THe Department of Justice is a Creative way of Distinguishing a power source of some widespread use. There are more Agencies making some confusion the norm but one Agency has had the Reins in terms of Investigating and Prosecuting the WHOLE story of what happened at the Kern Valley Healthcare District, in Mt. Mesa, California.
THE DOJ are wheeling and Dealing the CARDS for many pllayers and they are the Top doggies in California, Attorney General, Kamala Harris, the leader of the pack. Harris, elected to the office of AG in 2010, alongside fellow DEMoCrAT, Jerry Brown as he Sailed into th e Governor's Mansion.
Where is the Justice Mrs. Ms. or Miss Harris? Or..mister? lol Steve Muni, Lead Prose cuter, whose prose is Cuter than other lawyers? Muni, up against, DOnald ETra and William HOWARD GInsBURG for almost a year, then a sudden Downgrading of storm conditions, to Windy, an dblustey and pOOF, in come the Public Defender, Case ends, and they all plead out.
Wow, yawn, stretch.
Who the Hell knows as there is no satisfactory explanation for the JUDGEment oF Error RAther than selectively hearing the call to Duty.
I cannot Conceive that this Monicker, De Part ment of Just ice has no weight to throw around, therefore this IS the CA DOJ version of Throwing WEIGHT around...Hmm, who and What is gumming up the works?
So Pro bation, is a Merit of Acheivement, two Defendants, getting three years of HARD probation...?
IN fact, there are those out there who have done LESS to deserve a Good Slap on the Behind, and yet they receive this Disparity in Justice. They Suffer in a system of Incarceration, Selective. (Hmm. Very unfair, cruel in fact. Scales not even attempt the balance. )
Outwardly and openly Being CRUEL. This is a Bad state of the STate of CAlifornia Justice Dealers.
WHat a HOOT that no one Notices what is a Great Ruse pushed right in our FACES.
WHat is happening INSIDE the DOJ in California and Beyond? WHat has Gotten into them?
LOsing means there was NO True Acknowledgement, of Deeds so dire, and NO deconstruction of the Network that ALLowed this environment to exist. Un opposed for too long. A NEt Loss, is on the books of the DOJ.
Sorry, Can't Go with the flow on this.
It is fine that others agree to Disagree, but those who fell victim were helpless to this massive potential plot of NOTE.
I suggest, or hint, to you now, that there maybe a LINK In this chain, to other practices of a cowardly, self serving, agenda. A SYSTEm.
Yes, there would be no other reason as the reasons have repeatedly been stated on this blog. And else where. And in the back of minds, in the murmurs, in the acknowledgement of the Mingling money and Healthcare, MEDI-SiN is the result.
Power Corrupts, and the Corrupt are a MaJority. LOL In Case you Forgot to Acknowledge today.
INDUSTRIES:
Long Term Care benefits: (Quick list)
Born- Pediatric, vaccines, other INDOC tri nation.
TEen-Puberty pimples and Anti biotics, tonsils and appendix,
Tattoos, peircings,
Adult-Blood pressure, stroke, heart attack, cancer, eyesight, teeth or not, Vaccines for flues and and other UNkown or "human experiemental" Swine with their SWINE FLu and WEST NILE and queen of DENial, ETC.
ELderly Female, Grab out her Womanly GEar. Stop the HOT Flashes, tho they are Burning For some reason.
Male, UH, oh, both Viagara and Prostrate cancer up and down in the Erection Department. Control THe urge. Good one.
Finally, Plan for ALZHEIMERS we are being told.
THEn HospiCe, another way to bring Reimbursement on the scene of a life entering the DEATH industry.
From there, we enter into a FINAL round of DEATH Inducing, RITUALS, DRUGS, States of MInd, and a CONTROL finally taking it all.
YOUr Body leaves this COSTLY endeavor, and PROCEEDS On to a DEATH CAMP. lol
Yes, now you are TO LOOK as you are Now a Seperate entity, one MOVING To a BETTER PlACE, the Kingdom come of Heaven.
Religions NOw ARE BENEFICIARIES. no Matter which one, they are in the WELFARE lines, with their hands out.
While they POINT fingers at others, these UPPER WELFARE handout participants, no COnscienCE, takes from this system. But blames the little guy. Fakes it's own BUSTS, sudden a "billion is found" as Two duped sorts, get pinned in some FALSE JUSTICE for the sake of pacification. These are pacifiers, we SUCK them. lol
REALLY?
Then your body goes WHERE? Humm, this is a potentially Very horrifying truth or Dare. What is happening in these remote regions, where are bodies in bodies of water and other not so known Trivial Pursuit of Death.
Money and Death. Life Insurance. And all sorts of new ITEMS, new DEATH industry add ons, are in the works every where. CAskets and Baskets and Flowers, it's a BIG DREAM come true for many.
With that SAid and TRULY an expose on the whole industry, in a SNAP shot.
REMEMBER,
ANything GOES, folks, it is anything an dRun the hell away. It's not a pretty pic.
Don't Get TRAMPLED AS an exodus of some proportion Takes place. It has no victims it has only a way to GET out as fast as possible.
What happened with the DOJ?
THE world has CREATED enemies, that may or may not be, and this serves their own devices. BUT WHAT has the DOJ done?
Questions I have. I would really want to know. I"ll continue to pursue some feedback.
Persistance and Tenacity, requires a new chapter, a new beginning....
Showing posts with label Donald Etra attorney. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Donald Etra attorney. Show all posts
Tuesday, September 4, 2012
Monday, September 19, 2011
KVHD News: State Medical board rules on Dr. Hoshang Pormir
The State Medical Board in action
According to the Medical board of California, former Kern Valley Healthcare District physician, Dr. Hoshang Pormir, currently charged in the hospital's elder abuse case, has had a ruling in his case with the state's investigation into negligence involved with the nursing center at the rural hospital during 2006 and 2007.
Documents from the Medical Board show that Pormir has been given two years probation and limits on his scope of practice such as having a "solo practice" or working with the elderly, were amongst his limitations.
http://www2.mbc.ca.gov/LicenseLookupSystem/PhysicianSurgeon/document.aspx?path=\DIDOCS\20110815\DMRAAADE2\&did=AAADE110815170725193.DID&licenseType=A&licenseNumber=49827
What about the elder abuse trial?
With the quietly revealed probation and restrictions on one of the three defendants in the KVHD elder abuse case, we still have a trial date for March 12, 2012, at the Kern County Superior court.
Not that a plea bargain can't be reached, as they sometimes wait until the very last moment to cut a deal and avoid a trial which could be a greater risk than taking a lesser sentence.
As of the last reports, Dr. Pormir, along with fellow defendants, former KVHD CEO, Pamela Ott, and the former Director of Nursing, Gwen Hughes, still face criminal charges as well as civil cases waiting in the wings as this case may be overshadowed by new cases coming to light out of the public healthcare district.
With a growing list of cases against the hospital in civil court, and several cases emanating from the skilled nursing facility mismanagement, KVHD faces great financial losses in the coming months and years, which could turn out to be the death knell for the ailing hospital.
The community has recently been alerted that the first thing on KVHD's list of "stratragic" planning which was revealed at a special meeting so the community to join in, has a new tax measure at the top of the list.
More vanilla ice cream and a community that is expected to pull the hospital out of debt, which may be impossible with the upcoming legal cases. A letter to the editor of the Kern Valley Sun Newspaper from a former KVHD backer, and a long time volunteer, was turned down by the hospital as she fell after a meeting and broke her teeth.
The angry sounding letter, seemed more disappointed than anything else, but it seems the hospital can dish it out, but won't pay for it, and according to the author, asked that her dentist give a discount.
With the hospital unable to make its monthly payments to debt insurer, Cal Mtg., they stagger on with ideas which would have worked years ago, but with no circumspection, the hospital faces major hurdles, and one of which is convincing unhappy customers to come back to a hospital which cannot provide worthy or adequate healthcare. And then pay some more property taxes too.
Who is William H. Ginsburg?
After a few reactions to the Medical boards' decision with Dr. Pormir, most were shocked by the seemingly "light penalty" which includes a 40 hour course and payment for the classes.
But Dr. Pormir, who has had several different attorneys since the elder abuse charges were brought against him, one being Donald Etra, somewhat famous for his work with celebrities, and his visit with George Bush in the White House.
However, the attorney who is listed as handling the Medical board case, is William Howard Ginsburg, someone sounding familiar, but most don't remember that a young, Monica Lewinsky, and a President, Ginsburg was handling Lewinsky.
These are big attorneys who have been around and know the right people, and so far, this is the first of the cases being handled by the state agency, Consumer rights, Nursing board, so there will be more information to come soon.
Dr. Pormir still has some mountains to climb, but it seems he is being helped by some top notch attorneys, though he has recently had to change to another attorney, financial problems being the reason, he still must face elder abuse charges.
Hughes was first to bankrupt, as the hospital's liability insurance does not cover criminal matters, and then Pormir and Ott claimed hardship and have been assigned attorneys by the court, while Hughes has a public defender.
With money short for years at KVHD, since the late 1980's when they failed to complete an expansion, and have had an anchor around their credit for 22 plus years. However, the actual costs will never be accounted for in anyway, be it the patients who were mistreated or harmed, the suspicious deaths, the management company costs, the losses to overpriced contractors, the contract with debt insurer Cal Mtg. which keeps costing more and doing nothing.
Why did HFS come in to help with a default, chosen by KVHD CFO, Chet Beedle, and then they are not finished with the job, because as board member, Dr. Gross DO, claimed they left "giant holes" in the report which were corrected by the CFO in the finance committee? What was the point of spending more, as these pennies have added up to millions, and this debt is owned by the community.
You do have power but you have to care
But there are several things this community could do to take back this hospital district and we will discuss this shortly.
We could vote a tax for the hospital, but then they haven't exactly helped us, so that may not be the answer. We don't know where the money goes, the community had to catch a 75K error: what's wrong with that picture?
We could also vote out the whole district and start over. We could also vote to take our tax money back from the district until they clean out the parasitic practices and conflict of interest.
There's oversight that the county of Kern could have sent in a long time ago, assigned someone to the hospital. No, we have seen no action on the part of the county or it's representatives to shift control so that there is transparency finally forced on the part of KVHD and it's partner, Cal Mtg.
What do you want to do? Class action lawsuit? Bring in the feds to use the much underused, ROC laws, also known as the "should have known" laws. This would bring the mice out of the woodwork, the employees too frightened to lose their jobs would have to speak up or be charged as they "should have known."
Just a thought, what about you, have any thoughts?
According to the Medical board of California, former Kern Valley Healthcare District physician, Dr. Hoshang Pormir, currently charged in the hospital's elder abuse case, has had a ruling in his case with the state's investigation into negligence involved with the nursing center at the rural hospital during 2006 and 2007.
Documents from the Medical Board show that Pormir has been given two years probation and limits on his scope of practice such as having a "solo practice" or working with the elderly, were amongst his limitations.
http://www2.mbc.ca.gov/LicenseLookupSystem/PhysicianSurgeon/document.aspx?path=\DIDOCS\20110815\DMRAAADE2\&did=AAADE110815170725193.DID&licenseType=A&licenseNumber=49827
What about the elder abuse trial?
With the quietly revealed probation and restrictions on one of the three defendants in the KVHD elder abuse case, we still have a trial date for March 12, 2012, at the Kern County Superior court.
Not that a plea bargain can't be reached, as they sometimes wait until the very last moment to cut a deal and avoid a trial which could be a greater risk than taking a lesser sentence.
As of the last reports, Dr. Pormir, along with fellow defendants, former KVHD CEO, Pamela Ott, and the former Director of Nursing, Gwen Hughes, still face criminal charges as well as civil cases waiting in the wings as this case may be overshadowed by new cases coming to light out of the public healthcare district.
With a growing list of cases against the hospital in civil court, and several cases emanating from the skilled nursing facility mismanagement, KVHD faces great financial losses in the coming months and years, which could turn out to be the death knell for the ailing hospital.
The community has recently been alerted that the first thing on KVHD's list of "stratragic" planning which was revealed at a special meeting so the community to join in, has a new tax measure at the top of the list.
More vanilla ice cream and a community that is expected to pull the hospital out of debt, which may be impossible with the upcoming legal cases. A letter to the editor of the Kern Valley Sun Newspaper from a former KVHD backer, and a long time volunteer, was turned down by the hospital as she fell after a meeting and broke her teeth.
The angry sounding letter, seemed more disappointed than anything else, but it seems the hospital can dish it out, but won't pay for it, and according to the author, asked that her dentist give a discount.
With the hospital unable to make its monthly payments to debt insurer, Cal Mtg., they stagger on with ideas which would have worked years ago, but with no circumspection, the hospital faces major hurdles, and one of which is convincing unhappy customers to come back to a hospital which cannot provide worthy or adequate healthcare. And then pay some more property taxes too.
Who is William H. Ginsburg?
After a few reactions to the Medical boards' decision with Dr. Pormir, most were shocked by the seemingly "light penalty" which includes a 40 hour course and payment for the classes.
But Dr. Pormir, who has had several different attorneys since the elder abuse charges were brought against him, one being Donald Etra, somewhat famous for his work with celebrities, and his visit with George Bush in the White House.
However, the attorney who is listed as handling the Medical board case, is William Howard Ginsburg, someone sounding familiar, but most don't remember that a young, Monica Lewinsky, and a President, Ginsburg was handling Lewinsky.
These are big attorneys who have been around and know the right people, and so far, this is the first of the cases being handled by the state agency, Consumer rights, Nursing board, so there will be more information to come soon.
Dr. Pormir still has some mountains to climb, but it seems he is being helped by some top notch attorneys, though he has recently had to change to another attorney, financial problems being the reason, he still must face elder abuse charges.
Hughes was first to bankrupt, as the hospital's liability insurance does not cover criminal matters, and then Pormir and Ott claimed hardship and have been assigned attorneys by the court, while Hughes has a public defender.
With money short for years at KVHD, since the late 1980's when they failed to complete an expansion, and have had an anchor around their credit for 22 plus years. However, the actual costs will never be accounted for in anyway, be it the patients who were mistreated or harmed, the suspicious deaths, the management company costs, the losses to overpriced contractors, the contract with debt insurer Cal Mtg. which keeps costing more and doing nothing.
Why did HFS come in to help with a default, chosen by KVHD CFO, Chet Beedle, and then they are not finished with the job, because as board member, Dr. Gross DO, claimed they left "giant holes" in the report which were corrected by the CFO in the finance committee? What was the point of spending more, as these pennies have added up to millions, and this debt is owned by the community.
You do have power but you have to care
But there are several things this community could do to take back this hospital district and we will discuss this shortly.
We could vote a tax for the hospital, but then they haven't exactly helped us, so that may not be the answer. We don't know where the money goes, the community had to catch a 75K error: what's wrong with that picture?
We could also vote out the whole district and start over. We could also vote to take our tax money back from the district until they clean out the parasitic practices and conflict of interest.
There's oversight that the county of Kern could have sent in a long time ago, assigned someone to the hospital. No, we have seen no action on the part of the county or it's representatives to shift control so that there is transparency finally forced on the part of KVHD and it's partner, Cal Mtg.
What do you want to do? Class action lawsuit? Bring in the feds to use the much underused, ROC laws, also known as the "should have known" laws. This would bring the mice out of the woodwork, the employees too frightened to lose their jobs would have to speak up or be charged as they "should have known."
Just a thought, what about you, have any thoughts?
Friday, November 26, 2010
Thought provoking email from victims of KVHD nursing center disaster: Elder abuse case resumes Dec. 3, 2010
Making it through the grief
I received the email posted below about a week or so ago. It came from one of many families effected by the Kern Valley Healthcare District during the Department of Justice case from 2006 to 2007 regarding the nursing facility's use of chemical restraints.
When I read it over, I thought maybe I'll post it, or "Snope's" it first then post it. I wasn't sure.
I'm simply posting it because I realize there are so many out there still trying to heal from the degradation and in some cases loss of loved ones, and that they are and will be, dealing with grief and anger, amongst other emotions for a long time to come.
The defendants in the KVHD elder abuse criminal case will be back in Kern County Superior Court on Dec. 3, 2010. Former CEO, Pam Ott, former Director of Nursing, Gwen Hughes, who recently filed for bankruptcy and has opted for a public defender, and Dr. Hoshang Pormir, the former Medical Director for the facility, who hired Hollywood legal counsel, Donald Etra.
This is the case opened up by the Department of Justice run by Attorney General Jerry Brown, now Governor-elect, which included a specific topic of chemical restraining as a cause of death in at least three cases. Though I have and continue to believe it is murder, these crimes are known as "elder abuse." Also included are two assault charges regarding a forced injection of the antipsychotic medication known as "Risperdal."
Other issues arose and still plague the hospital today, but as of this time, these are the current defendants.
My best regards go out to all who have suffered needlessly at the hands of the Kern Valley Healthcare District. Here is the email which reminds one of the hypocrisy which surrounds the criminal and civil cases at KVHD.
Jails and Nursing Homes
Here's the way it should be:
Let's put the seniors in jail and the criminals in nursing homes.
This would correct two things in one motion:
Seniors would have access to showers, hobbies and walks.
They would receive unlimited free prescriptions, dental and medical treatment, wheel chairs, etc.
They would receive money instead of having to pay it out.
They would have constant video monitoring, so they would be helped instantly if they fell or needed assistance.
Bedding would be washed twice a week and all clothing would be ironed and returned to them.
A guard would check on them every 20 minutes.
All meals and snacks would be brought to them
They would have family visits in a suite built for that purpose.
They would have access to a library, weight/fitness room, spiritual counseling, a pool and education...and free admission to in-house concerts by nationally recognized entertainment artists.
Simple clothing - ie., shoes, slippers, pj's - and legal aid would be free, upon request.
There would be private, secure rooms provided for all with an outdoor exercise yard complete with gardens.
Each senior would have a P.C., T.V., phone and radio in their room at no cost.
They would receive daily phone calls.
There would be a board of directors to hear any complaints and the ACLU would fight for their rights and protection.
The guards would have a code of conduct to be strictly adhered to, with attorneys available, at no charge to protect the seniors and their families from abuse or neglect.
As for the criminals :
They would receive cold food.
They would be left alone and unsupervised.
They would receive showers once a week.
They would live in tiny rooms, for which they would have to pay $5,000 per month.
They would have no hope of ever getting out.
"Sounds like justice to me!"
(If You agree, pass this on!)
Sunday, October 10, 2010
KVHD elder abuse case continued to Dec. 3rd: money problems for defendants?
Elder abuse case continued: defense running out of money?
News from the Kern County Superior court is that the Kern Valley Healthcare District elder abuse case brought about by the state of California's Department of Justice has been continued until Dec. 3rd as two of the defendants may be having financial problems.
All three defendants, former KVHD CEO, Pamela Ott, Dr. Hoshang Pormir, and Nursing Director, Gwen Hughes appeared for the scheduled court hearing where they would have to answer to charges of elder abuse after a preliminary hearing showed their was enough evidence to move to trial.
Gwen Hughes, seen in photos sitting in her wheelchair, had declared bankruptcy two months ago, and today, her attorney, Bruce Blythe, informed the court he would no longer be representing Hughes.
Hughes, at this time will now be using a public defender to serve as her attorney during the rest of the case.
What was more interesting is the "big time" attorney didn't show
As I have mentioned, Dr. Hoshang Pormir, hired two somewhat well known attorneys to handle his case, Donald Etra and William Howard Ginsburg, but neither was with Pormir this morning in court.
Money problems seem to be what is being declared as the reason for the continuance, as Pormir was in court alone, and Ott's attorney, local Jim Faulkner, spoke on Pormir's behalf.
I've heard from lawyers that costs to pursue a criminal trial start at the low end of $200,000 but it depends on your attorney.
Donald Etra, who has recently taken to celebrity cases, is probably not anywhere near that cost, that's more than likely his "lunch money."
There are two aspects to the charges the defendants must overcome: the criminal case and second, the licensing boards.
Again, there are costs to defend these cases, but they also have cases with the state board of nursing and the medical board which requires its own investigation... and attorney costs.
The civil cases
With a number of civil cases stemming from the elder abuse incidents, the defendants still may have to face years of lawsuits depending on the actions of the hospital's liability insurance carrier. Will they settle out of court?
Depending on the costs, Betagh, liability for KVHD, may find themselves over the maximum level to pay for all the costs associated with the crimes. These are monies which could become caught in the "bail out" or Measure G, meaning with all the lawsuits out there, KVHD may have to pay out of their own pockets...our pockets.
A young man contacted me a few weeks ago regarding an incident in the ER. It was serious enough that I recommended he take it to an attorney who would be more effective in helping him than I would be.
I saw him a few days ago, and asked what the attorney said to him. He told me the lawyer said bring me all you have, I'm already handling three other cases against that hospital.
That opened my eyes to the fact that this hospital may have to do what everyone is afraid to do: bankrupt.
Another subject for another time.
As of today, the elder abuse case is continued until December, and with the new information about financial troubles with the defendants, we may see that plea deal after all.
It's any one's guess, but we need to resume talking about "the future" of this hospital, it's viability, and offer real solutions, rather than trying to pretend there aren't serious problems hanging over us all which have not been adequately or fairly adressed.
And just so you know crime isn't the only thing that pays
Here's something you should know if you work anywhere there is white collar crime, financial mismanagement, and you are asked to do things you know are wrong: You could be rich for telling the truth.
It's the "whistle blower" act which means the person courageous enough to have turned in the elder abuse gang at KVHD, would or will be rich. Millions of dollars have gone out to whistle blowers who refused to "follow orders" they knew were wrong or illegal.
If you ever find yourself in a situation where you are being threatened to keep information about potentially illegal activities, don't hide in a corner, tell the truth and there will be a pay off, a very large pay off.
I know so many of the employees at KVHD tried to notify the board and administrators of the short staffing and elder abuse issues, but next time, call an attorney first, they are in the phone book under "whistle blower."
This way you will protect your own rights and will also be rewarded financially.
News from the Kern County Superior court is that the Kern Valley Healthcare District elder abuse case brought about by the state of California's Department of Justice has been continued until Dec. 3rd as two of the defendants may be having financial problems.
All three defendants, former KVHD CEO, Pamela Ott, Dr. Hoshang Pormir, and Nursing Director, Gwen Hughes appeared for the scheduled court hearing where they would have to answer to charges of elder abuse after a preliminary hearing showed their was enough evidence to move to trial.
Gwen Hughes, seen in photos sitting in her wheelchair, had declared bankruptcy two months ago, and today, her attorney, Bruce Blythe, informed the court he would no longer be representing Hughes.
Hughes, at this time will now be using a public defender to serve as her attorney during the rest of the case.
What was more interesting is the "big time" attorney didn't show
As I have mentioned, Dr. Hoshang Pormir, hired two somewhat well known attorneys to handle his case, Donald Etra and William Howard Ginsburg, but neither was with Pormir this morning in court.
Money problems seem to be what is being declared as the reason for the continuance, as Pormir was in court alone, and Ott's attorney, local Jim Faulkner, spoke on Pormir's behalf.
I've heard from lawyers that costs to pursue a criminal trial start at the low end of $200,000 but it depends on your attorney.
Donald Etra, who has recently taken to celebrity cases, is probably not anywhere near that cost, that's more than likely his "lunch money."
There are two aspects to the charges the defendants must overcome: the criminal case and second, the licensing boards.
Again, there are costs to defend these cases, but they also have cases with the state board of nursing and the medical board which requires its own investigation... and attorney costs.
The civil cases
With a number of civil cases stemming from the elder abuse incidents, the defendants still may have to face years of lawsuits depending on the actions of the hospital's liability insurance carrier. Will they settle out of court?
Depending on the costs, Betagh, liability for KVHD, may find themselves over the maximum level to pay for all the costs associated with the crimes. These are monies which could become caught in the "bail out" or Measure G, meaning with all the lawsuits out there, KVHD may have to pay out of their own pockets...our pockets.
A young man contacted me a few weeks ago regarding an incident in the ER. It was serious enough that I recommended he take it to an attorney who would be more effective in helping him than I would be.
I saw him a few days ago, and asked what the attorney said to him. He told me the lawyer said bring me all you have, I'm already handling three other cases against that hospital.
That opened my eyes to the fact that this hospital may have to do what everyone is afraid to do: bankrupt.
Another subject for another time.
As of today, the elder abuse case is continued until December, and with the new information about financial troubles with the defendants, we may see that plea deal after all.
It's any one's guess, but we need to resume talking about "the future" of this hospital, it's viability, and offer real solutions, rather than trying to pretend there aren't serious problems hanging over us all which have not been adequately or fairly adressed.
And just so you know crime isn't the only thing that pays
Here's something you should know if you work anywhere there is white collar crime, financial mismanagement, and you are asked to do things you know are wrong: You could be rich for telling the truth.
It's the "whistle blower" act which means the person courageous enough to have turned in the elder abuse gang at KVHD, would or will be rich. Millions of dollars have gone out to whistle blowers who refused to "follow orders" they knew were wrong or illegal.
If you ever find yourself in a situation where you are being threatened to keep information about potentially illegal activities, don't hide in a corner, tell the truth and there will be a pay off, a very large pay off.
I know so many of the employees at KVHD tried to notify the board and administrators of the short staffing and elder abuse issues, but next time, call an attorney first, they are in the phone book under "whistle blower."
This way you will protect your own rights and will also be rewarded financially.
Sunday, August 15, 2010
Kern Valley Healthcare District Elder abuse case returns to court today, Oct. 15
Elder abuse case resumes
The somewhat political and infamous elder abuse case against a CEO, Skilled nursing Director, and the Director of Nursing, at the Kern Valley healthcare district, begins again today, Friday, Oct. 15, 2010 as the defendants will be "answering to the charges."
I'm calling the case political in the sense that we have had our California Attorney General, Jerry Brown, on TV, calling this case the worst he had ever seen. This was right on the heel of his announcement he was running for governor, and he used this case to get attention.
Well you got my attention Mr. Brown.
And certainly the small town aspect where many who have ties to the hospital financially, socially, or as a patient, have divided and still to this day have not shown the character to stand up and say "that's enough."
After an interesting preliminary hearing, not that I heard much, as they marched me out of there as quickly as possible. They used a double attack, one against my media release, and second they said I could potentially be a witness.
I'm not potentially a witness, I am a witness, there's a difference. I am only potential in the sense of the court case itself, but the rest is the "true story" of what I KNOW happened.
The DOJ or as I call them "dodge" the truth
The moment I left court in August during the preliminary hearing I felt a plea deal coming on. I could understand why former KVHD CEO, Pamela Ott would not want to have to face the emails and her phony resume, and many of the other crumbs left behind on her trail of deceit.
So, in an effort to gain more understanding, I sent off some questions to "Dodge the truth" and here are the responses.
Would it be fair to say the preliminary hearing is concluded? Or is it underway until it's a trial? The preliminary hearing is over.
If the court has found sufficient evidence to proceed to trial, then is "assured" that there will be a trial? Nothing is assured. The defendants could always plead guilty to the entire information, or plead guilty to some portion of it through a plea agreement.
If the case goes to a grand jury, the prosecutor puts on witnesses and information before the grand jury, who tests the evidence and, if it feels it warranted, issues the indictment.
If the case starts by way of a complaint, the court must hold a preliminary hearing, in which the prosecutor puts on (some) witnesses in front of the judge, who tests the information, and if he or she believes that the evidence is present, the judge "holds the defendant to answer" for trial in the Superior Court. (In the past, all of this was done in the Municipal Court.) The prosecutor then files an "information" based on the counts that the judge in the preliminary hearing "held the defendant to answer for", (and any other evidence that comes out in the preliminary examination relating to crimes not formally charged in the original complaint), and the case is then set for arraignment on the "information" and at that time the defendants enter new pleas (of guilty or not guilty) and the case is then set for trial.
The second arraignment is required by law. A felony case may not proceed to a jury trial unless the evidence has first been tested, either by a grand jury or by a judge, and the evidence is found to be good enough to deserve a jury trial. This is to protect a criminal defendant from having to defend him or herself in a felony jury trial against bogus or worthless evidence.
(Note: this is the procedure for felonies. Misdemeanors don't require either a preliminary hearing or a grand jury indictment.)
Can the prosecution use any witnesses not in discovery during the preliminary period?
The prosecution can use any witness it deems appropriate during the trial, subject to evidential requirements and rules of evidence.
The Press Office does not have plans to issue a press release at this time.
Thank you
The attorney's for the defense Donald Etra and William H Ginsburg
These two lawyers are the wild cards of this whole small time criminal case. Etra, who was an attorney for Ralph Nader and a guest at the White house during the George W. era, replaced the attorney for Dr. Hoshang Pormir last April.
Ginsburg's past is in no way less interesting, he was the attorney for "Monica Lewinsky" during the Clinton era, where we spent millions on attorney fees to do absolutely nothing.
Because of their presence in the case, Etra handling the criminal aspect, and Ginsburg handling licensing issues for Dr. Pormir, I can foresee the greater potential for a plea deal. Does the DOJ really have what it takes to go up against these two attorneys?
But at one point, and it is on my Youtube site, all of the defense attorneys appeared to be working together as they left in the same vehicle, not knowing I was in front with my camera like the paparazzi.
I also found out that these two attorneys came through our town and picked up records and were looking for information and references for their client, Pormir.
We will know later this morning what the outcome will be today, or if the defense wants a fight for their "innocent" clients, or the state wants to get out of this as fast as they can, as Mr. Brown, doesn't want to feed his gubernatorial rival a lobster dinner on the eve of the election.
Update later...
The somewhat political and infamous elder abuse case against a CEO, Skilled nursing Director, and the Director of Nursing, at the Kern Valley healthcare district, begins again today, Friday, Oct. 15, 2010 as the defendants will be "answering to the charges."
I'm calling the case political in the sense that we have had our California Attorney General, Jerry Brown, on TV, calling this case the worst he had ever seen. This was right on the heel of his announcement he was running for governor, and he used this case to get attention.
Well you got my attention Mr. Brown.
And certainly the small town aspect where many who have ties to the hospital financially, socially, or as a patient, have divided and still to this day have not shown the character to stand up and say "that's enough."
After an interesting preliminary hearing, not that I heard much, as they marched me out of there as quickly as possible. They used a double attack, one against my media release, and second they said I could potentially be a witness.
I'm not potentially a witness, I am a witness, there's a difference. I am only potential in the sense of the court case itself, but the rest is the "true story" of what I KNOW happened.
The DOJ or as I call them "dodge" the truth
The moment I left court in August during the preliminary hearing I felt a plea deal coming on. I could understand why former KVHD CEO, Pamela Ott would not want to have to face the emails and her phony resume, and many of the other crumbs left behind on her trail of deceit.
So, in an effort to gain more understanding, I sent off some questions to "Dodge the truth" and here are the responses.
(Oddly, I just went up to get a cup of coffee as I am deciding whether or not to go to court today, and as I was at the counter stirring in my creamer, I looked to the left and there was the state's main witness. (synchronicity of events once again)
We chatted for a few minutes and I reminded her today is the day the gang gets into court to begin the process for trial or more likely a plea deal.)
Would it be fair to say the preliminary hearing is concluded? Or is it underway until it's a trial? The preliminary hearing is over.
If the court has found sufficient evidence to proceed to trial, then is "assured" that there will be a trial? Nothing is assured. The defendants could always plead guilty to the entire information, or plead guilty to some portion of it through a plea agreement.
For instance, what kind of arraignment, we've already had one, what is this accomplishing?
Before, the defendants were arraigned on a "complaint". Now they will be arraigned on an "information". In California law, a defendant is charged with a crime one of two ways--either through a grand jury indictment, (in which case one goes straight to trial), or by a "complaint" filed by the prosecuting attorney. (Before 2000, this was done in the Municipal Court, but in 2000, the Municipal Court was merged into the Superior Court, so it all takes place in the same court.)
If the case goes to a grand jury, the prosecutor puts on witnesses and information before the grand jury, who tests the evidence and, if it feels it warranted, issues the indictment.
If the case starts by way of a complaint, the court must hold a preliminary hearing, in which the prosecutor puts on (some) witnesses in front of the judge, who tests the information, and if he or she believes that the evidence is present, the judge "holds the defendant to answer" for trial in the Superior Court. (In the past, all of this was done in the Municipal Court.) The prosecutor then files an "information" based on the counts that the judge in the preliminary hearing "held the defendant to answer for", (and any other evidence that comes out in the preliminary examination relating to crimes not formally charged in the original complaint), and the case is then set for arraignment on the "information" and at that time the defendants enter new pleas (of guilty or not guilty) and the case is then set for trial.
The second arraignment is required by law. A felony case may not proceed to a jury trial unless the evidence has first been tested, either by a grand jury or by a judge, and the evidence is found to be good enough to deserve a jury trial. This is to protect a criminal defendant from having to defend him or herself in a felony jury trial against bogus or worthless evidence.
(Note: this is the procedure for felonies. Misdemeanors don't require either a preliminary hearing or a grand jury indictment.)
If there is a trial what is the expected period before this takes place? Generally you never know, I know, but a guess, like a year? Will it be a trial by jury?
The jury trial will probably be set for sometime in the late spring. It doesn't have to be a jury--either side is guaranteed the right to a trial by jury--that's part of our Bill of Rights. But the defendants can waive that if they want to.
How many more hoops until the trial begins? Meaning what are the steps, or potential, common steps?
Prior to a jury trial there will likely be numerous motions. For example, the defendants may file a motion to set aside the judge's ruling to hold the defendants to answer, on the grounds that the judge made a mistake and that the evidence is NOT sufficient to deserve taking the defendants to a jury trial.
Can the DOJ add others or charge others regarding the same case? If say, some new evidence was revealed that others were involved?
The Department of Justice can always charge additional defendants if it discovers new evidence, subject to the statute of limitations.
Are any of the defendants still working, or using their license? If it takes a year to go to trial will any of the defendants still be allowed to work and which ones?
We are unaware of the defendants' employment status. Licensing actions against all the defendants are pending before their appropriate licensing boards.
How many witnesses were called by the state during the preliminary hearing? How many testified?
Three witnesses were called by the state during the preliminary hearing, and all three testified. They were the whistleblower, Licensed Vocational Nurse Holly Lightner, the DOJ medical consultant, Dr. Kathryn Locatell, and the BMFEA investigator, DOJ Special Agent Donny Fong. The defense called no witnesses.
The prosecution can use any witness it deems appropriate during the trial, subject to evidential requirements and rules of evidence.
Will the DOJ send out a press release any time soon?
The Press Office does not have plans to issue a press release at this time.
Thank you
(the fact that they aren't sending out a press release when my email box is full of "Brown" cases, I can only speculate that they don't have confidence or they want to bury this case as a mistake. So, expect something interesting today. But remember, this whole case stems from trying to hide and bury the truth, so I guess why should we end on a different note?)
The attorney's for the defense Donald Etra and William H Ginsburg
These two lawyers are the wild cards of this whole small time criminal case. Etra, who was an attorney for Ralph Nader and a guest at the White house during the George W. era, replaced the attorney for Dr. Hoshang Pormir last April.
Ginsburg's past is in no way less interesting, he was the attorney for "Monica Lewinsky" during the Clinton era, where we spent millions on attorney fees to do absolutely nothing.
Because of their presence in the case, Etra handling the criminal aspect, and Ginsburg handling licensing issues for Dr. Pormir, I can foresee the greater potential for a plea deal. Does the DOJ really have what it takes to go up against these two attorneys?
But at one point, and it is on my Youtube site, all of the defense attorneys appeared to be working together as they left in the same vehicle, not knowing I was in front with my camera like the paparazzi.
I also found out that these two attorneys came through our town and picked up records and were looking for information and references for their client, Pormir.
We will know later this morning what the outcome will be today, or if the defense wants a fight for their "innocent" clients, or the state wants to get out of this as fast as they can, as Mr. Brown, doesn't want to feed his gubernatorial rival a lobster dinner on the eve of the election.
Update later...
Thursday, June 24, 2010
Monday, June 21, 2010
UPDATED: Headline: "Elder abuse preliminary hearing set for June" the case is finally underway
UPDATE: Currently the Kern County Superior court web site indicates that there will be a hearing regarding a continuance in the Attorney General, Jerry Brown's elder abuse case against Pam Ott, Hoshang Pormir and Gwen Hughes formerly of the Kern Valley Healthcare District.
The site information also indicated that Gwen Hughes is filing for bankruptcy, which could be the need for a continuance in the case as she may be changing attorneys.
Well, I will likely not attend now, but I will get the information and pass it along Tuesday afternoon. As is explained below, this case hasn't even gotten to the point of trial, and they are still waiting to convene the preliminary hearing so that we can find out if there is enough evidence for trial.
The civil cases are hinging on the outcome of the preliminary hearing, so it looks like the families of the victims will have to wait again.
With a pattern of two month continuences, this could get back in court in August, and we will finally know if there will be a trial. Read below...
After more than a year since the original arrests and charges in the Kern Valley Healthcare District elder abuse case, the court has finally set the date for the preliminary hearing, which will be June 22 and 23 for all three defendants, Pamela Ott, Gwen Hughes, and Dr. Pormir.
Yes, it's a long process but finally we are here at,mid field, for football fans.
After speaking to one of the family members who is involved in one of the civil cases against the hospital nursing center claiming the chemical restraints caused the death of her mother, the families are more than a little anxious as the civil cases are currently on hold as the outcome of the criminal case is particularly important to those cases.
The preliminary hearing will be the judge basically deciding if there is enough evidence to proceed to trial in Superior court. And there could be witnesses called and all kinds of fun stuff and even the whole case or parts of the case, just being thrown out; anything can happen.
Bargains could be made, the judge could order bargains be made or new evidence and charges could be brought on; basically anything goes from now on it gets exciting.
We had been waiting to see that preliminary hearing date on the calendar and now they are lining up the witnesses and the elephants for the parade.
Sadly though these situations take years to resolve, so there is no expectation that just because the preliminary is on the calendar that there will be a organized chain of events which will follow.
Attorney's could ask for more time to prepare or prosecutors could be rummaging through the last of the evidence and witnesses and suddenly find the "magic evidence" that leads to truth and justice.
Considering every defense attorney out on the internet believes that more cases are settled without trial than with a trial, that would mean that bargains are yet to come.
Nothing will go quickly, unless there is a sudden need for a "speedy trial" as the defendants agreed to forgo a speedy preliminary trial after the last defendant in the case so far, Pam Ott, was brought in late for dinner, so it could happen.
But we still don't know about the attorney change that took place on Jan. 5, of this year, and came with a continuance as new criminal attorney for Dr. Pormir, Donald Etra, has yet to be seen or heard from. No pictures, no statement.
Yet Mr. Etra is quite a respected attorney of some merit. (which leads us to wonder what is he doing here?)
I'm sorry Mr. Etra, I am sure you are glad I decided to plead nolo sleepo Tuesday morning, and not attend the calendar change, as I would have been looking for you. I do hope to meet some day and ask why and how you got here to our white "by the collar," case?
So, the judge may get a shot at deciding whether to send this case upstairs, or deciding on other deals the kind done in chambers without court reporters. But the statistics show once we are here this judge doesn't have to decide if they are guilty without a doubt, they just decide if it looks bad enough to send upstairs to ICU, or I mean Superior Court.
Patience, this is the pace of the criminal calendar in Kern County, but we should keep a sharp eye now that things are coming closer to that preliminary hearing where we could be entertained with witnesses and evidence, and trying to figure out the strategies of all parties involved.
Personally, I think it has got to get interesting. I personally know the players involved; know what they are capable of; how they will protect themselves above anyone else; and then you throw in the likes of Jerry Brown, a new surreptitious attorney Donald Etra, and the potential for other "witnesses" or even "defendants" makes this nothing but must see TV...and then there's the spin off being filmed at the hospital right now.
The site information also indicated that Gwen Hughes is filing for bankruptcy, which could be the need for a continuance in the case as she may be changing attorneys.
Well, I will likely not attend now, but I will get the information and pass it along Tuesday afternoon. As is explained below, this case hasn't even gotten to the point of trial, and they are still waiting to convene the preliminary hearing so that we can find out if there is enough evidence for trial.
The civil cases are hinging on the outcome of the preliminary hearing, so it looks like the families of the victims will have to wait again.
With a pattern of two month continuences, this could get back in court in August, and we will finally know if there will be a trial. Read below...
After more than a year since the original arrests and charges in the Kern Valley Healthcare District elder abuse case, the court has finally set the date for the preliminary hearing, which will be June 22 and 23 for all three defendants, Pamela Ott, Gwen Hughes, and Dr. Pormir.
Yes, it's a long process but finally we are here at,mid field, for football fans.
After speaking to one of the family members who is involved in one of the civil cases against the hospital nursing center claiming the chemical restraints caused the death of her mother, the families are more than a little anxious as the civil cases are currently on hold as the outcome of the criminal case is particularly important to those cases.
The preliminary hearing will be the judge basically deciding if there is enough evidence to proceed to trial in Superior court. And there could be witnesses called and all kinds of fun stuff and even the whole case or parts of the case, just being thrown out; anything can happen.
Bargains could be made, the judge could order bargains be made or new evidence and charges could be brought on; basically anything goes from now on it gets exciting.
We had been waiting to see that preliminary hearing date on the calendar and now they are lining up the witnesses and the elephants for the parade.
Sadly though these situations take years to resolve, so there is no expectation that just because the preliminary is on the calendar that there will be a organized chain of events which will follow.
Attorney's could ask for more time to prepare or prosecutors could be rummaging through the last of the evidence and witnesses and suddenly find the "magic evidence" that leads to truth and justice.
Considering every defense attorney out on the internet believes that more cases are settled without trial than with a trial, that would mean that bargains are yet to come.
Nothing will go quickly, unless there is a sudden need for a "speedy trial" as the defendants agreed to forgo a speedy preliminary trial after the last defendant in the case so far, Pam Ott, was brought in late for dinner, so it could happen.
But we still don't know about the attorney change that took place on Jan. 5, of this year, and came with a continuance as new criminal attorney for Dr. Pormir, Donald Etra, has yet to be seen or heard from. No pictures, no statement.
Yet Mr. Etra is quite a respected attorney of some merit. (which leads us to wonder what is he doing here?)
I'm sorry Mr. Etra, I am sure you are glad I decided to plead nolo sleepo Tuesday morning, and not attend the calendar change, as I would have been looking for you. I do hope to meet some day and ask why and how you got here to our white "by the collar," case?
So, the judge may get a shot at deciding whether to send this case upstairs, or deciding on other deals the kind done in chambers without court reporters. But the statistics show once we are here this judge doesn't have to decide if they are guilty without a doubt, they just decide if it looks bad enough to send upstairs to ICU, or I mean Superior Court.
Patience, this is the pace of the criminal calendar in Kern County, but we should keep a sharp eye now that things are coming closer to that preliminary hearing where we could be entertained with witnesses and evidence, and trying to figure out the strategies of all parties involved.
Personally, I think it has got to get interesting. I personally know the players involved; know what they are capable of; how they will protect themselves above anyone else; and then you throw in the likes of Jerry Brown, a new surreptitious attorney Donald Etra, and the potential for other "witnesses" or even "defendants" makes this nothing but must see TV...and then there's the spin off being filmed at the hospital right now.
Wednesday, June 9, 2010
Two pharmaceutical companies facing charges of supporting off label prescribing: for the elderly
(review the case is a week away now)
Less than two months away from the elder abuse criminal case against three Kern Valley Healthcare District employees, California Attorney General Edmund G. Brown Jr., "Jerry Brown" announced just today that California is part of a 520 million dollar settlement against a London based company for promoting off label use of "Seroquel" an anti-psychotic drug, in the elderly with dementia and Alzheimers.
AstraZeneca is accused of encouraging the use of these antipsychotics in the aged and elderly, not approved by the FDA. The years that these practices were supposedly in effect were from 2001 to 2006.
(Gee, that 2006 number certainly stands out, as the KVHD elder abuse case revolves around the use of antipsychotics on it's elderly patients which may have lead to an increase morbidity rate.)
The Wall Street Journal reported last month that Abbott Laboratories was doing the same thing with it's liver munching, all around player, Depakote. The use of this drug in the elderly is not approved by the FDA and off label prescribing was encouraged, say federal officials who are on this case.
The timing couldn't be better for a defense
With two large companies under the microscope right now for promoting the utilization of antipsychotics like risperdal, Seroquel, Depakote, for use on combative elderly patients, as these are used more for mood adjustments.
But the side effects are great and the older the person the more likely damage could occur and many safeguards would have to be put in place to ensure the drugs were monitored.
As we know the nursing home business isn't making people rich, and some are barely staffed, so many short cuts are taken to provide care even though the laws state that such treatment is both lacking in dignity and sometimes harmful.
Putting patients who are active, yet not quite coherent, on antipsychotics is called chemical restraining. This is used in the cases of certain classifications of mental illness, they are the very same drugs said to treat everybody. (party drugs?)
This is why the Kern River Valley Hospital has a few dates in the Kern County court, and the preliminary hearing will be coming up on June 23, and the judge will decide if the Department of justice has done it's job and proven such abuse.
But it's not only prosecutors looking at this case, it's the defense, and the families, and certainly the liability company for the hospital.
Whose fault is it anyway? Could a couple good attorneys prove that considering the drug companies were out there promoting the use of these drugs in the elderly, maybe Dr. Pormir was listening, and considering it might be a good idea.
These drugs could possibly make some of these residents tortured in mind and body, feel better. What is wrong with that?
Only one thing: The FDA didn't approve it. So the doctor is risking his own judgment on these drugs. But again these companies may provide a discount as the use of these drugs could in some ways be considered a "test subject group" maybe?
Who is the cause of what happened or do we really even know what happened here at our skilled nursing facility. We do know as a fact, they were short staffed. We do know a year before the chemical restraining occurred, a Director of Nursing, Todd Elkins, left employment over short staffing and pay cuts.
It is not confirmed, but Elkins supposedly works for the agency, Public Health, which surveys these nursing homes to make sure they are following the laws.
And we know there was a lack of ability on the part of the hospital CEO, Pam Ott, to be able to knowledgeably watch over and make sure things were done correctly as she had no credentials that weren't purchased on the back of a pack of matches.
Nurses complained, people were afraid to lose their jobs, but a new way of dealing with patients came about in August of 2006. The use of Depakote, Seroquel, Risperdal, as well as other antidepressants and antipsychotics. The new KVHD nursing center practice.
Who is really responsible?
There are so many people you could point fingers at in this case, but I think we will see them pointed toward pharmaceutical companies as well as possibly the only one that could be prosecuted, the leader who knew there were issues with the drugs, but did nothing to stop it: Pam Ott.
The rest are all contributors, well, except for the board of directors who had the information. Only two took action, the rest hid the truth from the community until today. They would be good for obstruction charges.
Nurses who had careers and plans for retirement found their lives spinning and they found they were doing things they didn't want to do.
But attorney's make all the difference
Defendants Ott and Gwen Hughes have a couple local lawyers from Bakersfield, defending them in the criminal matter, and then there is the long story about how the civil cases are being paid for. Don't ask just vote yes on a multi million dollar bond for the hospital as they are not very good at budgeting, just short staffing.
Enter Donald Etra successful lawyer with Ralph Nader for many years. He stepped into the drama in March when the case was postponed until June so the new attorney for Dr. Pormir could gather up the evidence and decide on a defense.
I had wondered where Etra came from so suddenly and then I heard that Pormir also got another attorney, a pal from college, William Howard Ginsburg, to take on his case with the state medical board.
Dr. Pormir would protect her
In the two years I knew Dr. Pormir he believed strongly in Pam Ott's constant carrot dangling of a new hospital and ER. He backed what she said and did in regards to the 2006 bond measure "m" for... you fill in the blanks.
I do not believe he will tell the authorities all he knows about her and what she did in response to the disaster which took place under her leadership. With questionable deaths, the mistreatment of families with relatives living in the nursing center, Ott needed to be brought out into the sunshine, but was stopped by friends, like Dr. Pormir, radio jock Bob Jamison, and Brad Armstrong.
How strong is the DOJ?
How strong is Jerry Brown and his organization up the state? I get these press releases and white collar crime pays, as he has made some money for the office.
What has he done to foster a sense of justice to the people of this state? Did the Anna Nicole Smith prosecution make any of you feel proud to be an American?
I can tell you the state has missed many good witnesses and found some pleasure in making up their own story in this case.
How will they do against Donald Etra and William Ginsburg though?
Ginsburg hit the limelight when he became Monica Lewinsky's attorney, as the whole country was wrapped around this warped political attack led by a better known attorney, Kenneth Starr.
I was told Pormir went to school with Ginsburg, but that would be odd as one is an attorney and another did much of his medical schooling in his home country of Iran.
Pormir will never testify and he will not rat out Ott either. He will likely with two attorneys on his arms, walk away unscathed.
Many families who lost a member to the KVHD nursing center, will not be happy to hear of recent developments.
And the civil cases are on hold until the court decides if the state has enough evidence to prosecute.
Ott never even was put in jail, as the others were, and she didn't get any bail either. The judge didn't see her as threatening. Ott had that charm at one time and lauded it over this community only to poison us all.
My predictions: the psychic reporter
Both Dr. Pormir and Gwen Hughes are slapped on the wrist, with Hughes getting a few lesser charges and Pormir just promising to be good.
Ott is the wild card. She is the main reason this case should have taken place. Along with several people who aided and abetted her, including the local radio station.
But I see a defense from the two cases cited above. And so do Donald and Bill.
Justice will likely turn into "just us" again
The people that tried to stop this were hurt over and over again, the family members, I apologize that there couldn't have been a better system in place who cared about the elderly and infirm: but there isn't.
The attorney general slash governor to be, will walk away from us as if we never existed, and then sleep at night with the help of some off label barbiturate prescription.
And fired employees, reputations lost, will try to scratch this off their resume and get employed somewhere where nobody knows about what happened here in the Kern River Valley. Our dirty little secrets...
Press control and click on link to open:
http://www.kern.courts.ca.gov/home.aspx
Less than two months away from the elder abuse criminal case against three Kern Valley Healthcare District employees, California Attorney General Edmund G. Brown Jr., "Jerry Brown" announced just today that California is part of a 520 million dollar settlement against a London based company for promoting off label use of "Seroquel" an anti-psychotic drug, in the elderly with dementia and Alzheimers.
AstraZeneca is accused of encouraging the use of these antipsychotics in the aged and elderly, not approved by the FDA. The years that these practices were supposedly in effect were from 2001 to 2006.
(Gee, that 2006 number certainly stands out, as the KVHD elder abuse case revolves around the use of antipsychotics on it's elderly patients which may have lead to an increase morbidity rate.)
The Wall Street Journal reported last month that Abbott Laboratories was doing the same thing with it's liver munching, all around player, Depakote. The use of this drug in the elderly is not approved by the FDA and off label prescribing was encouraged, say federal officials who are on this case.
The timing couldn't be better for a defense
With two large companies under the microscope right now for promoting the utilization of antipsychotics like risperdal, Seroquel, Depakote, for use on combative elderly patients, as these are used more for mood adjustments.
But the side effects are great and the older the person the more likely damage could occur and many safeguards would have to be put in place to ensure the drugs were monitored.
As we know the nursing home business isn't making people rich, and some are barely staffed, so many short cuts are taken to provide care even though the laws state that such treatment is both lacking in dignity and sometimes harmful.
Putting patients who are active, yet not quite coherent, on antipsychotics is called chemical restraining. This is used in the cases of certain classifications of mental illness, they are the very same drugs said to treat everybody. (party drugs?)
This is why the Kern River Valley Hospital has a few dates in the Kern County court, and the preliminary hearing will be coming up on June 23, and the judge will decide if the Department of justice has done it's job and proven such abuse.
But it's not only prosecutors looking at this case, it's the defense, and the families, and certainly the liability company for the hospital.
Whose fault is it anyway? Could a couple good attorneys prove that considering the drug companies were out there promoting the use of these drugs in the elderly, maybe Dr. Pormir was listening, and considering it might be a good idea.
These drugs could possibly make some of these residents tortured in mind and body, feel better. What is wrong with that?
Only one thing: The FDA didn't approve it. So the doctor is risking his own judgment on these drugs. But again these companies may provide a discount as the use of these drugs could in some ways be considered a "test subject group" maybe?
Who is the cause of what happened or do we really even know what happened here at our skilled nursing facility. We do know as a fact, they were short staffed. We do know a year before the chemical restraining occurred, a Director of Nursing, Todd Elkins, left employment over short staffing and pay cuts.
It is not confirmed, but Elkins supposedly works for the agency, Public Health, which surveys these nursing homes to make sure they are following the laws.
And we know there was a lack of ability on the part of the hospital CEO, Pam Ott, to be able to knowledgeably watch over and make sure things were done correctly as she had no credentials that weren't purchased on the back of a pack of matches.
Nurses complained, people were afraid to lose their jobs, but a new way of dealing with patients came about in August of 2006. The use of Depakote, Seroquel, Risperdal, as well as other antidepressants and antipsychotics. The new KVHD nursing center practice.
Who is really responsible?
There are so many people you could point fingers at in this case, but I think we will see them pointed toward pharmaceutical companies as well as possibly the only one that could be prosecuted, the leader who knew there were issues with the drugs, but did nothing to stop it: Pam Ott.
The rest are all contributors, well, except for the board of directors who had the information. Only two took action, the rest hid the truth from the community until today. They would be good for obstruction charges.
Nurses who had careers and plans for retirement found their lives spinning and they found they were doing things they didn't want to do.
But attorney's make all the difference
Defendants Ott and Gwen Hughes have a couple local lawyers from Bakersfield, defending them in the criminal matter, and then there is the long story about how the civil cases are being paid for. Don't ask just vote yes on a multi million dollar bond for the hospital as they are not very good at budgeting, just short staffing.
Enter Donald Etra successful lawyer with Ralph Nader for many years. He stepped into the drama in March when the case was postponed until June so the new attorney for Dr. Pormir could gather up the evidence and decide on a defense.
I had wondered where Etra came from so suddenly and then I heard that Pormir also got another attorney, a pal from college, William Howard Ginsburg, to take on his case with the state medical board.
Dr. Pormir would protect her
In the two years I knew Dr. Pormir he believed strongly in Pam Ott's constant carrot dangling of a new hospital and ER. He backed what she said and did in regards to the 2006 bond measure "m" for... you fill in the blanks.
I do not believe he will tell the authorities all he knows about her and what she did in response to the disaster which took place under her leadership. With questionable deaths, the mistreatment of families with relatives living in the nursing center, Ott needed to be brought out into the sunshine, but was stopped by friends, like Dr. Pormir, radio jock Bob Jamison, and Brad Armstrong.
How strong is the DOJ?
How strong is Jerry Brown and his organization up the state? I get these press releases and white collar crime pays, as he has made some money for the office.
What has he done to foster a sense of justice to the people of this state? Did the Anna Nicole Smith prosecution make any of you feel proud to be an American?
I can tell you the state has missed many good witnesses and found some pleasure in making up their own story in this case.
How will they do against Donald Etra and William Ginsburg though?
Ginsburg hit the limelight when he became Monica Lewinsky's attorney, as the whole country was wrapped around this warped political attack led by a better known attorney, Kenneth Starr.
I was told Pormir went to school with Ginsburg, but that would be odd as one is an attorney and another did much of his medical schooling in his home country of Iran.
Pormir will never testify and he will not rat out Ott either. He will likely with two attorneys on his arms, walk away unscathed.
Many families who lost a member to the KVHD nursing center, will not be happy to hear of recent developments.
And the civil cases are on hold until the court decides if the state has enough evidence to prosecute.
Ott never even was put in jail, as the others were, and she didn't get any bail either. The judge didn't see her as threatening. Ott had that charm at one time and lauded it over this community only to poison us all.
My predictions: the psychic reporter
Both Dr. Pormir and Gwen Hughes are slapped on the wrist, with Hughes getting a few lesser charges and Pormir just promising to be good.
Ott is the wild card. She is the main reason this case should have taken place. Along with several people who aided and abetted her, including the local radio station.
But I see a defense from the two cases cited above. And so do Donald and Bill.
Justice will likely turn into "just us" again
The people that tried to stop this were hurt over and over again, the family members, I apologize that there couldn't have been a better system in place who cared about the elderly and infirm: but there isn't.
The attorney general slash governor to be, will walk away from us as if we never existed, and then sleep at night with the help of some off label barbiturate prescription.
And fired employees, reputations lost, will try to scratch this off their resume and get employed somewhere where nobody knows about what happened here in the Kern River Valley. Our dirty little secrets...
Press control and click on link to open:
http://www.kern.courts.ca.gov/home.aspx
Saturday, January 9, 2010
Part One: Breaking News: A new political spin on the Kern Valley Healthcare District Case? Who is Donald Etra and how did ABC get involved? And some background...
The KVHD "elder abuse" case and the ABC News media abuse case
In the last four years of this investigation into the wrongdoings at the Kern Valley healthcare district which includes not only elder abuse (which is a general term not specific to chemical restraints), but other crimes such as "Brown Act" violations by three members of the board of directors; targeting employees for unwarranted termination because they wanted to tell the truth about the elder abuse caused by short staffing and peculiar new drugs being used by the Director of Nursing; a previous policy that reduced staff and pay leaving the skilled nursing facility understaffed and overworked (and patients underfed and underweight, according to government documents); use of the only local radio outlet to disseminate falsehoods regarding the situation at the hospital by a board member and disc jockey and CEO; a CEO without proper credentials who was in charge and giving orders to the management of the nursing facility; same CEO, Pamela Ott, misrepresented her credentials, claiming to be a nurse practitioner; threats from the CEO, Ott and board member, radio jock, Bob Jamison, (running off the ABC logo) of lawsuits against all who disagreed; malicious defamation, lies and deceit round off the list of incredible truths the have taken place in our rural, public hospital.
(Phhhew! That's some list for you, and I even left a few things out for brevity sake.)
Recently ABC News took up their own story of the Kern Valley Healthcare District, running a national news story on the day that defendants in the "elder abuse" criminal case went to court last week, Jan. 5, in the Kern County Superior Court.
It was simply a continuance of the matter last week in court as one of the defendants changed attorneys in the case and needed time to catch up on events, so the date was pushed out until March 9.
But as nothing is as it seems in this case, the attorney for Dr. Hoshang Pormir in the criminal matter is now not just any attorney, but we have a political celebrity in our midst with Donald Etra.
(Yeah, me too, I didn't know who Etra was and even went on to make a few cute remarks about his name, extra and et cetera, and even commented that he must be really "high powered" if he uses an "AOL" email address.)
That was until I received an email with a story about our new player. (I'm really good at looking stupid, so this is nothing new for me.)
As I gazed upon a picture of Donald Etra and his wife, Paula, posing at Camp David with friends, George and Laura Bush, I knew this was going to get even stranger. I closed the email and began my own search which lead me to several articles and even a site called "mucketymucks" which links celebrities to other people, like Etra is linked to Snoopdog and Fran Drescher too. (weee..)
More interesting is Etra's politics which he is purported to have called himself a liberal democrat. Not unusual except that he is supposedly a good friend and supporter of conservative democrat, George W. Bush.
He was a consumer advocate working as Ralph Nader's attorney, according to several of the articles I have read so far. (Interesting that he would be on this side of the case as a consumer advocate, but Mr. Etra is also known for defending death row criminals, according to background information contained on several different internet sites.)
Politics has come to this case, but it is bigger than I thought, as it would be very easy, or I should say, is easy to get your name out there on a "shock value" story such as the one being told by the attorney general of the state of California, Jerry Brown.
Could our elder abuse case get him elected to the governor's mansion? Again?
However, let's start with some background on the case, unlike ABC news, which we will deal with shortly, so we can catch up to this ever changing story which is occurring right now, not almost four years ago Diane Sawyer...
Jerry Brown's scare job on chemical restraints
As some know, the use of psychotropic medications sometimes referred to as, "chemical restraints" when used in an institutionalized setting, are really two different issues entirely.
Psychotropic drugs are not unusual to find in nursing homes, rehabilitation centers, try calling around, they are part of the arsenal against the horrible nature of some of the geriatric illnesses such as Alzheimer's, dementia, Parkinson's disease, and other disorders which can make the elderly patients altered, frightened, and uncomfortable emotionally and physically.
And then you have the issue of medicating "violent" patients who are unaware in their psychosis that they are acting out and hurting staff and other patients. It's not really the patient him or herself, it's the diseases of age or injury which turn loving spouses, parents, grandparents, into raging, violent, out of control and sometime dangerous people.
It's a tough call as to how to treat these patients so they have their dignity, compassion and effective care for the last part of their lives.
Anyone who has had to take care of a grandparent or parent or even in certain cases younger people who have brain injuries or degenerative diseases, knows that it is a full time job and nothing about it is ever perfect.
My grandmother turned very violent, breaking windows, attacking people, and was too much for us to handle at home. We tried for a time, but it became dangerous for all involved.
So, we took my violent grandmother to a facility where she could be monitored and live peacefully with caring and professional people helping us with the situation.
She was immediately put on a drug, not used in this case, but one that could make people wonder if it was not a chemical restraint, "Haldol," which is an antipsychotic, not used much anymore, as newer, safer, drugs have come along to replace that generation of drugs.
My grandmother responded well to the drug, and was no longer violent, but was much more sleepy and tired but even occasionally smiled. My grandmother it was later found had Alzheimer's.
I'm glad they gave her the drugs, they made the last obviously horrible part of her life more tolerable. I would rather have seen her sleep then grapple with her invisible demons which would set her off into fear and violence.
The situation was though that my grandmother was 92 years old, and the drugs were going to have an effect which may have shortened her life. She lived to be 102 years old, ten years after she was psychotic and put on antipsychotic drugs.
We made that choice. I call it a choice as there is little alternative out there, but we knew and accepted the situation.
The choices are slim, and must be well thought out by a combination of family and medical staff working together to make the last days, months or years, (sometimes people live a long time in a vegetative state due to illnesses like Parkinson's and Alzheimer's.) as pleasant as they can be for "all" involved.
At KVHD there were no choices
But such as what happened here at the Kern Valley Healthcare District in 2006 was a breakdown in management systems, because the leader, the CEO, the administrator who signed off on the skilled nursing facility, did not have the background to be running that operation.
In fact, the credentials we have found to be true and correct, is that the CEO, Pam Ott, had a current registered nursing license in California which came from a Fresno City College degree she received, which was an AA, back in 1971.
Not only were the systems outdated and the procedures in place ineffective at the beginning of 2006, but families were being pushed out, not allowed to know what exactly was going on. They weren't given their choices.
It's not just about chemical restraints
A chemical restraint would be a medicine which reduces a patient's psychosis or altered thinking and behavior, thus allowing the patient more freedom from the symptoms and obviously allowing them the chance to be more interactive and even potentially able to help themselves again.
However, these drugs or any drugs should not to be used as a babysitter, which is what is being claimed in the criminal case here in the Kern River Valley.
In April of 2006, four months before the investigate period by the California Department of Justice, which includes August 2006 until January 2007, the Kern Valley Healthcare District was cited by investigators in the nursing center's annual survey by the Center for Medicare/Medicaid Services, CMS, for using "physical" restraints on the residents.
But that claim was not as ominous as the results of what was happening in the nursing center before the six month time period delineated by the Department of Justice, DOJ, office of Medi-cal fraud and elder abuse.
Months before the August start date of abuse (I guess that's what the state might call it) there is paperwork indicating the nursing center is short staffed, not fulfilling it's nurse to patient ratios, which obviously would cut back on the ability of the unit to properly monitor it's patients.
Indeed that was the case, as residents had lost significant amounts of weight, and were even noticeably dehydrated by the investigators from public health who do the annual evaluations for CMS on nursing centers.
(There are many pages from these reports on this blog. Please look up short staffing and physical restraints, it will give background, and actual documentation)
The administrators of the skilled nursing facility were also being questioned in April of 2006, as Pam Ott, CEO, did not have a Nursing Administrator's license, and indeed she did not need one in a facility where the nursing facility is part of the hospital.
But public health pushed that issue and Ott sent the inquiry to the hospital's board attorney, Scott Nave, who came back with the answer that Ott indeed didn't have to have those credentials to sign off as administrator of the SNF.
Ott, in a letter she signed to CMS, indicates that she is "not" the person in charge of the nursing facility: the person in charge is Sharon Brucker, RN, and former Cheif Nursing Officer.
Brucker has not been charged in the elder abuse case, though Ott was a late arrival, being brought in six months after the initial arrests of three defendants, a doctor, pharmacist and director of nursing, and according to the press office for the DOJ, the investigations are on-going.
You must have a DON
One of the corrections public health demanded of the hospital early in 2006, was the need for a Director of Nursing for the nursing home portion of the hospital.
At this point, according to employees of the time period in 2005/06, the previous director of nursing, who seemed to be well liked by the employees, left the employ of the hospital because of a disagreement he had with the CEO, Ott, and the Cheif Financial Officer, Chet Beedle, over paycuts and staffing problems.
Now this is according to several nurses who worked with this DON at the time, not from the hospital or the DON himself.
The hospital did not have Director of Nursing for the SNF, so public health insisted that KVHD hire one.
And Lucy Miller was transferred into the nursing center a week later.
Ott signed off that the hospital was in compliance by bringing in a DON.
Miller, didn't stay long, just long enough to comply with the state and federal mandates from the annual survey.
An ad in the classifieds
Miller left, or actually changed jobs within the hospital, and an ad came out shortly after, for a Director of Nursing for the SNF.
We, the media, the board of directors, heard that there was a new DON ready to take charge of the skilled nursing facility, Ott announced we were waiting and very excited about our new acquisition.
"She has more than 30 years with geriatric experience," Ott told us, and we were impressed.
In August of 2006, our new DON, came on, her name is Gwen Hughes. She is now charged with eight counts of elder abuse 368 B (1) and two counts of assault which was a result of medicating a resident against her will.
But in August 2006, Hughes was the hero, coming into a nursing center which had been recently beaten up by the state investigators over the use of the physical restraints, the short staffing, the lack of monitoring the weights of the patients, and even a few issues regarding medications, psychotropic.
"We are so lucky to get her," Ott told me as I was introduced to Hughes, who was in a wheelchair, and rather quiet as I asked some simple questions, like "what brings you to our little town?"
Hughes told us she had polio at one point in her life, but was still able to walk without her wheelchair, so we should not think it a miracle if she arose and began walking.
In conversations which were to follow the thing we kept hearing about Hughes from our CEO, (who herself, had funny credentials from a diploma mill called Kennedy/Western University, an on-line program, unaccredited, and not accepted in California,) was that Hughes was an expert in "geriatric medications."
(Now, how would she know an expert?)
Part two: the IDT team
In the last four years of this investigation into the wrongdoings at the Kern Valley healthcare district which includes not only elder abuse (which is a general term not specific to chemical restraints), but other crimes such as "Brown Act" violations by three members of the board of directors; targeting employees for unwarranted termination because they wanted to tell the truth about the elder abuse caused by short staffing and peculiar new drugs being used by the Director of Nursing; a previous policy that reduced staff and pay leaving the skilled nursing facility understaffed and overworked (and patients underfed and underweight, according to government documents); use of the only local radio outlet to disseminate falsehoods regarding the situation at the hospital by a board member and disc jockey and CEO; a CEO without proper credentials who was in charge and giving orders to the management of the nursing facility; same CEO, Pamela Ott, misrepresented her credentials, claiming to be a nurse practitioner; threats from the CEO, Ott and board member, radio jock, Bob Jamison, (running off the ABC logo) of lawsuits against all who disagreed; malicious defamation, lies and deceit round off the list of incredible truths the have taken place in our rural, public hospital.
(Phhhew! That's some list for you, and I even left a few things out for brevity sake.)
Recently ABC News took up their own story of the Kern Valley Healthcare District, running a national news story on the day that defendants in the "elder abuse" criminal case went to court last week, Jan. 5, in the Kern County Superior Court.
It was simply a continuance of the matter last week in court as one of the defendants changed attorneys in the case and needed time to catch up on events, so the date was pushed out until March 9.
But as nothing is as it seems in this case, the attorney for Dr. Hoshang Pormir in the criminal matter is now not just any attorney, but we have a political celebrity in our midst with Donald Etra.
(Yeah, me too, I didn't know who Etra was and even went on to make a few cute remarks about his name, extra and et cetera, and even commented that he must be really "high powered" if he uses an "AOL" email address.)
That was until I received an email with a story about our new player. (I'm really good at looking stupid, so this is nothing new for me.)
As I gazed upon a picture of Donald Etra and his wife, Paula, posing at Camp David with friends, George and Laura Bush, I knew this was going to get even stranger. I closed the email and began my own search which lead me to several articles and even a site called "mucketymucks" which links celebrities to other people, like Etra is linked to Snoopdog and Fran Drescher too. (weee..)
More interesting is Etra's politics which he is purported to have called himself a liberal democrat. Not unusual except that he is supposedly a good friend and supporter of conservative democrat, George W. Bush.
He was a consumer advocate working as Ralph Nader's attorney, according to several of the articles I have read so far. (Interesting that he would be on this side of the case as a consumer advocate, but Mr. Etra is also known for defending death row criminals, according to background information contained on several different internet sites.)
Politics has come to this case, but it is bigger than I thought, as it would be very easy, or I should say, is easy to get your name out there on a "shock value" story such as the one being told by the attorney general of the state of California, Jerry Brown.
Could our elder abuse case get him elected to the governor's mansion? Again?
However, let's start with some background on the case, unlike ABC news, which we will deal with shortly, so we can catch up to this ever changing story which is occurring right now, not almost four years ago Diane Sawyer...
Jerry Brown's scare job on chemical restraints
As some know, the use of psychotropic medications sometimes referred to as, "chemical restraints" when used in an institutionalized setting, are really two different issues entirely.
Psychotropic drugs are not unusual to find in nursing homes, rehabilitation centers, try calling around, they are part of the arsenal against the horrible nature of some of the geriatric illnesses such as Alzheimer's, dementia, Parkinson's disease, and other disorders which can make the elderly patients altered, frightened, and uncomfortable emotionally and physically.
And then you have the issue of medicating "violent" patients who are unaware in their psychosis that they are acting out and hurting staff and other patients. It's not really the patient him or herself, it's the diseases of age or injury which turn loving spouses, parents, grandparents, into raging, violent, out of control and sometime dangerous people.
It's a tough call as to how to treat these patients so they have their dignity, compassion and effective care for the last part of their lives.
Anyone who has had to take care of a grandparent or parent or even in certain cases younger people who have brain injuries or degenerative diseases, knows that it is a full time job and nothing about it is ever perfect.
My grandmother turned very violent, breaking windows, attacking people, and was too much for us to handle at home. We tried for a time, but it became dangerous for all involved.
So, we took my violent grandmother to a facility where she could be monitored and live peacefully with caring and professional people helping us with the situation.
She was immediately put on a drug, not used in this case, but one that could make people wonder if it was not a chemical restraint, "Haldol," which is an antipsychotic, not used much anymore, as newer, safer, drugs have come along to replace that generation of drugs.
My grandmother responded well to the drug, and was no longer violent, but was much more sleepy and tired but even occasionally smiled. My grandmother it was later found had Alzheimer's.
I'm glad they gave her the drugs, they made the last obviously horrible part of her life more tolerable. I would rather have seen her sleep then grapple with her invisible demons which would set her off into fear and violence.
The situation was though that my grandmother was 92 years old, and the drugs were going to have an effect which may have shortened her life. She lived to be 102 years old, ten years after she was psychotic and put on antipsychotic drugs.
We made that choice. I call it a choice as there is little alternative out there, but we knew and accepted the situation.
The choices are slim, and must be well thought out by a combination of family and medical staff working together to make the last days, months or years, (sometimes people live a long time in a vegetative state due to illnesses like Parkinson's and Alzheimer's.) as pleasant as they can be for "all" involved.
At KVHD there were no choices
But such as what happened here at the Kern Valley Healthcare District in 2006 was a breakdown in management systems, because the leader, the CEO, the administrator who signed off on the skilled nursing facility, did not have the background to be running that operation.
In fact, the credentials we have found to be true and correct, is that the CEO, Pam Ott, had a current registered nursing license in California which came from a Fresno City College degree she received, which was an AA, back in 1971.
Not only were the systems outdated and the procedures in place ineffective at the beginning of 2006, but families were being pushed out, not allowed to know what exactly was going on. They weren't given their choices.
It's not just about chemical restraints
A chemical restraint would be a medicine which reduces a patient's psychosis or altered thinking and behavior, thus allowing the patient more freedom from the symptoms and obviously allowing them the chance to be more interactive and even potentially able to help themselves again.
However, these drugs or any drugs should not to be used as a babysitter, which is what is being claimed in the criminal case here in the Kern River Valley.
In April of 2006, four months before the investigate period by the California Department of Justice, which includes August 2006 until January 2007, the Kern Valley Healthcare District was cited by investigators in the nursing center's annual survey by the Center for Medicare/Medicaid Services, CMS, for using "physical" restraints on the residents.
But that claim was not as ominous as the results of what was happening in the nursing center before the six month time period delineated by the Department of Justice, DOJ, office of Medi-cal fraud and elder abuse.
Months before the August start date of abuse (I guess that's what the state might call it) there is paperwork indicating the nursing center is short staffed, not fulfilling it's nurse to patient ratios, which obviously would cut back on the ability of the unit to properly monitor it's patients.
Indeed that was the case, as residents had lost significant amounts of weight, and were even noticeably dehydrated by the investigators from public health who do the annual evaluations for CMS on nursing centers.
(There are many pages from these reports on this blog. Please look up short staffing and physical restraints, it will give background, and actual documentation)
The administrators of the skilled nursing facility were also being questioned in April of 2006, as Pam Ott, CEO, did not have a Nursing Administrator's license, and indeed she did not need one in a facility where the nursing facility is part of the hospital.
But public health pushed that issue and Ott sent the inquiry to the hospital's board attorney, Scott Nave, who came back with the answer that Ott indeed didn't have to have those credentials to sign off as administrator of the SNF.
Ott, in a letter she signed to CMS, indicates that she is "not" the person in charge of the nursing facility: the person in charge is Sharon Brucker, RN, and former Cheif Nursing Officer.
Brucker has not been charged in the elder abuse case, though Ott was a late arrival, being brought in six months after the initial arrests of three defendants, a doctor, pharmacist and director of nursing, and according to the press office for the DOJ, the investigations are on-going.
You must have a DON
One of the corrections public health demanded of the hospital early in 2006, was the need for a Director of Nursing for the nursing home portion of the hospital.
At this point, according to employees of the time period in 2005/06, the previous director of nursing, who seemed to be well liked by the employees, left the employ of the hospital because of a disagreement he had with the CEO, Ott, and the Cheif Financial Officer, Chet Beedle, over paycuts and staffing problems.
Now this is according to several nurses who worked with this DON at the time, not from the hospital or the DON himself.
The hospital did not have Director of Nursing for the SNF, so public health insisted that KVHD hire one.
And Lucy Miller was transferred into the nursing center a week later.
Ott signed off that the hospital was in compliance by bringing in a DON.
Miller, didn't stay long, just long enough to comply with the state and federal mandates from the annual survey.
An ad in the classifieds
Miller left, or actually changed jobs within the hospital, and an ad came out shortly after, for a Director of Nursing for the SNF.
We, the media, the board of directors, heard that there was a new DON ready to take charge of the skilled nursing facility, Ott announced we were waiting and very excited about our new acquisition.
"She has more than 30 years with geriatric experience," Ott told us, and we were impressed.
In August of 2006, our new DON, came on, her name is Gwen Hughes. She is now charged with eight counts of elder abuse 368 B (1) and two counts of assault which was a result of medicating a resident against her will.
But in August 2006, Hughes was the hero, coming into a nursing center which had been recently beaten up by the state investigators over the use of the physical restraints, the short staffing, the lack of monitoring the weights of the patients, and even a few issues regarding medications, psychotropic.
"We are so lucky to get her," Ott told me as I was introduced to Hughes, who was in a wheelchair, and rather quiet as I asked some simple questions, like "what brings you to our little town?"
Hughes told us she had polio at one point in her life, but was still able to walk without her wheelchair, so we should not think it a miracle if she arose and began walking.
In conversations which were to follow the thing we kept hearing about Hughes from our CEO, (who herself, had funny credentials from a diploma mill called Kennedy/Western University, an on-line program, unaccredited, and not accepted in California,) was that Hughes was an expert in "geriatric medications."
(Now, how would she know an expert?)
Part two: the IDT team
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