroft, the former Attorney General for the US under GW Bush, handed down sentencing guidelines to the states, not one state refused those guidelines even though Ashcroft was not lawfully empowered to make such demands. The result has been a explosion in the number of individuals held in federal and state prisons, many for what should have been short term sentences for minor crimes. This allowed Merrill Lynch to begin selling prisoner bonds, globally. And ML isn’t the only company engaged in the profitable human trafficking trade of selling human beings on the open market.

The sentencing guidelines were needed to confirm that prisoner X would be available for exploitation and forced labor for a guaranteed length of time. The whole system is run by

C.J.T.S. a corporation dedicated to the tracking and coding of prisoners and provides the software to do it. Using this system and one called CUSIP:

From Owners of the American Prison System

“a nine digit number (called Ordnance Number) is issued for the Certificate of Stocks going internationally to ANNA (Lynn’s note: see link for ANNA which is in Brussels, Belgium at http://www.cusip.com ). These Securities are sold through the Commodity and Security Exchange. The bottom line is they are selling stocks in the prison system. The jails are referred to as Warehouses and the prisoners are called Goods”

“From the moment a person is arrested for any reason, the prisoner cash register starts ringing. This can be for something as simple as a traffic ticket. The law enforcement department making the arrest assigns a pre-defined code to the charges being made. This code has a monetary value and the money starts rolling from this point on all the way through the system. Publicly traded prisoner stocks, took a tumble in 2008, but look as if they will rebound as the Obama Administration along with Senators McCain and Lieberman, and others such as Graham and Shumer devise plans to increase ever greater numbers of US citizens under the false flag of national security.”

Prisoners can also be subjected to forced drugging, pharmaceutical experimentation or exposure to pathogens among many other things.

Are you safe?

Never think for a moment that you are safe from the predator class. If anyone sees the opportunity to make a buck off you, your kids, your parents or anyone for that matter, you can quickly find yourself totally disenfranchised, without rights, without defense and without any means of extricating yourself from the system.

Human trafficking has evolved. We are now all considered commodities to be sold, traded, and used on the global market and as the global demand for organ transplants increases any one of us could be worth more dead than alive. We have been totally devalued as human beings and rendered as commodities. Our own government refers to us as “human capital, or as human expenditures” as if we were used cars sitting on a government sale lot.

___________________

Arizona and exploitation of vulnerable adults in probate courts

    What is a “ward” ?

a. Law A minor or incompetent person placed under the care or protection of a guardian or court.b. A person under the protection or care of another.7. The state of being under guard; custody.8. The act of guarding or protecting; guardianship.

chat·tel

n.

1. Law An article of movable personal property.

2. A slave.

Massive Medicaid Fraud Exposed in Psychiatric Drugging of Kids in US
Legally kidnapped: PBS reports Forced drugging of foster care kids

Prisoners of the system: Corporate organized crime runs the system of human trafficking for profit slave labor in Georgia.

10 Warning Signs of Financial Exploitation


The National Center on Elder Abuse defines Financial or Material Exploitation as:

The illegal or improper use of an elder’s funds, property or assets.

Examples include, but are not limited to, cashing an elderly person’s checks without authorization or permission; forging an older person’s signature; misusing or stealing an older person’s money or possessions; coercing or deceiving an older person into signing a document (e.g., contracts or will); and the improper use of conservatorship, guardianship, or power of attorney.

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The Center lists the following warning signs and symptoms of exploitation and other forms of financial abuse:

Sudden changes in bank account or banking practice, including an unexplained withdrawal of large sums of money by a person accompanying the elder;
The inclusion of additional names on an elder’s bank signature card;
Unauthorized withdrawal of the elder’s funds using the elder’s ATM card;
Abrupt changes in a will or other financial documents;
Unexplained disappearance of fund or valuable possessions;
Substandard care being provided or bills unpaid despite the availability of adequate financial resources;
Discovery of an elder’s signature being forged for financial transactions or for the titles of his/her possessions;
Sudden appearance of previously uninvolved relatives claiming their rights to an elder’s affairs and possessions;
The provision of services that are not necessary; and
An elder’s report of financial exploitation.

Source: The National Center on Elder Abuse, Administration on Aging

Wealth is not a Barrier to Abuse and Exploitation— it’s an Invitation


By: Judie Rappaport

Reposted from: http://www.preferredlifestyleservices.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=news.details&ArticleId=107&returnTo=eldercare-911-blog

Date: December 6, 2011

If you believe your parent or client is insulated from Abuse and Exploitation, think again.  Studies estimate that more than 2.5 million older people each year are injured, exploited, or otherwise mistreated by someone on whom they depended for care or protection, with 90% of the abuse committed by a perpetrator known to the elderly victim. 1

If you find those estimates horrifying, you’ll find reality even more chilling:

• For every 1 case of elder abuse, neglect, exploitation, or self-neglect reported to authorities, about five more go unreported. 2

• In the year 2000, estimates put the overall reporting of financial exploitation at only 1 in 25 cases, suggesting that there may be at least 5 million financial abuse victims each year. 3 The numbers are certainly higher today.

• Data of domestic elder abuse suggests that only 1 in 14 incidents excluding (excluding self neglect) come to the attention of authorities. 4

Elder abuse doesn’t discriminate; it crosses all socio-economic boundaries. Neglecting or denying its existence leads to unnecessary suffering, unimaginable physical and emotional pain, and in the worse-case scenarios, death.

If you’re a financial/legal advisor for elders or special needs clients, the chances are excellent that one or more of your clients are being abused. The abuser may be a family member or hired caregiver who exercises power and control over your physically frail or cognitively impaired client or loved one. Your loved one’s or clients’ cries for help may go unheard if they are unable to communicate effectively. They also may fear harsher abuse or abandonment by her caretaker—in other words, they may feel trapped and powerless.

Society, backed by federal and state legislation, is now paying more attention to this heinous crime. Although there is still no federal law protecting elders from abuse, all states have adopted laws specifically targeting elder abuse, neglect, and exploitation and many states have adopted clear criminal penalties for elder abuse.

If your business model has been to steer clear of involvement in domestic and healthcare issues, it’s time to reconsider:

  • Most states have statutes mandating reporting of suspected abuse. “Mandated Reporters” include financial, legal, healthcare, and other professionals and advisors, as well as Caregivers.
  • As a Mandated Reporter, you risk your license, your reputation, and your assets by not understanding the law and assisting clients who are in danger. If you participate in the abuse, you risk prosecution and imprisonment. (live link to Florida Statutes)

The Most Prevalent Types of Elder Abuse 5:

Elder Abuse is a broad description for any knowing, deliberate, or careless act that causes harm or serious risk of harm to an older person.

  • Caregiver/Family Neglect (58.5%): Failure to keep vulnerable adults safe and provide for their physical and emotional needs.
  • Physical Abuse (15.7%): Use of force to threaten or physically injure an elder
  • Emotional abuse (7.3%): Use of verbal attacks, threats, rejection, isolation, demeaning acts that cause mental anguish, physical and emotional decline
  • Financial Exploitation (12.3%): Theft, fraud, misuse or neglect of authority, and use of “undue influence” as a lever to gain control over an older person’s money or property.
  • Sexual (0.04%): Forced, tricked, threatened, or otherwise coerced sexual contact from elders or anyone who is unable to grant consent
  • Self-Neglect/Abandonment: (Included in “All Other Types” 5.2%): Abandonment: Desertion of a frail or vulnerable elder by anyone with a duty of care. Self-Neglect: an inability to understand the consequences of one’s own actions or inaction, which leads to, or may lead to, harm or endangerment.

Warning Signs for Families Professionals:

  • Trust your instincts. When I doubt, err on the side of caution. The signs of Elder Abuse run the gamut from the obvious to the almost invisible. If your instincts tell you something is wrong don’t wait for proof: call the victim’s family or a professional advocate to assess the situation. If your loved one or client is in immediate danger, call 911 immediately and remove the victim from the premises.
  • It’s important to remember that victims may be experiencing multiple types of abuse. While one sign does not necessarily indicate abuse, experience tells us which warning signs should mandate a call for help:

Warning Signs: Neglect – Self Neglect:

  • Victim appears to be receiving insufficient care and attention to wants and needs given their history and financial status.
  • Bedsores, unattended medical needs, poor hygiene, and unusual weight loss are often indicators of neglect or, at the very least, an untrained, inadequate caregiver who should be immediately replaced.
  • Absence of necessities including food, water, heat, medicine, clothing
  • Poor grooming and appearance (soiled or ragged clothing, dirty nails and skin)
  • Inadequate living environment evidenced by lack of utilities, sufficient space, and
  • ventilation
  • Animal or insect infestations; hoarding animals, hoarding papers, trash
  • Signs of medication mismanagement, including empty or unmarked bottles or outdated prescriptions
  • Unsafe housing as a result of disrepair, faulty wiring, inadequate sanitation, substandard cleanliness, or architectural barriers

Warning Signs: Physical & Emotional Abuse:

  • Bruises, pressure marks, broken bones, abrasions, and burns are cause for suspicion and investigation no matter how plausible the explanation.
  •  Unexplained withdrawal from normal activities, a sudden change in alertness, and unusual depression may be indicators of physical and/or emotional abuse.
  • Behavior such as belittling, yelling, threats and other uses of power and control by spouses, children, or caregivers.
  • Strained or tense relationships, frequent arguments between the caregiver and elderly person may also be signs of abuse and exploitation.
  • Victim appears nervous or afraid of the person accompanying him
  • Victim is denied needed medical equipment and assistive devices: eyeglasses, hearing aids, dentures, commodes, walkers, wheelchair

Warning Signs: Financial Exploitation:  

  • Victim is not allowed to speak for himself or make decisions
  • Caregivers or family members who refuse to let you talk to your client or loved one unless they are present. Isolating the victim from those who care about him and can help is one of the first signs of exploitation and abuse
  • Sudden changes in financial habits (increase in number of checks or amounts of withdrawals, increase if number of checks written for even amounts, increase is charge account balances or debit card usage, or changes in bequests are often the result of financial exploitation.
  • Sudden increases in debt
  • Sudden change in address for financial documents
  • Sudden changes in banks, sudden transfers to other banks, sudden changes financial or legal advisors, beneficiaries, doctors, living arrangements, Power of Attorney, or Health Care Surrogates are often due to exploitation and abuse
  • Recently opened joint accounts
  • Signatures appear correct but amounts are written in different handwriting and/or different ink
  • Victim appears nervous or afraid of the person accompanying him or is accompanied by an acquaintance who appears too interested in his assets
  • Victim supplies questionable explanation or is confused about missing funds or money management, or is unable to remember financial transactions or sign paperwork

If you suspect elder abuse, collaboration is the key to protecting your client. When you see unexpected and unexplained changes in personality and behavior, call for professional assistance and evaluation. You do not have to prove abuse.

Remaining alert may help save your loved one or client from serious emotional or physical harm and from financial ruin.

1. Gregorie Trudy, “The Special Needs of Elder Abuse Victims,” www.ccvs.state.vt.us/pub_ed/special_needs.html, and National Center on Elder Abuse, American Public Human Services Association. September 1998. The National ElderAbuse Incidence Study 1996: Final Report Washington, DC: U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Administration for Children and Families and the Administration on Aging.

2. Washington, DC: National Center on Elder Abuse at American Public Human Services Association

3. (Wasik, John F. 2000. ‘The Fleecing of America’s Elderly,” Consumers Digest, March/April.)

4.  Elder Mistreatment: Abuse, Neglect and Exploitation in an Aging America, 2003. Washing DC National Research Council Panel to Review Risk and Prevalence of Elder Abuse and Neglect

5.  (Pillemer, Karl, and David Finkelhor. 1988. The Prevalence of Elder Abuse: A Random Sample Survey,’ The Gerontologist, 28: 51-57.)

The Macomb Daily : Children still battling for guardianship of former Macomb chiropractor


The Macomb Daily : Children still battling for guardianship of former Macomb chiropractor.

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