Friday, July 29, 2011
AALS Aging and the Law Listserv July 29, 2011
1. “White Flight” From the Nursing Homes: http://newoldage.blogs.nytimes.com/2011/07/15/white-flight-from-the-nursing-home/
2. HelpAge Calls for Urgent Support for Drought-Affected Older People: http://www.globalaging.org/elderrights/world/2011/HelpAge%20Calls.htm
3. Heat Wave, Hot Weather, Threaten Older People, Seniors - AARP Bulletin: http://www.aarp.org/health/conditions-treatments/info-07-2010/heat_wave_threatens_older_americans.html
4. Cooling Centers: Where The Hot Go To Chill: http://www.npr.org/blogs/health/2011/07/20/138548802/cooling-centers-where-the-hot-go-to-chill?ps=sh_sthdl
5. Audio link – How Vietnam Cares For Its Elderly (beginning at 4:39): http://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/p00hxp05/From_Our_Own_Correspondent_Libya_and_Vietnam/
6. At 100, Still Keeping Time as the Leader of the Band: http://www.nytimes.com/2011/07/25/us/25orleans.html?_r=1&nl=todaysheadlines&emc=tha23
7. The World's Deadliest Distinction: http://www.slate.com/id/2299256/?wpisrc=newsletter_slatest
8. A Fair Wage for Home Care Workers: http://newoldage.blogs.nytimes.com/2011/07/20/a-fair-wage-for-home-care-workers/#
9. Hospice Companies Zero In On Nursing Home Patients: http://www.npr.org/blogs/health/2011/07/21/138571685/hospice-companies-zero-in-on-nursing-home-patients?ps=sh_sthdl
10. Technology Might Give Elders Independence: http://www.globalaging.org/health/us/2011/Technology%20Might.htm
Ann Murphy
Associate Professor
Gonzaga University School of Law
(509) 313-3735
WEBSITE OF THE AALS SECTION ON AGING AND THE LAW:
July 29, 2011 | Permalink | TrackBack (0)
Sunday, July 24, 2011
AALS Aging and the Law Listserv July 21, 2011
MEMBER NEWS: Do the Elderly get the Legal Advice they Need? Professor Katherine Pearson (Penn State Law) works with researchers from the UK (Professor Duffy (Queen’s University, Belfast, Ireland and Professor Basu, University of Leeds, England)) to get answers. The pilot project is supported by a grant from the Worldwide Universities Network, see information at: http://law.psu.edu/news/_draft_elder_law_research
1. Study - Surprising Factors That Could Up Alzheimer's Risk: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/07/13/discovered-surprising-fac_n_897584.html
2. Eye Test May Give Clues To Alzheimer's Disease: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/07/17/eye-test-alzheimers-disease_n_900858.html
3. Falls May Indicate Earliest Stages of Alzheimer’s: http://thechart.blogs.cnn.com/2011/07/17/falls-may-indicate-earliest-stages-of-alzheimer’s/?hpt=he_c2
4. No Deduction for $1.2m Claim for Services by Tax Attorney Son for Infirm Parents: http://taxprof.typepad.com/taxprof_blog/2011/07/court-.html
5. Is My Family Responsible for My Debts? http://www.aarp.org/money/credit-loans-debt/info-07-2011/family-responsible-debt.1.html
6. Two Words to Live By: http://newoldage.blogs.nytimes.com/2011/07/13/two-words-to-live-by/
7. Over-the-Counter Genetic Tests: Buyer Beware: http://www.aarp.org/health/conditions-treatments/info-07-2011/over-the-counter-genetic-testing.1.html
8. Access to Primary Care Doctors Lowers Death Rates for Seniors: http://www.aarp.org/health/doctors-hospitals/info-07-2011/primary-care-linked-to-longevity-health-discovery.html
9. Medicare Payment Board Draws Brickbats: http://www.npr.org/blogs/health/2011/07/12/137774959/medicare-payment-board-draws-brickbats?ps=sh_sthdl
10. So Far Away - Twenty Questions and Answers About Long-Distance Caregiving: http://www.nia.nih.gov/NR/rdonlyres/5D1DCFC1-4E53-4788-B35F-02ADB61DF2F9/0/SoFarAway.pdf
Ann Murphy
Associate Professor
Gonzaga University School of Law
(509) 313-3735
WEBSITE OF THE AALS SECTION ON AGING AND THE LAW:
July 24, 2011 | Permalink | TrackBack (0)
Guest essay by elder law attorney Ron Landsman....
"Liberals Imagine a Better Future - Conservatives Imagine a Better Past."
I saw this on a bumper sticker the other day and was sure, given how both funny and profound it is, that some old, wise sage was the source, but Google turned up nothing. So, notwithstanding Ecclesiastes 1:9 (see http://www.bartleby.com/108/21/1.html , although my personal favorite is 9:11, see http://www.bartleby.com/108/21/9.html ), sometimes there is something new under the sun.
It neatly summarizes the current policy debate. The great social legislation of the 20th Century, born of the New Deal response to the Great Depression, and the New Deal's last progeny, Medicare and Medicaid, is under attack by people who do not believe in the Great Depression - that is, they view it sort of like the tooth fairy, something you can believe in or not.
There is no better illustration of modern-day conservatives' blind eye to the past than their focus on Social Security. Time was when the mantra for retirement planning was the "three-legged stool." "Historically, benefit managers at companies, when counseling their soon-to-be-retiring employees, would always refer to the three legs that would support their retirement: Social Security benefits, a plan-sponsored pension and an individual's or family's personal savings." This from a Huffington Post column by Thomas J. Mackell, Jr., June 18, 2008, confirming my own recollection of what I was taught as a young lad.
We still have Social Security, good through 2035 even if nothing is done to improve its reliability - by which time most baby boomers will have died - and even then it could pay 75% of projected benefits through 2100.
What has happened to the pension plans that American corporations were to sponsor and fund? Many people have 401(k)s, but the defined benefit plan that private industry was supposed to provide as its contribution to its employees' long term welfare is a thing of the past. Many of those plans that did not convert to 401(k)s have resorted to the Pension Benefit Guarantee Corporation, where benefits are limited and where the Federal government will likely be the insurer of last resort.
You could view it as a failure of the market, or as a failure of industry and commerce, but it doesn't really matter. The fact is that only national government has the interest and durability to plan for the entire Nation.
If the GOP (rhymes with ... - see Landsman's Lagniappe, Vol.2, No.2, http://www.ronmlandsman.com/content/uploads/Volume-II-Number-2.pdf ) were to gets its way, Medicare and Social Security would be eviscerated and what little financial market regulation we have would be rendered toothless and we would have another Great Depression. The question is, Will we also have another Franklin Roosevelt, someone who can forestall demands for the exercise of dictatorial control and use democratic means to salvage the system, or will we have a new Huey Long who succeeds in converting his one-party state machine into the same for the Nation?
Only time will tell.
For some of you, the title might call to mind the George Bernard Shaw quote that Robert Kennedy used to close his standard stump speech in the 1968 presidential campaign, "Some people look at the world as it is and ask, 'Why?' I dream of worlds that never were and ask, 'Why not?'"
Which reminds me of the cute story reported in one of the post-mortem RFK biographies I read voraciously then. Reporters knew that the Shaw quote meant the speech was almost over and it was time to get on the campaign bus, and they would start to leave before Kennedy had quite finished the quote. One day, with rain drenching everyone, Kennedy finished with, "As George Bernard Shaw said, 'Head for the bus.'"
(When I get a chance, I will look up the Shaw quote in my Complete Plays, with Prefaces, and tell you more about it. The Prefaces to his plays are brilliant essays on mankind and society that sparkle with apt observation and deep insight that speak to today as much as his own time, well over a century ago.)
This might also remind you of my favorite Senator Hayakawa line, which I have quoted, www.quotealbum.com/quote/wFxNQ/we-should-keep-the-panama-canal-after-all-we-stole . He opposed the Panama Canal treaty on the grounds that "we stole it fair and square." Unlike the Tea Party types of the current day, Senator Hayakawa could acknowledge the hard truth of the past and accept its significance.
Where liberals play into this insanity is by themselves being "unhistorical," like the New Orleans school system, that some years ago changed the name of a school from George Washington to something else because it did not want any schools named for former slave holders. Abraham - you know, the father of all monotheistic religions - was a slave holder (remember Hagar?) - does that mean ... Ignoring historical context isn't all that different from remembering the facts in your favor. Indeed, some of the tenor of the dumb things Michelle Bachmann says isn't totally dumb. The Founding Fathers were far more equivocal about slavery than their descendants. It was the Founding Fathers who authorized Congress to prohibit the slave trade after 1808, and it was the Founding Fathers who enacted the Northwest Ordinance under the Articles of Confederation that prohibited slavery in the new territory. Of course, they did not "work[] tirelessly until slavery was no more in the United States," that leaves out that little thing known as the Civil War.
I don't mean to equate outright historical revisionism with having a tone-deaf ear, historically speaking. We all have a duty to get the facts right, but getting the facts right is not enough. History is far too complicated to be held hostage to a simple list of facts. Lincoln was something of a racist, he did favor black re-colonization of Africa, and he was at first lukewarm on black sufferage, but that makes all the more remarkable his respectful treatment of Frederick Douglass in the White House and his refusal to back down from the Emancipation Proclamation. We are all sinners, and the sooner we come to grips with that, the better off we all are.
Ed: Ron Landsman, elder law attorney, fellow MIchigan grad, and all around smart guy. Thanks, Ron, for letting me post this!
July 24, 2011 | Permalink | TrackBack (0)
Friday, July 22, 2011
Journal of International Aging, Law & Policy seeking submissions - due Jan. 1, 2012
The Journal of International Aging, Law & Policy, a joint publication of Stetson University College of Law and the AARP, invites submissions for Volume 6, to be published in Spring 2012. Submissions will be reviewed upon receipt on a rotating basis; the due date for final drafts will be Jan. 1, 2012. The Journal is peer-edited, and accepts for publication law review-style papers that address a wide range of topics involving the elderly, both domestically and internationally. The optimal length for papers is 50-75 pages, including footnotes in Bluebook or ALWD format. Questions may be addressed to Professor Roberta K Flowers at [email protected].
Recent Issues have included articles about the Merging Practice of Elder Law in Canada; Age Discrimination in England; the Intersection of Practice and Demographics in the Practice of Elder Law in United States, and Globalization of Elder Law. To view previous issues of the Journal, go to http://www.law.stetson.edu/agingjournal/.
July 22, 2011 | Permalink | TrackBack (0)
Saturday, July 16, 2011
AALS Aging and the Law Listserv - July 16, 2011
1. End-of-Life Care: A Portrait: http://newoldage.blogs.nytimes.com/2011/07/05/end-of-life-care-a-portrait/
2. Multidisciplinary Integrated Care For Seniors Gives Better Quality Care: http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/releases/229583.php
3. American Geriatrics Society Guide to the Management of Psychotic Disorders and Neuropsychiatric Symptoms of Dementia in Older Adults: http://dementia.americangeriatrics.org/GeriPsych_index.php
4. Cabinet Rules Out New Suicide Legislation: http://www.swissinfo.ch/eng/swiss_news/Cabinet_rules_out_new_suicide_legislation_.html?cid=30575282
5. New Laws Affecting Conn.'s Elderly a Mixed Bag of Pluses and Minuses: http://www.nhregister.com/articles/2011/06/28/news/doc4e0a660cd1d03393792945.txt
6. Found: Doctors Who Take Medicare: http://newoldage.blogs.nytimes.com/2011/07/06/found-doctors-who-take-medicare/
7. Are South Koreans Losing Respect For Elders? http://www.csmonitor.com/World/Asia-Pacific/2011/0707/Are-South-Koreans-losing-respect-for-elders
8. Social Security: The Political Monster That Lurks In Debt Talks: http://www.csmonitor.com/USA/Politics/2011/0709/Social-Security-the-political-monster-that-lurks-in-debt-talks
9. NIH-Funded Study Uses Planning Prompts To Enhance Vaccination Rates: http://www.nia.nih.gov/NewsAndEvents/PressReleases/PR20110613vaccination.htm
10. Kohl Releases GAO Report to Help Prevent Retirees from Outliving Savings: http://aging.senate.gov/hearing_detail.cfm?id=333397&
Take care!
Ann
Ann Murphy
Associate Professor
Gonzaga University School of Law
(509) 313-3735
WEBSITE OF THE AALS SECTION ON AGING AND THE LAW:
July 16, 2011 | Permalink | TrackBack (0)
Thursday, July 14, 2011
Position announcement--Maryland Legal Aid-Long Term Care Assistance Project
Maryland Legal Aid seeks a project director for our Long Term Care Assistance Project. Please forward the job announcement below to anyone who may be interested. Apologies in advance for any cross-posting. Thanks for helping to spread the word!
PROJECT DIRECTOR
LONG TERM CARE ASSISTANCE PROJECT
LEGAL AID BUREAU, MARYLAND
Duties include: Direct statewide Long Term Care Assistance Project (LTCAP) which handles cases related to long term care, including nursing home and assisted living involuntary discharge cases, resident rights, Medical Assistance Long Term Care, home and community based waiver services, and adult medical day care related issues. Coordinate intake, screening and selection of cases for representation. Supervise staff attorney(s) in LTCAP and recruit and supervise law students, pro bono and volunteer attorneys. Serve as a resource for advocates statewide who handle long term care cases. Represent individual clients with long term care issues as well as acting as lead or co-counsel in complex and/or affirmative litigation. Plan and execute training on long term care issues for Legal Aid staff, pro bono attorneys, and elder advocates, as well as conduct community education for client populations, caregivers, and service providers. Lead permissible legislative and policy advocacy to improve Maryland laws relating to long term care, including participation in coalitions and efforts that advance the human right to health care.
Qualifications: At least 3-5 years active practice including experience handling elder law, nursing home, assisted living and/or Medicaid cases. Prior supervisory/management experience highly desirable. A high level of independence and initiative, good judgment, excellent speaking and writing skills, the ability to produce the highest caliber legal work, creativity, excellent interpersonal skills, and an ability to work with others towards common goals are required. Admission to Maryland Bar or admission to another state bar and eligible and willing to take the first available Maryland Bar examination is required.
Anyone interested in applying must respond with a cover letter and resume to Jennifer Goldberg, Assistant Director of Advocacy for Elder Law and Health Care. To apply, click here.
July 14, 2011 | Permalink | TrackBack (0)
Wednesday, July 13, 2011
Scholarships available for fall 2011 National Aging and the Law Conference
10 Scholarships Available for Advocates to Attend the National Aging and Law Institute
Application Deadline: August 19, 2011
The AARP Foundation is awarding 10 AARP Foundation Litigation Jerry D. Florence scholarships in the amount of $1,000 each to pay for registration and the cost of travel expenses to attend the 2011 National Aging and Law Institute. Scholarship recipients are responsible for all additional travel costs in excess of the scholarship amount. AARP Foundation Litigation established this scholarship fund in the name of Jerry D. Florence, who served as the Director of the AARP Foundation for two years before dying suddenly at the age of 57 on November 28, 2005. Mr. Florence was a leader who was quickly able to envision how a new idea could transform the lives of AARP's members. He delighted in finding ways to help others, while his energy, positive attitude, and easy smile touched many hearts. AARP Foundation Litigation is proud to continue the memory of this visionary through scholarships for advocates at this conference.
Consideration will be given to all applicants for the AARP Foundation Litigation Jerry D. Florence Scholarships; however, priority will be given to applicants who:
* Have not previously attended the National Aging and Law Conference or NAELA's Advanced Fall Institute
* Demonstrate financial need
* Provide legal services or advocacy to older persons
You can apply for the scholarship online at www.NAELA.org. For questions about the scholarship, please contact 703-942-5711 or [email protected]. Scholarship applications are due by August 19, 2011 The conference brochure complete with agenda and registration information can be found at www.NAELA.org <http://www.naela.org/> and also at www.americanbar.org/aging
July 13, 2011 in Other | Permalink | TrackBack (0)
Sunday, July 10, 2011
AALS Aging and the Law Listserv, July 8, 2011
1. How AARP Can Get Its Groove Back: http://www.globalaging.org/pension/us/2011/AARP.htm
2. A Memory Tonic for the Aging Brain: http://well.blogs.nytimes.com/2011/05/25/a-memory-tonic-for-the-aging-brain/?scp=3&sq=aging&st=cse
3. Podcast The Cost of Aging (China): http://www.imf.org/external/pubs/ft/survey/so/pvcast.aspx#aging
4. Elderly Feel the Loss of Extended Family: http://www.globalaging.org/ruralaging/world/2011/Swaziland%20urbanization%20consequence.html
5. Concerns About Costs Rise With Hospices Use: http://www.nytimes.com/2011/06/28/health/28hospice.html
6. Resilience and Disparities: Unveiling the Health and Wellness of LGBT Older Adults and Caregivers: http://www.globalaging.org/health/us/2011/Resilience.pdf
7. Empty Plates for Low-Income Seniors: http://newoldage.blogs.nytimes.com/2011/07/01/empty-plates-for-low-income-seniors/
8. Wise and Well: Smart Choices for Healthy Aging: http://www.globalaging.org/health/us/2011/Wise%20and%20Well.pdf
9. Homelessness Among Elderly Persons: http://www.globalaging.org/elderrights/us/2011/Homeless%20elderly.pdf
10. Relaxing, Touching the Memory, Music Helps With the Final Transition: http://www.nytimes.com/2011/07/04/nyregion/music-therapy-helps-the-dying.html?_r=1&src=me&ref=general
Ann Murphy, Associate Professor, Gonzaga University School of Law
AALS Listserv Coordinator
July 10, 2011 | Permalink | TrackBack (0)
Friday, July 1, 2011
AALS Aging and the Law Listserv - July 1, 2011
1. Improving Advanced Illness Care: The Evolution of State POLST Programs: http://www.aarp.org/health/doctors-hospitals/info-04-2011/polst-04-11.html
2. Ask an Elder Law Attorney: Late-Life Marriage Issues: http://newoldage.blogs.nytimes.com/2011/06/16/ask-an-elder-law-attorney-late-life-marriage-issues/
3. Elder Care Goes High Tech: http://www.latimes.com/business/la-fi-boomer-homes-20110617,0,4748424.story
4. NCPC Provides Prevention Tips During National Elder Abuse Awareness Month: http://www.asaging.org/blog/elder-abuse-climbing-alarming-rates
5. Fear, Discrimination and Abuse: Transgender Elders and the Perils of Long-Term Care: http://www.asaging.org/blog/fear-discrimination-and-abuse-transgender-elders-and-perils-long-term-care
6. Older People and Climate Change: Vulnerability and Health: http://www.asaging.org/blog/older-people-and-climate-change-vulnerability-and-health-effects
7. Video – Global Aging: http://www.imf.org/external/mmedia/view.aspx?vid=985358401001
8. Elderhood: A Buddhist Approach to Aging Well: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/lewis-richmond/elderhood-buddhist-aging_b_879850.html
9. Organization For Economic Co-Operation and Development (OECD) Addresses Aging During 50th Anniversary Conference: http://www.globalcoalitiononaging.com/?id=news-events
10. Many Older Workers Want To Retire, But Can't: http://www.npr.org/2011/06/21/137324190/many-older-workers-want-to-retire-but-cant
11. Poll - Americans 'Very Concerned' GOP Budget Will Force Elderly From Nursing Homes: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/06/23/poll-seniors-nursing-home-paul-ryan_n_882860.html
July 1, 2011 | Permalink | TrackBack (0)
