Prominent New York case draws attention to financial abuse of the elderly

Financial exploitation of the elderly is a problem that has received growing attention in recent years. A recent post to the excellent New York Times blog, "The New Old Age," considered how elusive detection of such abuse is, in light of the pending case in New York regarding the estate of Brooke Astor, her son, and the son's attorney.

According to the piece, "[m]ost cases involving suspected financial exploitation of the elderly . . . are never prosecuted and probably never discovered." Here are a few reasons why:

1. The elderly person may be isolated from others who would be in a position to detect abuse. Isolation may be from poor health and mobility, shrinking social circle, or imposed by the abuser.


2. Defining financial abuse can be elusive. Some action may indeed be abusive, but others may be well-intended, but just done in poor judgement. The Times post notes that, "[t]rying to specify exactly what behavior constitutes elder abuse . . . remains a shadowy, insufficiently investigated subject."

3. Abusers can be family members, so then the abuse is often unreported because of the closed circle of those involved. A study cited in the post found "that the most likely perpetrators are family members, friends and caregivers, who feel entitled to take funds because of their established relationship."

4. In our legal system, recourse is often expensive and may take a long time. If the funds stolen are not significant (say, over $10,000), it may be cost-prohibitive to litigate under civil law or persuade the district attorney to prosecute under criminal law. Further complicating matters, with an elderly victim, they may not wish to give testimony (or be mentally competent to), or they may have died before a case can be resolved.

Fortunately, many states, including Wisconsin, have recently enacted tougher statutes against financial exploitation of elderly or other at-risk adults. In addition, agencies and task forces have been formed or empowered to address abuse.

Whether through government, non-profit entitities, or personal vigilence, the awareness and prevention of elder abuse (of all types) is improving, but requires involvement on everyone's part.

As the Times post ends with a quotation from the president of NAELA (National Acadamy of Elder Law Attorneys): "A sensational case like this, or the Terry Schiavo case, hits the hot button and helps make people aware that there could be a problem and that they should protect themselves."

They're lining up at the courthouse...

Today was the first day for same-sex couples to marry in Iowa. Here's the Des Moines Register's web section on the topic. The Register's update from late April 27 said that over 360 couples have applied to be married.

Not to rain on anyone's parade, but even state-permitted marriage for same sex couples only goes so far. On Reason's website, Steve Chapman makes "A Federal Case for Gay Marriage."

Here's the thrust of Chapman's essay:

It's at moments like this that the framers of the Constitution begin to look even wiser than usual. Somehow they anticipated that people in Massachusetts would not want to live under exactly the same laws as people in Mississippi. So they set up a system known as federalism, which allows different states to choose different policies. Thus we simultaneously uphold majority rule and minority rights.

This, at least, is how federalism is supposed to operate—letting subsets of the national population get their way in their own locales. There's only one hitch: In this case, it doesn't quite work that way.

Why not? Because of a huge imbalance created by that longtime nemesis of state sovereignty—the federal government. Under the 1996 Defense of Marriage Act
(DOMA), Virginia has complete authority to deny the privileges and responsibilities of marriage to same-sex partners. But Iowa doesn't have the complete authority to grant them.

And in a slightly related story, halfway across the country in California, the economic recession is prompting (heterosexual) couples to get hitched at the courthouse to save money. As the L.A. Times reports, the over-the-top weddings of the past two decades may be over.

"I didn't need to put on a frilly fairy tale wedding for everybody else," said [one bride in L.A.], who picked up a bouquet from a local florist on her way to the high-rise courthouse. "We really just wanted to get married."

. . .

In L.A. County, civil wedding ceremonies performed in government buildings were up 17% in 2008 over 2007. Nationally, the number of couples marrying in civil, rather than religious, ceremonies in the first quarter of this year increased by 60% over the same period last year.

Passing of an ukulele virtuoso

As noted in the New York Times, John King, a renowned ukulele player, died at the age of 55.

Here's an excerpt from the Times' obituary:

Mr. King resurrected a guitar technique from the time of Bach to play a piece that was almost certainly never before tried on a ukulele, Bach’s Partita No. 3, and went on to play other difficult classical works with dazzling mastery.

. . .

The foundation of Mr. King’s achievement was reviving a Baroque guitar technique and applying it to the ukulele. The technique involves playing each succeeding note in a melodic line on a different string. The ukulele — which is tuned so that the four strings go not from the lowest to the highest note but instead run G, C, E, A — turns out to be great for doing this. . . . The result is a bell-like quality of sound in which individual notes over-ring one another, producing an effect that some compare to a harp or harpsichord.

I'm feeling inspired to pull my ukulele out of the closet and practice!

Keep talking about advance directives until everyone has them

Facing a loved one's serious medical condition or end of life is always agonizing. But it approaches being unbearable when there is no way of knowing what the person would want for treatment or care.

Advance health care directives are SO IMPORTANT and can spare families a world of grief. Advance directives and why people tend to avoid them is the topic of a recent post on the New York Times' blog, "The New Old Age."

In light of the recent National Healthcare Decisions Day (April 16), consider this excerpt:

One reason is that advance directives may be misperceived, theorized Nathan Kottkamp, a health care attorney in Richmond, Va., and organizer of this month’s National Healthcare Decisions Day. People may equate such documents with limiting care, with “pulling the plug.” In fact, Mr. Kottkamp said, “Your living will can say you want every medical treatment known to science applied to you at the end of life. Or no treatment. Or anywhere on that spectrum.”

Elder mediation as an option for resolving disputes

Morning Edition on National Public Radio ran this story about turning to a mediator when adult children and elderly parents have a dispute about the parent's affairs.

In one example, the mediator said, "[The father] simply didn't want any of his kids to know how much money he had and how his finances were organized."

But as the report continued, " [T]hings were getting worse. One son insisted on going to court to get his father declared mentally incompetent, so the family could take control of the father's finances."

The story goes on to decribe the benefits of involving an outside, neutral party to mediate the matter. The downside may be that there are no national standards for mediating, so the family needs to carefully interview the potential mediator for qualifications. One option for finding a mediator is Eldercare Mediators (I have no basis to vouch for the quality of the organization beyond the reference in the NPR story.)

Perhaps this type of scenario is another opportunity for collaborative law.

Lots of hub-bub about same-sex marriage

First, the Iowa Supreme Court struck down that state's statutory ban on same-sex marriage on April 2.

Next, on April 5, the Vermont house and senate passed legislation, overriding the governor's veto, to allow same-sex marriage.

Check out today's New York Times article on the move toward equality flowing through Iowa, Vermont, and beyond.

Just for a bit more fodder, consider how the cultural definition of marriage is shifting, as discussed in this article from Slate.com. In looking at how various dictionaries have expanded their definitions of marriage, the article comments:

[F]or those judges who are open to the notion that statutory and constitutional meaning can change over time, the dictionary acceptance of same-sex marriage will offer evidence of a shift in public views. Instead of fending off or ignoring the dictionary, gay advocates will be able to cite the new editions in their briefs. The new entries in Webster's, Black's, and soon the OED signal that the idea of same-sex marriage has come of age. The Supreme Court cited an "emerging awareness" that gay people shouldn't be treated like criminals in striking down remaining state sodomy laws in 2003. Now the dictionaries herald the same kind of "emerging awareness" about gay marriage.

“Couldn’t be happier for two people I’ve never met!”

Consider this New York Times story about blogger Ann Althouse and Laurence Meade, one of her regular commenters. They are now engaged to be married! The Times article traces their online exchanges, in-person meetings, and the cyber-swirl that went on around them.

When the couple announced their engagement, another regular commenter commented, "Couldn't be happier for two people I've never met!"

By the way, Ms. Althouse is a professor at the University of Wisconsin Law School, from which I recently graduated. As it happens, I never had a class with her or even met her. However, I had read her blog frequently before applying to law school, and it gave me a window into both the law and blogging.

In her blog, Althouse also compiled links to her entries referred to in the Times piece.

Congratulations, Ann and "Meade."

A bittersweet Civil War story

Errol Morris, in the New York Times, wrote a five-part series on Amos Humiston, a Civil War soldier who died on the battlefield in Gettysburg. Humiston, unknown when his body was found, was clutching a photograph of his three children when he died.

The series, "Whose Father Was He?" looks at the initial history of identifying the fallen soldier (part one).

In part two, Morris interviews Mark Dunkelman, the author of a book about Humiston, including how Dunkelman found the current Humiston descendants.

Next (part three), Morris explores Gettysburg war photography and the attempt to assist the orphaned children of the dead soldiers.

Part four discusses the uneven (to say the least) administration of the orphanage and the enigmatic character who founded it.

Finally, Morris attempts to discover who Amos Humiston was as a person by piecing together all the known information about him (part five).

Caregiving lessons from a two-legged friend and from a four-legged friend

Two recent pieces in the New York Times discussed the difference a caring companion makes in coping with serious illness.

First, a medical student reflects on the comfort and companionship a man gave to two patients who faced death and long recovery.

His story, I realized, was a kind of love story, and in some way it evoked all of our stories, whether we are doctor or patient, comforter or comforted, healer or healed. Josh reaffirmed for me what we medical professionals know but all too easily forget: the human story is not a series of illnesses and treatments that we manage, but is an unfolding mystery — a process with which we ourselves are in ongoing communion, both as witnesses and as full participants.

Also, from the "Well" health blog, Dana Jennings tells Life Lessons from the Family Dog--the author's struggle with agressive prostate cancer and the contemporaneous age-related decline in his dog's health.

Even so, as I face my own profound health issues, it is my dog’s poor health that is piercing me to the heart. I’m dreading that morning when I walk downstairs and … well, those of us who love dogs understand that all dog stories end the same way.

. . .

Dogs also tell us – especially when we’re sick – of our own finitude. And, partly, that’s why we cry when they die, because we also know that all human-being stories end the same way, too.

Happy April!

Nothing says "spring" like a wad of processed sugar--MMMMM! Yes, it's time for Peeps. Check out this article about the marshmallow candy, in, of all places, Saveur magazine. Here is a summarizing excerpt:

It's not easy separating Peep fact from fiction, but this much is true:
• About 350 million chicks and 250 million bunnies will be produced this year.
• Peeps are made of sugar, corn syrup, gelatin, potassium sorbate, artificial flavors, and carnauba wax.
• Each Peep packs a mere 32 calories and 0 grams of fat.
• Many connoisseurs prefer their Peeps stale.
• In 1991, Peeps lost their wings for a sleek, modern look.
• It used to take 27 hours to make a batch of Peeps; the gelatin had to harden overnight. Today, with new technology, it takes 8.5 minutes.
• Peeps receive their colors when they pass through a sort of wind tunnel and tinted sugar blows around and adheres to their sticky bodies.
• Other seasonal Peeps include Spooky Cats, Happy Pumpkins, Christmas Trees, and Snowmen.

And if you want to do more with your Peeps than just eat them (or see what other people do with them), check out the Washington Post's 2nd annual Peeps diorama contest.

(Photo by Daniel Leininger; used by permission.)