Learning from mistakes

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As part of my elder-law practice, I subscribe to several 'list-serv' groups and learn from experiences of others.  On one recently was a question about whether someone was competent to grant a power of attorney.  It brought back a painful memory, which I related to the list-serv and copy here.  The more that can learn from my experience, the better.  The post:

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Sometimes we learn the hard way. A personal experience.

Years ago in the early days of my career a couple came to see me with their daughter. There was discussion of a power of attorney and the growing disability of the parents to cope with their day to day needs. I 'helped' the daughter talk the parents into granting her agency through a power of attorney.

Six months later I got drafted by the Court (on petition of Social Services) to become guardian for these same parents as the daughter had fairly well cleaned them out. All money was gone, there was an equity line mortgage on their -- previously -- paid for house, that money spent also. She had let a drug dealer 'borrow' their car and he refused to voluntarily give it back. I had to place the people in an Assisted Living Facility and sell the house. (The Court also entered a $65,000.00 judgment against her for defalcation)

The husband -- by now in full blown dementia -- was aware enough that he knew he was going to lose the home he had worked very hard to buy and pay for. He stopped eating. He stopped drinking any fluid. He actually willed himself to die and did. The mother lived on for another few years in Assisted Living.

I never want to repeat that experience or lose sleep that way again.

If it's marginal, then I don't do it.

When I draft a power of attorney, it must be signed in my office and I must meet with both the principal and agent(s). I go over the rules governing POA's and was the first lawyer in my area to give the agents 'rules' to govern their actions under a POA. You can find them here. In my opinion, drafting a power of attorney and NOT giving instructions/rules is malpractice.

Frequently a doctor sees and evaluates individuals for a brief interval, some don't even do a 'mini mental' test. To really evaluate takes a specialized approach - in the Roanoke area we have the Center for Healthy Aging, part of Carilion Clinic. Doctors also do not understand the legal standards and implications of 'competency' unless it's for purpose of consenting to treatment (and even that can be dicey). When I started practice, a doctor's evaluation was a one-sentence letter that said "Irving Puffuffnick has been examined by me and needs a guardian". Now we have a checklist of things the doctor must address in his report.

We are part of the checks-and-balances in the system trying to protect feeble senior citizens.

Trust your gut.---

If you suspect someone's taking advantage of a disabled individual, let Adult Protective Services know; contact (other) family members, call the police, contact a lawyer.

An Attaboy

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Last fall my daughter had a procedure done at Carilion Roanoke Memorial Hospital. It went fine, but that's not what I'm writing about.

While I was there I was impressed by the courtesy and friendliness of every staff member I met.  They truly wanted to make my 'experience' in the hospital (even as a visitor) good.  Even the orderlies (or whatever they're called these days) had a friendly demeanor and bantered nicely with the patients and their families.

I can't recall any time this wasn't the case -- when I was having trouble with various pebbles in my kidneys, or visiting clients, I've found the staff to be helpful and friendly.

It starts from the top.  In my years I've learned that the front line folks reflect the way management and top echelon approach their work and those who work for them.  It seems that the top management of Carilion gets it, and my hat's off to them.
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Citizenship qualifications

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The Christian Science Monitor has an on line Citizenship test which those immigrants who wish to become citizens must pass (58 out of 96 questions). You can find it here:  Citizenship Test

Yeah, I passed with 94 of 96 (over-thought two questions).

This reminded me of when I taught a night course in Government at a local proprietary business school. On the first night I wanted to know the base line of the students, a mix of just-graduated from high school to been in the real world for a while.

The results were abysmal.  (That's worse than horrible). As I recall the highest score was 85% (naming elected folks was the toughest question). The lowest was one correct answer.  Mr. Porterfield (my High School Government teacher at PH) would have been horrified.

Here's that test:

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Your name is optional:                        

FIRST NIGHT QUIZ
US Government    Instructor:  Ross C. Hart, JD
September 14, 1998

The purpose of this quiz is to see how much you know about the government so I can better plan the course materials.  It will not count against you, however those students who are brave enough to put their name on it and who answer all questions perfectly will not have to take the first test.

1. Name the three constitutional branches of the Federal Government.
2. What are the two halves of Congress?  How many members in each half?
3. How many years do members of each half of Congress serve before re-election?  How many terms can they serve?
4. Where in the Constitution is the “Bill of Rights” found?
5. Which amendment protects private property from being taken by the Government without due process?
6. Which amendment protects the right to petition the government?
7. What part of the Federal Government “has the sole power of impeachment”.  What part of the Federal Government can try an impeachment?[NOTE:  this was around the time Clinton got a "Lewinsky" so impeachment was in the news]
8. Are you registered to vote?  If not, why not?
9. What City or County do you live in?  Who is your Congressional Representative?
10. Name all the Virginia members of the U.S. Senate.
11. How many justices are on the highest Court in the United States?  How long is their term of office?
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Corporate America the Correct way

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Talked to a good friend/client today.  He's an officer in a fair sized regional corporation.  Originally he was hired as a manager of one of the company's factories that was losing money.  In, I believe, a year and a half he turned it around.  I asked him about it.

"It wasn't too hard, really.  Yes, there were people that had to go, but mostly I worked with everyone bottom to top to educate them where they fit in and how what they did for the company made a difference.  Once someone knows how the system works, they'll bend over backwards to make it work and suggest ways to streamline and save money."

I'm only a lawyer, but to me it's that simple. I'm proud to have him as a friend and client.
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Agreeable disagreement

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Wednesdays at noon, a bunch of lawyers have lunch at Mac-n-Bob’s restaurant in Salem.  Nothing formal, just lawyers trading stories, talking politics, sports, junk and running theories/cases past each other. It is an opportunity for an informal exchange of ideas and camaraderie. I consider anything of substance discussed at lunch to be off the record. No matter who you are, you’ve got to be able to unwind, speak freely without worrying about someone accusing you of whatever. (Good jokes or one-liners, however, are fair game.)

Attendees are personal injury lawyers, criminal defense lawyers, judges from every level of court that sits in Virginia, niche lawyers (we have an immigration attorney; I do elder-law) and so forth.  I look forward to learning something each week.

Occasionally we get a distinguished visitor:  Appellate judges from out of the area (Chief Justice Hassell, Supreme Court of Virginia for one), members of Congress, Federal judges, and so forth. Today I was surprised to have the Hon. Kenneth T. Cuccinelli, II, Attorney General of Virginia, join the table for lunch.

Historically, I’ve been a Democrat, fiscally conservative but a Democrat. It’s been 15 or more years since I was ‘active’ in party politics, and there have been times I’ve been less than happy with the party.  Mr. Cuccinelli is a Republican – and a conservative Republican at that. Naturally, being me, I introduced myself as the “former chair of the Salem Democratic Party”. We had a good laugh at that.

I came away from lunch liking and respecting the guy.  A helluva lot more than I did before I met and talked to him.  Our Attorney General has a wicked sense of humor and takes as good as he gives. The kind of guy you’d enjoy putting your feet up and drinking a beer (or a Mint Julep) with.

Our philosophies are different and I disagree with a number of the actions – or maybe the reasons behind the actions – he’s taking. The Health Reform law that was bludgeoned through Congress last year is one, and I agree that there are dangerous components of it.  The Health Care system is broken – at least as far as paying for care is concerned, and the Health Reform law attempted to fix it. Our Attorney General is trying to get the whole law thrown out, based on dangerous intrusion to constitutional freedoms as much as anything else. I could write volumes on the Health Care issue (remember, I served 9 years as a ‘Citizen’ member of the Virginia Board of Medicine), but that’s not the point here.

Ken’s (yeah, we all got on first name basis) attack is in good faith, and not just because of politics. Strategy was discussed – and while I don’t think anything he said is a big secret, lunch table discussion is off the record – and the strategy has a strong chance of working.  Even more important is that he wanted comments from us – he wanted to listen, especially if someone – respectfully – disagreed with him. The two of us agreed that listening with an open mind to someone with a different point of view forces us to examine our beliefs and test their validity.

I may not agree with him, but I disagree less. If we run into each other at a watering hole, I’ll buy the first round and look forward to an enjoyable conversation.

Government Statistics

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We watch the news and some government politico (including Pres. Obama) talks about the 'recovery' and how many jobs have been created and saved and restored and . . .   Usually the one speaking has no direct knowledge what he's talking about but relies on someone else for the data and frequently the speech being given.

This reminds me of when I kibbitzed on a speech 30 years ago. 

My then wife was working - as administrator - with a Federally funded jobs program for the City of Roanoke; there was a 'consortium' which managed similar programs not including the City's. All workers in the program worked for local governments in some capacity as they were 'trained' with new skills.

Ex's program was managed properly - office staff minimally sized to do the job but no empire; the bulk of the funds actually went to the hired workers. The Consortium was not so well managed and ended up collapsing under its own fiscal mismanagement; the City of Roanoke (i.e. the Director of Finance and Ex) had to take over management, shut it down, and 150 workers in the area faced loss of their jobs .

Ex and I are at home, and she's got to prepare a speech for the DOF and press release about all the workers and where they would end up with the closing down. The good news is that a lot of the workers were picked up by their local government employer.  Another bunch were able to use the skills learned to get a job in the 'private sector'.  There were 'hard numbers' for the government hires; there was reasonable - but not exact - data for the private hires. Ex was pleased to show me her draft that had all 150 workers 'taken care of', and admitted some numbers came off the top of her head although based on her experience.

My response was that the report was not realistic.  A couple of poor slobs wouldn't find anything - they'd be SOL (Straight Outta Luck).  Ex agreed, but asked "well, how many".  My response was that, politically, if you went over six percent it'd look bad, but under three percent would look phony. (Yeah, I was BS'ing at my best here, too).  I think we settled on four percent.

Of course you can't write in a press release that four percent of the workers were SOL. So we went to the standby "other opportunities".

On TV news the next night, the City's Director of Finance (and acting administrator of the Consortium) was shown reading the press release Ex had written, and the media was eating it up.  "55 percent were hired by the government they were assigned to in the program; 35 percent found private sector jobs,  6 percent resumed education courses (another discussion ex and I had) and 4 percent will pursue other opportunities".

I've never looked at government statistics the same way since. 
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Whadda Dive!

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Last week my cousin Anne dropped in my office with her daughter Emily. During our conversation she mentioned that her sister (and my cousin) Emily's son Rob Crenshaw (um, that makes him my first cousin once removed) was to have his restaurant featured on Diners, Drive-inns and Dives with host Guy Fieri.  Rob owns Cabo Fish Taco in Charlotte NC and another in Blacksburg VA. The show was on last night (5/17); Susan and I recorded it. And like a lot of Guy's '3D' featured establishments, it looked really good.

Every night Susan and I play the "what do you want for dinner" game.  What's in Bon Appetit, Cooking Light, Fine Cooking, or on Food Network or any of a dozen other sites.  We love to experiment with something new.  So tonight, on the way home, instead of cooking we decided to head up to Blacksburg to try out Cousin Rob's place.

We'll be back.  Soon.  We liked it that much.

When we walked in our server, "Marielle" greeted us with a big smile; when she learned it was our first visit she went out of her way to make us feel welcome and told us about the menu. She knew the product -- and the recipe featured on Food Network -- and made good suggestions. Marielle is one of the best servers we've ever had. While we waited for our dinner we got complementary fried tortilla chips with a spicy bean dip.

Susan had the Shrimp Tacos -- Cabo tacos with beer battered shrimp, with soy ginger sauce, sesame seeds and scallion.  I had the signature Fish Taco - Two flour tortillas stuffed with beer battered cod, cabbage, tomato, avocado, mixed cheeses, & finished with a cilantro white sauce (and which Guy had on TV).  Marielle suggested Susan have hers with Baja Rice (rice with mango/pineapple) and I had the jalapeno cheddar mashers (smashed redskin potatoes with jalapeno - spicy but not overwhelming). Total tab (with 3 beers - 2 for me) was about $25.00 after tax before tip.

The tacos were 'soft' which I prefer (I hate 'hard shell' tacos that explode all over the place) and tasty.  The fish taco could have used a little more flavor and avocado, but that's nitpicking.  You can see other menu items at the website - click on the Cabo name above.

The atmosphere is 'rustic' (for lack of a better word, but it's not a log cabin) - a lotta wood and sturdy furnishings (being across Main Street from Virginia Tech is a good reason for 'sturdy').  There's a fully stocked bar (again, a good thing for that location) and an outdoor eating deck for good weather.   My only gripe about the physical space is it is NOT handicap friendly.  There's an unused, difficult to navigate handicap ramp from the very small parking lot onto the deck, leading into the main restaurant, but Allyson would have a very hard time getting up and in it.  Live with someone in a wheelchair and no matter where you go, you look for accessibility.

Y'all really need to trek to Blacksburg to try this place.   I'm going to tell my friend Wade -- one of the Roanoke Times restaurant reviewers -- to give it a try.  The paper's already given Cabo a good review (linked from their website) but I think Wade will like it also. And I'm now a Facebook fan.

And someday I hope to meet my cousin Rob and his wife Maeghan. I think he's the first Restaurant person in the family.  We've got too many Lawyers, some accountants and even had a Doctor (Anne & Emily's dad).  Nice to have someone in the family with good taste.
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Gov Maintenance needed.

I know it's been a while. Been busy and on vacation. However, I just saw a quote from a friend of mine on a user-group I participate in (www.chaosfanatics.com).

It's a shame we can't maintain our government the same way we do our PCs. I'd start off with a full malware scan and then do a deep defrag with full optimization. If that didn't help I'd wipe it and re-install. It'd be well worth the downtime. "JustDave"

Couldn't have said it better myself.

The shame is that I feel the majority of Americans don't like their government in its present form. And it's getting too big for its britches.

I discovered 'science fiction' while at Woodrow Wilson Jr. High School and have read bunches of it. What's interesting is that a lot of things written 30-40 years ago are becoming reality now. The late Isaac Asimov wrote of a bloated Galactic Empire bureaucracy in the Foundation Trilogy (later series) and I'm seeing alarming parallels with Washington now. The problem is that there's no one able to fix it.

The Government needs 'down time' to reboot.

Mint Juleps

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May 1. It's that time of year. The chili cookoff in Roanoke; a famous horse race in Kentucky. Planning and planting things, watching them grow. Every year at this time there's enough fresh mint for my favorite adult beverage: the Mint Julep. There are hundreds of ways of making them.

I make Mint Juleps the way I learned from my father, "The Colonel", whom my brother and I call "Pappy". Pappy retired as an Army Colonel, a rank he earned during WWII after his participation in the Ardennes Forest Offensive (also known as the Battle of the Bulge). Across Virginia he was always referred to as "The Colonel" and with that name on the other side of the state people knew who you were talking about. Growing up as the kid of a well known dad had its advantages and disadvantages. I learned early on that I'd best behave myself wherever I happened to be, 'cause word always made it back to him. Now I realize that was an advantage.

Pappy's voice still booms in my memory: "Ross: the ingredients are the key. You've got to use bonded bourbon ('bottled in bond', a government thing that means the stuff is at least 100 proof) and it damn well better be from Kentucky. Second, use very cold ice -- ice that's been in the deep freeze for over a week so it knows it's job is to stay cold, and it wants to! Third: pick your mint only when you're ready to make the Juleps -- over 10 minutes between picking and using and it begins to wilt and loses flavor."

Every time I made Mint Juleps, I also hear, "just as important is the ceremony of making the Julep itself -- people enjoy them even more when they watch you make them and you make it appear special." Pappy was right about that among many many things. I remember a college summer school geology course I took in Colorado. I had a high 'C' or low 'B' at the end of the course when we had our end of school party. The professor was there, I made Mint Juleps (with the ceremony) for him, and the 'C' moved to an 'A'.

The Colonel's Famous Mint Julep Recipe; Per Julep:

• 3, 4" sprigs of mint, divided
• 1 1/2 cups deep-freeze-cold ice
• 3 teaspoons table sugar, divided
• 100 Proof Kentucky Bourbon
• Tall 8 oz. glass or, even better, aluminum tumblers.

1. Crush ice in a clean dishtowel or canvas bag (I used to represent a bank and use an old money-bag) and pound it with a mallet or hammer until the ice is nearly pulverized.
2. With a spoon -- your hand will warm the ice too much -- fill each tumbler about 1/3 the way up.
3. Add a heaping teaspoon of granulated sugar and about 5 mint leaves (you can leave them on the stem).
4. Repeat: another 1/3 tumbler of ice, then sugar and mint, and then ice to the top.
5. Once the tumblers are full, take an ordinary iced tea spoon and hold it upside down by the bowl of the spoon and jam it up and down in the tumbler. This crushes the ice against the mint and sugar, gets all the flavor and oils in the mint flowing, and everything mixing together. Do this for 30 seconds or more.
6. Add more ice to pack the tumbler firmly to the top. Finally, take the bottled-in-bond Kentucky Bourbon and pour it in. No, you don't need to measure the bourbon. As a practical matter, if you've done it right, the tumbler will take only (he says!) about 2 or at most 2 1/2 ounces of bourbon, which isn't that much for a serious bourbon drinker.

After pouring the bourbon, the tumblers should instantly frost over with a layer of ice on the outside. That's the first sign you've made the Mint Julep properly and means that it's well below freezing. Add a sprig of mint on the top of each drink as a garnish, put in sippin' spoons (ice tea spoons with a hollow tube for a handle; if you don't have them a straw will have to do), and serve with a napkin underneath. Hold it by the napkin so the frosted side isn't ruined by the heat of your fingers.

Aaaahhh!. Definitely worth being included in the top ten of life's pleasures. Be careful, though. Mint Juleps have teeth!

Thank you, Pappy. Here's to you and all you taught me.
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I'd rather be his Friend

Yesterday I attended the graveside service of a gentleman (I’ll call him “Jim”) for whom I’ve been guardian – and conservator – for several years. It was chilly and windy, and like a fool I left my overcoat at the office.

But the service was one of the nicest I’ve been to for years. The minister spoke and did his thing, then several of his friends spoke. I learned a lot about Jim I had never known. I wish I'd gotten to know him 'in the day'.

I do a lot of guardianship work – I act as a ‘guardian of last resort’ in many instances and currently am guardian for a number of elder people who have no one to watch out for them. Many of these people have Alzheimer’s type dementia; some have been in an accident and suffer brain injury; Jim drank and pickled his brain, and could no longer care for himself. Someone had to help and take action Jim would not like and to which he would object.

But Jim was very lucky and blessed – he had friends. Friends who visited him regularly in the nursing home. Friends who took him to lunch. Friends who brought him cigarettes. Friends who cared and remembered the good days. At the hearing when I was appointed Guardian for Jim, one of his his longtime friends and his attorney appeared and testified about why he thought Jim needed a guardian. The judge asked “Would you like to be the Guardian?”

“No sir, I’d rather be his friend”.

May we all be blessed with friends who care as much as Jim’s did.

On naming our young-uns

DJ and I were talking about my kids and (kinda-sorta) grand-children (children of my ex's daughter). I remembered when my grandson was born and that the parents decided to name him after his father (a practice about which I have reservations), but couldn't decide on "Jr." or "II" (the Second).

My response was "why not 'the next'?" and use "Next" as a nickname.

Think of the benefits:

• It's unique. Who else would have that nickname?
• It'd drive bureaucrats crazy on all those forms he and his parents will have to fill out.
• When he's older and waiting in line (as in at the Division of Motor Vehicles) and they call out "Next!" he goes to the head of the line!

Naturally I got shot down, but not before I had already used that nickname. At church. A lot.

So, six weeks or so after Next was born, his momma brought him to church. She walks in the door, and SWOOSH! -- all the women of the church swarmed over her and the child. You could hear them across the parish hall "There's NEXT!".

Everyone thought it was funny. Except my (then) wife. And her daughter. Some people have trouble with jokes . . .

About my reservations on naming kids after yourself: It boils down to confusion. In today's society with credit reports, scores, documents and so forth ad infinitum, it's not IF there will be a mixup, but WHEN there'll be a mixup. And mixups cause damage both ways. If the father's credit bottoms out, the kid suffers. If the kid grows up and decides not to play by the credit rules, dad's credit suffers. I've represented people on both sides of the equation and it's never easy to fix.

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