Wednesday, May 29, 2013

Scranton-Area Elder Abuse Caught On Film

An elder abuse claim in Scranton has been developing over the past while.  According to reports from The Times-Tribune, a man called in to Scranton-area police to report a claim of elder abuse against his mother, a woman in her 90s who suffers from Alzheimer's disease.  Her son had installed a secret camera in the house to keep an eye on her caretaker, who was shown physically and verbally abusing the patient on film.  

For more information on the story, please read the Times-Tribune article, which can be found here

Attorney Doug Stoehr is a personal injury lawyer serving western and central Pennsylvania. He takes cases for older Pennsylvanians who have been abused or neglected.  For more information on his Altoona, PA area practice, please call his office at 814-946-4100 or visit  his website at http://www.stoehrlaw.com.  Attorney Stoehr takes cases in Blair and the seven surrounding counties, including Huntingdon, Fulton, and Bedford counties.

Monday, May 27, 2013

Elder Abuse Seminar in Altoona Area

The central Pennsylvania area has also gotten on board with holding elder abuse seminars to educate area seniors on how to protect themselves.  This latest seminar, held earlier this month, was attended by over 150 residents from across the Bedford, Huntingdon, and Fulton county areas.

For more information on this seminar, please visit the original article on WeAreCentralPa.com.

Attorney Doug Stoehr is a personal injury lawyer serving western and central Pennsylvania. He takes cases for older Pennsylvanians who have been abused or neglected.  For more information on his Altoona, PA area practice, please call his office at 814-946-4100 or visit  his website at http://www.stoehrlaw.com.  Attorney Stoehr takes cases in Blair and the seven surrounding counties, including Huntingdon, Fulton, and Bedford counties.

Tuesday, May 21, 2013

York, PA Elder Abuse Case

When you have a minute, take a look at this article from the York Daily Record.  It is highlighting a recent elder fraud case in the PA area.  Unfortunately, cases of elder financial abuse are being increasingly common as the nation's population, especially Pennsylvania's large retired population, ages and becomes dependent on others for financial and physical care.

In the example within the York Daily Record, no verdict was reached at the time about the alleged financial fraud.  However, this article does bring to light the potential case for financial fraud and one example in how it might look in an elderly population.

Attorney Doug Stoehr is a personal injury lawyer serving western and central Pennsylvania. He takes cases for older Pennsylvanians who have been abused or neglected.  For more information on his Altoona, PA area practice, please call his office at 814-946-4100 or visit  his website at http://www.stoehrlaw.com.  Attorney Stoehr takes cases in Blair and the seven surrounding counties.

Friday, May 17, 2013

Elderly Attend Victims' Rights Seminar

In many areas across the country, communities are putting together seminars and programs to help teach seniors how to fight back and avoid elder abuse, financial scams, and other crimes that target the elderly.

In one instance, a Michigan area community worked to educate their seniors on how to outsmart potential crooks in their area.  The St. Clair County Prosecuting Attorney’s Office of Victim Rights and the Council on Aging, hosted a seminar for its area seniors on how to combat crime that targets people in their age range.  This seminar was a part of National Crime Victims' Rights Week, and speakers were brought in to talk about elder abuse issues and how to remain vigilant to avoid being abused. A portion of the seminar talked about current financial scams to be aware of, such as those involving handing out your SSN and other personal data. Also, the importance of setting up a will and getting affairs in order can make life much less stressful for seniors and their families.

These seminars can be useful to educate all seniors and those serving seniors in a community.  It would be great to see such seminars occur regularly across the country to decrease the occurrence of elder abuse and financial fraud in the U.S.

Attorney Doug Stoehr is a personal injury lawyer serving western and central Pennsylvania. He takes cases for older Pennsylvanians who have been abused or neglected.  For more information on his Altoona, PA area practice, please call his office at 814-946-4100 or visit  his website at http://www.stoehrlaw.com.  Attorney Stoehr takes cases in Blair and the seven surrounding counties.

Thursday, May 16, 2013

1 in 10 Seniors is Abused in the US


Friday, May 10, 2013

Chronic Pain Co-Occurs With Mental Health Issues

Those interested in chronic pain will likely find this news article by NewsWise.com very interesting!  Reporting on information originally published by the Health Behavior News Service, the article talks about the relationship between anxiety and chronic pain.

Some key points from the article include:

  • A recent study evaluated 250 patients with severe pain, and it was found that 45% of them have some form of an anxiety disorder
  • Common anxiety disorders include generalized anxiety disorder, social anxiety, post-traumatic stress disorder, and OCD
  • In those patients who reported anxiety, they also reported significantly worse pain and lower quality of life
  • Depression also manifested in many cases where patients had anxiety co-occurring with chronic pain

To read more from the article, please click here.

Attorney Doug Stoehr is a personal injury lawyer serving Blair and the seven surrounding counties in central Pennsylvania.  He takes cases for clients who are experiencing chronic pain as the result of an injury due to the fault of another.   For more information on his Altoona, PA area firm, please call his office at 814-946-4100 or visit his website at http://www.stoehrlaw.com.

Wednesday, May 8, 2013

PA Ruling on Nursing Home Unionized Representatives

The blog section of Lawyers.com recently posted an article about the state of workers unions for nursing homes in Pennsylvania.

Within the article, it is noted that an April 5th ruling by the US Circuit decreed that new owners of a PA nursing home in Cambria County must deal with a union that was representing employees in the nursing home, which was previously owned by the county. The new owners of this nursing home had initially been resistant to working with the union rep employees and did not allow some of them to work at the facility.  Due to the resulting complaints, the National Labor Relations Board got involved and ruled on the side of the previously unionized employees. According to the blog article, "this decisions means that private successor employers may have to bargain with former public employer's employees".  In this case of this particular nursing home, the new private employer will have to offer the previously rejected employees their jobs back and also give them any back pay. A state's obligation to recognize, bargain, and hire representatives varies widely.

Attorney Doug Stoehr is a personal injury lawyer serving western and central Pennsylvania.  He takes cases for older Pennsylvanians who have been abused or neglected.  For more information on his Altoona, PA area practice, please call his office at 814-946-4100 or visit his website at http://www.stoehrlaw.com.  Attorney Stoehr takes cases in Blair and the seven surrounding counties.


Tuesday, May 7, 2013

Pennsylvania Moves to Criminalize Abuse of Elders

The York Dispatch recently ran an article highlighting Pennsylvania's move towards criminalizing acts of elder abuse.  According to the news report, Pennsylvania is currently working on a bill that is proposed to address neglectful, abusive and harassing behavior by caretakers". Spearheaded by Rep. Gingrich of Lebanon County, 
the bill plans to amend the Crimes Code in several areas.  One will expand the definition of neglect to include an offense that results in death. Additionally, it adds a subsection addressing "intentionally or knowingly endangering the welfare of a care dependent person."  According to the article, these new offenses would result in a second-degree misdemeanor, which would mean up to two years in jail and/or a fine of up to $5,000.  If a person becomes a repeat offender, the charge would become a third-degree felony, resulting in up to 7 years in jail potentially paired with a fine of up to $15,000.

Additionally, this bill would also define "caretaker" to include those employed by residential facilities serving those with mental disabilities, as well as adult daily living centers, people who provide at-home care services, and family/friend caregivers.  Currently, the bill passed in the House unanimously and has since moved to the state Senate.  If the Senate also passes the bill, it will move to the governor to approve and become a law.

Attorney Doug Stoehr is a personal injury lawyer serving western and central Pennsylvania.  He takes cases for older Pennsylvanians who have been abused or neglected.  For more information on his Altoona, PA area practice, please call his office at 814-946-4100 or visit his website at http://www.stoehrlaw.com.  Attorney Stoehr takes cases in Blair and the seven surrounding counties.

Monday, May 6, 2013

PA Elder Law Task Force


According to an article by the Pennsylvania Record, the Pennsylvania Supreme Court has just created an Elder Law Task Force that will examine Pennsylvania's issues with guardianship, abuse/neglect, and access to justice for the state's elderly population. This special task force will be chaired by Justice Debra Todd.  The main aims of the task force will be suggesting amendments for court rules, as well as recommendations for education and best practices involving the care of senior citizens. The task force has been given one year to complete its work.

According to the Administrative Office of Pennsylvania Courts and the US Census Bureau, the over-65 population is now larger, both in size and percentage of the general population, than it has ever been in any previous census.  Pennsylvania ranks #4 in the percentage of elderly citizens.  This task force's work is especially relevant since it is being instated around the same time as the passage of Senate Bill 620, which made changes to the state's power of attorney laws for elderly people, to prevent the occurrence of elder abuse.

To read more, please view the original article here.

Attorney Doug Stoehr is a personal injury lawyer serving western and central Pennsylvania.  He takes cases for older Pennsylvanians who have been abused or neglected.  For more information on his Altoona, PA area practice, please call his office at 814-946-4100 or visit his website at http://www.stoehrlaw.com.  Attorney Stoehr takes cases in Blair and the seven surrounding counties.