Threat to LLs?

"Massachusetts Seeks to Disbar and Silence Attorney Fighting to Expose Corruption in Senior Medical Kidnappings

Attorneys and guardians have plundered the estate of Marvin Siegel, a retired attorney from Boxford, Massachusetts. At the same time they have gone through the courts to isolate him from his children and essentially imprison him in his own home.

Marvin Siegel’s daughters had no idea how deeply the corruption in the guardianship issue runs, but they have had a front row seat to see the conflicts of interests, sweetheart deals, drugging of senior citizens, and raping of their estates that are standard fare in some probate courts, such as the one their family has had the misfortune of being subjected to.

Crazy stuff!

The time to plan for medical care decisions and estate stuff is when you're healthy and 100% lucid, and with the help of a competent estate/Elder Care attorney to keep you out of these institutions and "default mode" operations. My thought is step #1 is staying out of any kind of "institution". And if needs be, having medical care come to you vs. going to it. Although in this case, even that may not have been enough. Corrupt guardians & judges...yikes!

I guess the best we can do is have someone you know and trust appointed as your guardian, and have someone who can audit their actions and overrule/challenge them if anything seems out of the ordinary. Watch over your loved ones and be their second set of eyes. Don't trust that attorneys and nursing homes will make the best decisions. Often, even if they are good people, their hands are tied by the insane amount of regulations the medical industry has to deal with.

I have corruption stories in MA as long as my arm

California is almost as bad, NY close behind

We've had various PoA's, wills, trusts for years. My recent brush with death was impetus to update it all a couple months ago. I had dead people still in my Will. But the medical / nursing racket can be ruthless.

The Docs wanted to move me to a nursing home. I was only supposed to be in the hospital three days instead of seven. I know they needed the bed for sicker people, but... "possession is 9/10ths of the law."

I told 'em I'd rather take a walk in the desert with my .45 than enter one of those h#ll holes. If I hadn't been able to move out by the "deadline" I guess the sheriff wouldda tossed me and my bed pan out into the street like a deadbeat tenant.

My spouse started arranging an ambulance transfer and private duty nursing at the bungalow if needed. THIS is why WE (us and you all) work, hard, invest in real estate and save our money. So that if we suddenly need ten or fifty grand - we can. The nanny state only goes so far as it's financially worth it to them.

When my mom was in assisted living we ended up in court. We're talking a caddilac facility with a pool, spa and ice sculpture in the dining room! But they didn't want to provide the necessary level of care, even though I paid for private nurses to cover her all day. It ran me like 6 grand for the facility snd another 2 for the outside staffing.

We wiped 'em out in court and even the judge suggested we bring a Federal suit against them in Prescott. Looking back I should have hit 'em for a million bucks - it would have been handy about now. But my mom was so frail (she passed about 5 months later) and we just wanted her in a place she was loved. We found a private "six pack" home with a two to one staff ratio. The CNA slept on a couch next just outside her room, to carry her to the toilet so she didn't soil herself at night.

You HAVE to have the money for this stuff, or instead of a major inconvenience and miserable experience it becomes a nightmare you never recover from.

So build those portfolios!

A dear 97 year old friend (my second mom) is at her home with 24 hour care. Cost about $10K+ a month but she is receiving excellent care. Good long term care is not cheap.

My first job was as a nurse's aid in a nursing home. No nursing homes for me! I have worked too hard to see my money go for long term "care" -- I would much rather my family or my church get the money. After many years as a nurse, and seeing many deaths, my plan is to die when my time is over. My advance directive says no tracheostomy, no Peg tube, no nursing home. My family is to take me home and care for me as best as they are able. In my advance directive I absolve them of any responsibility if this results in shortening my life. Put whatever you want in your advance directive -- do not feel obliged to use the form the attorney will try to force on you. Make sure your family and your physician has a copy. In Idaho, you can register on a state website that you have an Advance Directive.

My father was "kidnapped" by the system. He was in a rehab facility. There was a dispute amongst the facility, the insurance company and Medicare as to responsibility for a bill. The facility contacted a local shark/so-called senior care attorney, who go appointed my dad's conservator without any notice to my mom (who spent every day at the facility with him), me or my siblings. I held his Power of Atty and his Health Care Power of Atty.

I ran up about $20K in attorneys fees fighting this attempt to take over his property. It was only when I proved that all of his assets were in his Living Trust, of which I was the Trustee, that the shark saw that there was no money for him and the case was dismissed. He thought that he would be able to steal the entire estate from my dad and family.

The entire system is corrupt. The shark who attacked my dad was not punished for filing false papers (there were numerous lies in the Ex Parte Application to be appointed Conservator, with no notice whatsoever to the family which was visiting daily). The rehab facility was not punished for its violation of patient privacy for giving the shark lots of private HIPPA information. The system just moved on to the next victim, who was not as well protected as my dad was.

Trusts and Powers of Attorney are about the best we can do, but they are not enough!