Florida Probate Attorney and Florida Inheritance Lawyer Florida Probate Attorney Blog

Mikey Rooney Elder Abuse Info. Restraining Order ended.

In early March of this year 90 year old former actor Mikey Rooney testified before a special senate committee about elder abuse from a family member believed to be 52 year old step son Chris Abert that he says he had experienced. He felt trapped, scared, used, and frustrated. 

The senate committee is considering legislation to curb abuses of senior citizens.

"Above all," Rooney said of being a victim of elder abuse, "when a man feels helpless, it's terrible."

Every year, an about 2.1 million older Americans are victims of physical, psychological, sexual, financial, or other forms of abuse and neglect, according to the American Psychological Association. And for every case reported to authorities, experts estimate there may be as many as five cases that were not reported.

Elder abuse cuts across all socioeconomic groups, cultures, and races, according to the National Center on Elder Abuse. And it can occur anywhere - in nursing homes and other institutions as well as private homes. Older people who are demented are especially vulnerable, as are those who have a substance abuse problem - or are cared for by someone who does.

Rooney accused Aber in LA Superior Court filings of withholding food and medicine and meddling in his personal finances. On February 15 he was awarded a restraining order by the judge in which Aber could not come within 100 yards of Rooney. He was concerned that Aber may even try to kidnap him unless he signed over all his property so he also had the court appoint a conservator also referred to as a guardian in some states. His attorney was appointed for this purpose. 

Fortunately on April 6 they were able to settle the matter and Rooney agreed to drop the restarining order with Aber agreeing to voluntarily leave him alone. 

Click here for a 3 minute video of Mickey Rooney speaking about Elder Abuse.

Sources February 15 TMZ.com  April 6 2011 TMZ.com and CBS News

Concussions such a problem in football that Madden game has changed rules.

Concussions in football games are taken more seriously than ever before.

Examples of danger posed by head first hitting and concussions have been mounting over the past few years with at least one player losing a significant amount of their memory even in his 40s, multiple suicides and cases of depression and brain injuries. The NFL has recently made rule changes seeking to protect players.  

The Probate Attorney Blog had discussed this problem and more detail about Chronic Traumatic Encephalopathy a generative disease caused by concussion and hits to the head which can cause dementia, depression and  even suicide it a few times recently here and  here

 The problems with concussions  Chronic Traumatic Encephalopathy have reached such recognition and importance that now there are even no rules to protect NFL players in the next edition of the "Madden" football video game franchise when concussed players won't be allowed to return to the field in the game they are injured.

"Concussions are such a big thing, it has to be a big thing in the video game," Madden told The New York Times in a telephone interview. "It starts with young kids -- they start in video games. I think the osmosis is if you get a concussion, that's a serious thing and you shouldn't play. Or leading with the head that you want to eliminate. We want that message to be strong."

 Moore says "we have an obligation in our industry" to recognize that brain injuries are one of the biggest on-field problems facing football at all levels right now.

The game's executive producer, Phil Frazier, told The Times that "Madden NFL 12", with its new concussion rules and the exclusion of helmet-to-helmet hits and headfirst tackling can be a "teaching tool" to players of the game, particularly kids.

Gus Johnson and Cris Collinsworth, the announcers featured in the game, also will explain the dangerous nature of concussions when they announce that a player can't return to the game.

Madden agrees with the game's new emphasis on proper tackling techniques and the seriousness of concussions, telling The Times "if we show players playing through [concussions], then kids won't understand."

"There was a time when someone would get a concussion and you'd say he just got dinged, take some smelling salts and get back in the game. Those days are over," he told the newspaper.

Source ESPN

 

 

Heavy Smoking increases risks of Alzheimer disease later in life by over 100%

The source of the information below is from Helpingyourcare.com discussing a new study published in the February 28, 2011 issue of the Archives of Internal Medicine which found that heavy smoking in midlife may increase the risks of getting Alzheimer Disease or Vascular Dementia later in life by more than 100%.

The authors of the study believe "this is the first study to investigate the long-term association between the amount of smoking in midlife and the risk of dementia [Alzheimer's Disease and Vascular Dementia] later in life in a large, multiethnic cohort.” Previous studies had measured only an association between smoking and short-term risk of dementia.

In the study, researchers analyzed data collected from a multi-ethnic group of 21,123 patients in the Kaiser Permanente Medical Care Program in San Francisco and Oakland, California, who participated in a survey given as part of routine medical care between 1978 and 1985.   The survey collected a large amount of data on the subjects’ health habits, including the extent to which they smoked, as well as medical information about their height, weight, body mass index (BMI), blood pressure, glucose levels, incidence of stroke and cardiovascular problems, and other data. The study participants had a mean age of 58 years at the time of survey.

The researchers analyzed the data to determine whether extent of smoking in middle age correlated with dementia in later life. Results were adjusted to control for the potential effects of other factors, including age, sex, education, race, marital status, hypertension, hyperlipidemia, body mass index, diabetes, heart disease, stroke, and alcohol use.

The study results found that, compared to study subjects who did not smoke, those who smoked more than 2 packs a day at midlife had a greater than 100% increase in risk of both Alzheimer’s Disease and Vascular Dementia more than two decades later.

The association between smoking and dementia, including Vascular Dementia, remained significant even after controlling for the other factors. These results suggest that the brain may suffer long-term consequences as a result of heavy smoking in midlife. 

 For more information click here