Veteran Mental Health Workers

Kristina Derro
Veterans Disability Lawyer
 

Massachusetts School of Professional Psychology has started a program that helps train veterans to become therapists who can help other veterans. The “Train Vets to Treat Vets” program has been funded for over two years by the state of Massachusetts with $250,000. The funds help the school reach out and train veterans to become therapists, as well as to allow veteran therapists to travel and visit college campuses around the state to promote mental health professions.

In the past decade, less than a half percent of Americans were serving on active duty in the military. This reduction in the population of active duty military personnel leads to a reduction in the population of veterans. As such, the population of veterans involved in the mental health field is decreasing. This has left many returning veterans feeling isolated while working with non-veteran therapists. Research has obviously shown that veterans feel more comfortable talking to other veterans. If the goal is acclimating recently-discharged veterans back to civilian culture, fellow veterans will need to be utilized. This program will provide veterans with the skills, training, and background to counsel these individuals.

Minors Expungement

Melissa Cox, Esq.
 

In December of 2012, Michigan enacted a new law that makes it easier for people to wipe (or “expunge”) juvenile crimes off their record.

Public Act 527 of 2012 allows a person to expunge up to three misdemeanors, or one felony, a year after the offender completes their sentence and probation.  The previous law only allowed for one misdemeanor to be erased 5 years after the case was closed and did not allow felonies to be expunged.

There are a few exceptions under the new law.  For example, felonies punishable by life in prison and traffic tickets cannot be expunged.

The bill’s sponsor, Rep. Joe Haveman of Holland, says that this new law will help people who made bad decisions at a young age and are now facing difficulty entering college or the military, or finding employment.  He believes that this bill strikes a balance between the need to be tough on crime and alternatives for people who are behaving themselves.

The bill received rare unanimous approval in both the House and the Senate.  Governor Rick Snyder signed the bill into law two days after Christmas.

To read the text of the new law, please visit: http://www.legislature.mi.gov/documents/2011-2012/publicact/pdf/2012-PA-0527.pdf.

If you need help expunging a juvenile record, or have other legal questions, contact Attorney Melissa Cox at Fausone Bohn, LLP at (248) 380-0000 or online at www.fb-firm.com.

 

Service Dog Programs Applauded For Supporting Vets, Notes Veterans Disability Lawyer

Jim Fausone

Veterans Disability Lawyer

The American Service Animal Society is a nonprofit program based in Arizona which educates veterans with disabilities on how to care for and train their assistance dogs. If the vet does not yet have a service dog, the society helps find a suitable one from one of several rescue agencies in their area. Working with existing dogs and making new dog-owner partnerships from rescue dogs in need of a good home help both the vets and the dogs, and keeps their expenses down. The organization is doing so well that it is looking for a high-capacity training center. They say they are currently receiving more than 20 calls each week from vets interested in the program. 

"Service dogs have been a huge boon, allowing vets with disabilities to live more independently," said James Fausone, Veterans disability lawyer.

There are several different categories of service dogs. Guide dogs work with directional commands; they introduce the path for travel; notify of any changes in elevation and incoming traffic; locate and retrieve objects on command and navigate around various obstacles.  Hearing assistance Dogs alert to specific sounds as needed for their humans and notify by touch, retrieving lost objects, and warn for approaching vehicles.

Mobility assistance dogs assist people who have mobility impairments, and retrieve, tug, nose nudge, paw, and brace. Special Needs assistance dogs partner with people who have autism, seizure disorders, psychiatric disorders, and conditions which involve cause chronic pain.

The American Service Animal Society (ASAS) was founded by Gerad and Debbie Claseman. The goal of ASAS is to train the owners and their dogs how to successfully navigate in domestic settings found in the home: a dedicated space would allow the trainers to have a mock kitchen and other area so that the teams can train with drawers, cabinets, light switches and doors. The dogs are also trained to assist in sometimes-hectic real world-world environments, such as stores and airports. A large part of the training is customizing what the vet needs the dog to do, and developing a comfort level for both helps with the bonding process.      

According to ASAS, it can take 100 repetitions before the vet and dog both have an obedience cue down pat. Multiple sessions and daily obedience cue reviews are usually necessary, both verbal cues and hand signals. Also important are working distance and distractions into training sessions. 

Alleged $22 Million Home Health Care Fraud Scheme

Tariq Hafeez, Esq.

Detroit-area and Chicago-area residents were arrested on Thursday, January 18, 2013 by federal agents on charges arising from the ongoing investigation into an alleged $22 million home health care fraud scheme. The indictment was announced by the US Attorney’s Office, the FBI Detroit Field Office, and the Health and Human Services Office of Inspector General (HHS-OIG).

The 18-count indictment names seven individuals who allegedly participated in a Medicare fraud scheme operating out of four Oakland County, Michigan, home health agencies claiming to provide in-home health services. Defendants are charged with conspiracy to commit health care fraud, health care fraud, conspiracy to violate the Anti-Kickback Statute, and money laundering allegedly defrauding Medicare/Medicaid of $22 million.

 

The charges of health care fraud conspiracy and health care fraud each carry a maximum potential penalty of 10 years in prison and a $250,000 fine. The charge of conspiracy to violate the Anti-Kickback Statute carries a maximum potential penalty of five years in prison and a $25,000 fine. The charge of conspiracy to commit money laundering carries a maximum potential penalty of 20 years in prison and a $500,000 fine.

Fausone Bohn LLP attorneys have provided aggressive legal defense counsel to individuals and companies charged with federal health care fraud the firm has been retained by one of the defendants in the above matter.

If you have questions about Medicare or Medicaid fraud, or other legal issues, please contact Mark Mandell or Tariq Hafeez at 248.380.0000 or online at www.MichiganFraudLawyer.com.

Michigan Veterans Affairs Agency

Last week, Michigan's Governor, Rick Snyder, signed an executive order that created the Michigan Veterans Affairs Agency.  The goal of the agency is to help connect former service personnel with government departments and service organizations that will help them apply for benefits such as health care, education, and employment assistance.

Michigan has over 650,000 veterans and that number is rapidly rising with the returning troops from Iraq and Afghanistan.  All of the programs for veterans are scattered among various federal and state departments.  As such, it is a confusing maze for Michigan veterans to not only be aware of the benefits available to them, but obtain them.  The hope is that this agency will help Michigan veterans traverse the maze much more easily than by themselves.

Can the City Really Spend the Zoo Millage on Downtown Sidewalks?

Keith Madden, Esq.

For decades, state laws have allowed Michigan cities to apply a small portion of the taxes that are levied by other government entities (like school districts, the county, and the state), on improvements in downtown districts.  Called "tax increment financing", the idea is that the city's investments in sidewalks, sewers, traffic signals and other improvements will increase the value of the properties in the downtown district, and this will eventually benefit the land owners and all of the governmental entities who are taxing the property.

A legal debate has recently arisen due to the fact that the state laws that allow tax increment financing do not say what should happen when a new millage is passed, like the recently approved Zoo millage and Detroit Institute of Arts millage in the Detroit metropolitan area.  The Michigan Attorney General has written that these new millages may not be "captured" by a City for investment in a downtown project, because the Zoo Authority and the DIA Authority were not around when the tax increment projects were first approved, and they did not have an opportunity to object to these projects at that time.

On the other side of this legal debate, a number of Wayne County cities have argued that, since the state laws do not clearly carve out any exception for these newly approved millages, a portion of them should be captured and invested just like the taxes of the other, existing governmental entities.

Unfortunately, the statutes do not provide a clear answer to this issue, and it will likely have to be decided in court.  Only then will we know for sure whether the City can spend a portion of the Zoo millage on a downtown sidewalk.

Fausone Bohn, LLP represents a number of Michigan cities and governmental entities.  It often provides these clients with consultation and legal advice concerning complicated laws and issues.  If you have questions about tax increment financing or its application to your business or community, please call Keith Madden at (248) 380-0000, ext. 3230, or at kmadden@fb-firm.com.

VA Malpractice Found $3.7 Million Awarded

Jim Fausone

Veterans Disability Lawyer

We hear from hundreds of veterans a month about VA disability claims or medical malpractice.  We understand the frustration of a veteran going it alone against the federal government.  When we have filed medical malpractice actions against the VA it seems like pushing water up hill. What gives you hope in these situations are stories like this one where a federal judge had the courage to find the VA's actions negligent and properly find for a veteran.

On January 16, 2013, Senior U.S. District Judge James M. Munley  awarded $3.7 million to an Iraq War veteran from who sued the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs after his war-induced post-traumatic stress disorder worsened because the agency prescribed him the wrong medication and treated him over the telephone.    The ruling was in favor of Stanley Laskowski III, 34, and his wife, Marisol, after a civil nonjury trial before the judge at federal court in Scranton.  It took 3 years for the case to be heard for this Marine Sergeant. He was required to testify and relive the stressors that gave him PTSD in Iraq.

In Judge Munley's 69-page ruling, he agreed that clinicians with the local VA should never have prescribed Sgt. Laskowski new medications or changed his medications over the telephone to treat his PTSD.

Also when Sgt. Laskowski first sought help in April 2007, he was not treated by a physician for several months and instead dealt mainly with "physician extenders" - medical professionals like nurses and physician's assistants, the judge wrote.

In addition, clinicians did not immediately offer psychotherapy to help him overcome nightmares, paranoia, insomnia and flashbacks spawned by his gruesome wartime experiences, according to court testimony.

The lack of appropriate care worsened his condition, causing him to make the rash choice to break into a pharmacy in Olyphant and steal prescription medications, his attorneys argued.  So this case should give veterans and their attorneys hope that there are reasonable federal judges who will find the VA at fault.  This Pennsylvania veteran had to fight his demons since his discharge in 2007 without appropriate care. Let’s hope this award allows him to get the care he needs and encourages VA to help all those veterans who need its help.

http://thetimes-tribune.com/news/carbondale-veteran-awarded-3-7m-in-ptsd-case-1.1430479