1 Congressional "Nursing Home Abuse Report: Elderly Abused at 1 in 3 Nursing Homes" ABCNews.com: 8/8/2001 [Back]
2 See other endnotes in this section for numerous examples of patients being killed through various means. Also see examples of such killings at the "Hospice News page," and four cases of euthanasia at: "Euthanasia Issues," Hospice Patients Alliance [Back]
3 "In the spring of 1987, as a physician, I caused the death of a man. Although this was known to many people, I have not been taken before any court of law or called to account for this in any professional or public forum. In fact, just the opposite occurred: I was "rewarded" for this. It bought me an improved reputation in my job, and contributed to my advancement afterwards. Not only did I demonstrate I could indeed do what was expected of me, I exemplified the "good" company doctor: I saved a half million dollars! - Testimony of Linda Peeno, MD before the U.S. House of Representatives, Committee on Commerce, Subcommittee on Health and Environment: 5/30/1996 [Back]
4 All references to Kaiser HMO are copyright 2003: Charles Phillips, MD from HMOs - Licensed to Kill, draft version; Fresno, California and Inside Kaiser's E.R. - An Exposé Dr. Phillips is a former Kaiser physician for 18 months and was the lead plaintiff and expert in Timmis v. Kaiser about the $500 million issue of pill splitting into uneven fragments; he served as background expert in successful San Francisco case challenging the "in the hands of experts" ad campaign of Kaiser and whistle blower in the issue of Kaiser pretending to be an open staff hospital to get $5 billion in tax relief. Expert on Kaiser stocks and venture projects [Back]
5 All references to Kaiser HMO are copyright 2003: Charles Phillips, MD from HMOs - Licensed to Kill, draft version; Fresno, California [Back]
6 29 United States Code: Labor, Chapter 18: Employee Retirement Income Security Program [Back]
7 Statement of Sharon J. Arkin, attorney": Partner, Robinson, Calcagnie & Robinson, Newport Beach, California, on behalf of Association of Trial Lawyers of America Testimony Before the Subcommittee on Health of the House Committee on Ways and Means: - Hearing on Patient Protections in Managed Care - 4/24/2001; As just one example, also see: HMO patients are twice as likely to die in-hospital from an acute myocardial infarct as fee-for-service patients; American Heart Assoc. Meeting, Nov. 1997; and: For-Profit HMOs are worse than Non-Profits; Journal of the American Medical Association: 7/14/1999; and: 87% of doctors report HMO care denials; Kaiser Family Foundation Study: 7/28/1999; and: HMOs deny Appropriate Care; New England Journal of Medicine: 11/16/2000. [Back]
8 "Teach options to assisted suicide instead," Honolulu Advertiser: 2/9/2003 by Herbert Hendin and Kathleen Foley who are physicians and authors of "The Case against Assisted Suicide: For the Right to End-of-Life Care." [Back]
9 "'Doc Knows Best' "It'll be too late for you, if he's wrong," National Review online: 1/6/2003; [Back]
10 "Cambridge Quarterly of Health Care Ethics," Fall 2000: "Hospitals are likely to find the legal system willing (and even eager) to defer to well-defined and procedurally scrupulous processes for internal resolution of futility disputes." [Back]
11 "Report: Nursing Homes Hire Too Many Criminals," The Holland Sentinel: 9/14/1998; [Back]
12 "Senior care bill calls for FBI checks, Thompson legislation seeks crackdown on elder abuse;" Napa Valley Register: 2/7/2003; [Back]
13 "The findings demonstrate that there are significantly more problems in facilities with less than 12 minutes of registered nursing care, less than 45 minutes of total licensed staff care, and less than 2 hours of nursing aide care per resident per day." - "Testimony of Nancy-Ann Deparle, Administrator Health Care Financing Administration On Nursing Home Staffing Before the Senate Special Committee on Aging," 7/27/2000; The Greatest Civil Rights Struggle of Our Time; by Ron Panzer, President of Hospice Patients Alliance [Back]
14 America's Secret Crisis Coalition to Protect America's Elders"; [Back]
15 Suffocating: "Former nurse's aide sentenced," Cleveland.com Plain Dealer, 4/20/02 [Back]
16 Overdosing 'Angel of Death' talked of easing patients suffering; New Hampshire Union Leader: 01/16/03; A Question of Homicide - CBS 60 Minutes II with Dan Rather"," 06/18/99; Ex-California hospital worker sentenced to life"," 4/18/02, CNN.com; Lorain woman indicted in death of her invalid father"," Cleveland Plain Dealer: 11/22/02; [Back]
17 Dehydrating Life, death tug of war in Florida courtroom"," WorldNetDaily.com: 11/13/02; Survivors of lost loved ones tell stories of broken trust"," St. Louis Post-Dispatch: 10/12/2002; [Back]
18 starving/malnutrition: A Different Kind of P.O.W."," The American Reporter: Vol. 8, No. 1956 10/21/2002, "Nursing Home Claims: Lessons from the Losses"; General Cologne Insurance Issues: June, 2001; Time Magazine -- 'Fatal Neglect' -- October 27, 1997: "In possibly thousands of cases, nursing home residents are dying from a lack of food and water and the most basic level of hygiene."; Doctors overrule patients' right to live"," Detroit News: 4/6/2001; [Back]
19 raping: 12-year term imposed in rape of woman who is mentally ill"," Seattle Times, 1/11/2003; Assisted-Living Facility Accused Of Covering Up Rapes - Man Accused Of Attacking Many Women"," NewsNet5.com: 5/21/2002; [Back]
20 beating: "Patient's death ruled homicide," Louisville, KY Courier-Journal: 8/04/2002; "Nursing homes chief gets 1-year sentence," St. Louis Post-Dispatch: 2/6/2003; "Residents should be outraged about Cooley," Monroe, LA News Star: 2/05/2003; "Nursing Home Claims: Lessons from the Losses" General Cologne Insurance Issues: June, 2001; "Violence in nursing homes a growing concern," Courier & Press: 12/2/2002; Helen Straukamp, the mother-in-law of Bee Becker (a member of the HPA board of directors) was attacked in a facility by another resident with dementia and died as a result of the attack. [Back]
21 bedrail - choking: "Entrapment Between Bedrails And Air Mattresses Can Be Lethal," J Am Geriatr Soc 2002;50:1124-1125. "Home fined in patient's death,"Des Moines Register: 5/25/2002. "State blocks nursing home - DSHS investigation came after resident's death last month" The Bellingham Herald: 5/09/2002. "Dangerous gaps in Michigan, deaths reflect national trend," Detroit Free Press: 2/8/2000. [Back]
22 gangrene: "Nursing home owner, worker face charges," Wisconsin's Wausau Daily Herald: 10/03/2002; "Neosho nursing home comes under fire - Watchdog group claims spotty compliance," Missouri's The Joplin Globe: 8/03/2002. [Back]
23 abandoned to untreated infection: "HMO-hospice infects patient then withholds antibiotics after infecting patient" "Va. panel places Chesapeake doctor on probation," The Virginian Pilot: 8/22/2002; [Back]
24 Ant Bites: "Mediation hearing held in ant bite death case," Florida's Sun Herald: 4/15/2002; "Riverdale nursing home under investigation," Georgia Daily Herald: 5/18/2002; [Back]
25 Paralyzing Lungs: "Prosecutor Says He Would Seek Execution of Nurse in 10 Deaths," St. Louis Post-Dispatch; 7/23/2002 search the online archives. "Diagnosis: Murder," CBS News: 2/5/2003; [Back]
26 Burned/hyperthermia: "Home where man burned gets 4th chance," The Desmoines Register: 1/10/2003; "Yeltons patient burned in bath," Shelby Star: 10/24/2002; "Family sues over nursing home death," The Californian North County Times: 2/08/02; "Former nursing home owner pleads guilty," Georgia's Gwinnett Daily Post: 2/7/2003. [Back]
27 Frozen/hypothermia: "Nursing home vigilance urged - Caregivers asked to watch for wandering patients," Detroit Free Press: 1/31/2002. "Lincolnwood Nursing Home Fined For Lack of Supervision in Resident Death" The Illinois Department of Public Health: 6/07/2001. "Attorney claims a beating may have caused Schiavo's coma," (and hospice thermostat left at 64 degrees in disabled woman's room) St. Petersburg Times: 11/13/2002. [Back]
28 Bled to death: "Broken call button linked to death" Washington Times: 2/6/2003; [Back]
29 Drowned: "Nursing home firm fined for patient abuse - Benchmark ordered to pay state $101,000" Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: 6/24/2002; "Nursing home violations fixed, state team finds," Portland Press Herald: 8/24/2002. [Back]
30 "Care workers fail to receive all of raises - Millions of state dollars intended to boost wages and reduce turnover never made it to workers caring for seniors, report claims," Contra Costa Times: 2/6/2003; [Back]
31 "Inadequate Medicaid payments squeeze homes' level of care" St. Louis Post-Dispatch: 10/14/2002; [Back]
32 U.S. DHHS Office of Inspector General: List of Exclusions [Back]
33 "Corporate Integrity Agreements (CIAS) and Settlement Agreements with Integrity Provisions" [Back]
35 "Government's probe of Columbia/HCA prompted by qui tam lawsuit," 10/5/1998; [Back]
36 "Grassley: $840 Million Hospital Fraud Case Proves Utility of the False Claims Act" 12/14/2000 [Back]
37 "HCA, U.S. Agree to Fraud Settlement - Hospital Chain To Pay $631 Million," Washington Post: 12/19/2002; [Back]
38 "Grassley Calls for Tougher False Claims Act Enforcement," Medical News Wire: 2/11/2003; [Back]
39 When I filed a complaint in 1997 against Hospice of Michigan, one of the largest nonprofit hospices in our nation, the state regulators confirmed that the hospice had violated the standards of care. From within, I saw hospice management harass myself and others who had protested the illegal policies of the agency. They also had their huge law firm threaten me with legal action for speaking on behalf of the patients and having the courage to speak the truth about the unconscionable practices which they had implemented. The management refused to fully comply with the standards of care, having implemented the policies intentionally for their own benefit, rather than the patients' benefit. I resigned, as many whistleblowers find they have to do, and another nurse who protested these policies was harassed for six months When she no longer could stand the constant pressure by the hospice for her to leave, she resigned; she was one of the most dedicated and competent hospice nurses I have ever known. - Ron Panzer
Stefanie Fletcher, RN writes: "the answer to the most basic question, why did I become a nurse, was the most important. Because of my desire to help people, I began the difficult journey necessary to report fraud against the government." - "My Story," by Stefanie Fletcher, RN
Mark Gaines, RN writes: "the nurses and doctors that speak up are fired! Read "Nursing Revolution" and other nursing journals to check this out for yourself. There is no legal protection for a honest professional engaging in whistle blowing. I know of Florida nurses who have been blacklisted statewide for being honest patient advocates." - Mark Gaines MS BSN RN BS RRT RCP; 2/7/2003 [Back]
40 Testimony of Rachael Weinstein, RN Director, Clinical Standards group office of clinical Standards and quality Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services on Nurse Staffing Before the Senate Committee on Government Affairs Subcommittee on Oversight of Government Management, Restructuring, and the District of Columbia: 6/27/2001; [Back]
41 "Looking Out For Depression," U.S. Administration on Aging; [Back]
42 Diane "Meier, [MD], has become one of the premier opponents of death-with-dignity laws. She now believes that existential despair, not physical pain, is what motivates many patients to end their lives-and that most doctors are ill-equipped to deal with the psychological components of serious illness." "Switching Sides," AARP Magazine: March-April 2003. [Back]
43 "Teach options to assisted suicide instead," Honolulu Advertiser: 2/9/2003; [Back]
44 Florida Supreme Court: In re Guardianship of Browning, 568 So. 2nd 4 (1990) at 13. "Students Protest Princeton Professor Who Advocates Infanticide;" [Back]
45 "Life, death tug of war in Florida courtroom" WorldNetDaily.com: 11/13/2002; (effort to starve and dehydrate disabled woman to death) [Back]
46 "Nursing Homes: Complaint Investigation Processes Often Inadequate to Protect Residents". U.S. GAO/HEHS-99-80 3/1999. and: Officials say nursing homes need more monitoring; Augusta Chronicle: 2/17/2003. [Back]
47 All references to Kaiser HMO are copyright 2003: Charles Phillips, MD from HMOs - Licensed to Kill, draft version; Fresno, California [Back]
48 "Why I Became a Nursing Home Advocate," 11/16/2000; Ila Swan is internationally known as a patient advocate, is the California representative of the Association for Protection of the Elderly and serves on the board of directors of Hospice Patients Alliance. [Back]
49 "Nursing Homes: More Can Be Done to Protect Residents From Abuse," U.S. GAO-02-312 3/2002; as an example: "S.C. struggles to monitor nursing homes" - "Lexington County case indicates red tape impedes efforts to protect residents" South Carolina's The State.com: 2/16/2003. [Back]
50 "Why I Became a Nursing Home Advocate," 11/16/2000; [Back]
51 Open Secrets is an organization that tells you: Who gives and who gets! US Senators, US Reps, Statewide Officials, State Senators, State Reps. [Back]
52 "Senator Breaux, Hatch Introduce First-Ever "Elder Justice" Bill" 9/13/2002; [Back]
53 "The National Elder Abuse Incidence Study, NCEA 1998; [Back]
54 "9 of 10 Nursing Homes Lack Adequate Staff, Study Finds," New York Times: 2/18/2002; [Back]
55 "Finding Answers to the Nursing Shortage," Hospice Manager's Monograph: National Hospice and Palliative Care Organization: 8/2002 "Staffing shortage plagues hospices," "Aging population strains resources" - Chicago Tribune: 10/2/2001 [Back]
56 "Impact of Nursing Shortage on Hospice Care," Center for Medicare and Medicaid Services, Survey and Certification Group, Ref: S&C-02-44, 9/12/2002; [Back]
57 "Family sues hospice over son's suffering," USA Today: 8/19/2001; [Back]
58 "Medicare Advisory Bulletin," Federal Register: 11/2/1995 (Vol 60 No.212), and "Special Fraud Alert, Fraud and Abuse in Nursing Home Arrangements with Hospices" [Back]
59 "Newsmaker Interview with Mary Labyak," AARP Bulletin - June 1998: Mary Labyak served as Exec. Director of Hospice of the Florida Suncoast in Largo, Florida and is on the board of Partnership for Caring. [Back]
60 "Hospices Big Business, Thanks to Medicare" "Exploitation of Some Patients is Alleged" See Washington Post archives: 6/14/1998 [Back]
61 Open Secrets is an organization that tells you: Who Gives? Who Gets? US Senators, US Reps, Statewide Officials, State Senators, State Reps. [Back]
62 "Health sector problems turned into crises this year," South Florida Business Journal: 12/28/2001; [Back]
63 "Former lawmaker found guilty in embezzlement case," Asheville, NC's Citizen Times: 2/6/2003; [Back]
64 "The National Elder Abuse Incidence Study," National Center on Elder Abuse at the American Public Human Services Association: 9/1998; [Back]
65 Terminally Sedate: "Sedated to Death: When Comfort Care Becomes Dangerous," Women for Faith and Family: 2002; Volume XVII No. 2 [Back]
66 "Removal of guardian soughtÊin right-to-die case," WorldNetDaily.com 11/19/2002; [Back]
67 "Death Without Dignity" and "Terminal Sedation," Salon.com: 4/19/2000; or see p. 1 and 2 [Back]
68 "Physicians: Leave assisted suicide to doctors, patients," American Medical News: 6/4/2001; [Back]
69 "Ethics on the Job: When is it time to die?" RNWeb.com: 11/1998 [Back]
70 See "Notarized statement of L Keller," of Ohio for full details: available from Hospice Patients Alliance, for just one account of many received by HPA concerning seizure of victim's assets after euthanasia of the victim is committed in hospice. [Back]
71 "Legalized euthanasia for U.S.?," WorldNetDaily: 12/4/2000; [Back]
72 When Pam Yates family sued a hospice in New York and USA Today covered the story, the National Hospice and Palliative Care Organization launched an unprecedented campaign to try to force USA Today to contradict its negative story about the hospice used by the Yates' son. NHPCO requested hospice agencies and staff to inundate USA Today with letter to the editor protests, posting such requests prominently on their home page. See: "Family sues hospice over son's suffering," USA Today: 8/19/2001; also see: HPA Comments on Hospice Executive's Letter and Physicians for Compassionate Care Leader Responds to Hospice Industry [Back]
74 "No Applause for Last Acts," Disability Rights Organization "Not Dead Yet" - Flyer: 11/2002; [Back]
75 "Doctors overrule patients' right to live," Detroit News: 4/6/2001; [Back]
76 Pro right-to-die Partnership for Caring's Secretary/Treasurer and Board member Mary Labyak served as Hospice of the Florida Suncoast's Executive Director. This is the same hospice where they are trying to kill Terri Schiavo by dehydrating and starving her to death. See The Terri Schiavo Foundation for more information. [Back]
77 "Other Actual Involuntary Euthanasia Cases that Occurred In the Hospice Setting," Hospice Patients Alliance: January, 2003; [Back]
78 "U. S. Attorney General Janet Reno observed that serious abuse and neglect is far too common among nursing home residents. Within the last year the Department of Justice has stepped up its efforts to seek out nursing homes that lie to surveyors or falsify records." Conference of State Nursing Home Fraud and Abuse Working Groups. [Back]
79 "A practical guide to suicide," Sydney Morning Herald: 12/2/2002 [Back]
80 "Trends in medicare payments in the last year of life." N Engl J Med 1993; 328:1092-1096, Apr 15, 1993. "Several studies suggest cost savings associated with the use of hospice care. In 1995, every dollar paid by Medicare for hospice patients saved the program $1.52." [Back]
81 "Involuntary Euthanasia Cases" Examples 1 through 4, Hospice Patients Alliance: 1999-2001; [Back]
82 "A Question of Homicide - CBS 60 Minutes II with Dan Rather" 6/18/1999; [Back]
83 "Abuse of Residents Is a Major Problem in U.S. Nursing Homes," report by U.S. Rep. Henry Waxman of California, July 30, 2001 posted online at: [Back]
84 "Skilled Nursing Facilities: Medicare Payments Exceed Costs for Most but Not All Facilities," page 20, GAO-03-183 12/2002 [Back]
85 "The New Math of Old Age: Why the nursing home industry's cries of poverty don't add up," U.S. News & World Report magazine: 9/30/2002; [Back]
86 "Care workers fail to receive all of raises Millions of state dollars intended to boost wages and reduce turnover never made it to workers caring for seniors, report claims," Contra Costa Times: 2/6/2003; [Back]
87 "Executive Compensation in 2001" Arkansas Business Rankings; [Back]
88 "Inadequate Medicaid payments squeeze homes' level of care" St. Louis Post-Dispatch: 10/14/2002; [Back]
89 Kindred Healthcare, Inc. Statistics from Forbes, Inc; 2/6/3003; [Back]
90 "Inadequate Medicaid payments squeeze homes' level of care" St. Louis Post-Dispatch: 10/14/2002; [Back]
91 Edward L Kuntz Personal stats from Forbes, Inc; 2/6/2003 [Back]
92 "Health Insurer Highmark Accused of Fraud," Sun Sentinel.com: 2/12/2003; The U.S. Justice Department has sued Highmark, accusing it "of filing millions of dollars in false Medicare claims." "Highmark named employee Drescher to oversee an effort to monitor compliance with Medicare regulations. But Drescher said the company routinely blocked her efforts to change the system, then "exiled" her to an unimportant post ... "The suit also alleges that the company harassed and then demoted Elizabeth Drescher, an employee who had led an effort to reform the company's billing practices." [Back]
93 "Government's probe of Columbia/HCA prompted by qui tam lawsuit," Phillips & Cohen: whistleblowers.com: 10/5/1998 [Back]
94 SNFinfo Connection, Vol. 3 No. 47, 11/19/2002; [Back]
95 Beverly Enterprises is one of the top nursing home operators in the US, with more than 500 facilities in about 30 states and the District of Columbia; Kindred Healthcare (formerly Vencor) owns 55 long-term acute care hospitals and more than 300 skilled nursing facilities; Manor Care has 300 nursing homes in 30 states; Extendicare has about 260 facilities; Sun Healthcare has about 240 facilities in 25 states [Back]
96 "Inadequate Medicaid payments squeeze homes' level of care," St. Louis Post-Dispatch archives: 10/14/2002; [Back]
97 "FRAUDMAIL ALERT® NO. 01-11-16: Fried Frank Harris Shriver & Jacobson: 11/16/2001; [Back]
98 "Nursing homes' pay needs reform" Seattle Times: 9/30/2002 [Back]
99 "Why departure of nursing home giants is good news," Tallahassee Democrat: 10/26/02; [Back]
100 "Article Links Hospital Staffing and Patient Mortality, Nurse Burnout and Job DissatisfactionJAMA ," American Nurses Association Press Release 10/23/2002; [Back]
101 "Angel of Death pleads innocent," New Hampshire's The Union Leader: 5/7/2002
"bioethicist R. G. Frey, of Bowling Green University, has explicitly asserted that, for humans as well as animals, the "value of life is a function of its quality." This the so-called quality-of-life ethic leads to very dark conclusions. "Because some human lives fare drastically below the quality of life of normal (adult) human life," National Review Online: 1/24/2003
"Dr. Ian Dowbiggin, chair of the history department at the University of Prince Edward Island (UPEI), reveals that many leading euthanasia activists have approved extending the right to die to handicapped newborns, the disabled and the elderly -- and not just consenting adults with terminal diseases -- and that many of the people who supported eugenic measures such as the sterilization of the disabled, also supported mercy-killing and an individual right to die." from: A Merciful End: The Euthanasia Movement in Modern America, published by Oxford University Press, 2003.
When discussing the vegetative state, author Bryan Jennett suggests: "Special attention be given to matters of withholding and withdrawing treatment in particular, so-called artificial nutrition and hydration," The Vegetative State: Medical Facts, Ethical and Legal Dilemmas by Bryan Jennett, New York, NY, Cambridge University Press, 2002.
Note:" This is the current state of medical "ethics;" patients who are disabled cognitively and are not brain dead (or are disabled in other ways) are direct targets for execution through withdrawal of feeding. Important to note: anybody who is kept from eating or drinking will die!
"It will only be a matter of time before the first Australians who have a disability will be given the 'right' to death by a society that does not welcome them," "Courage in a brave new world: A disability perspective," Quadriplegic PhD candidate Erik Leipoldt: [Back]
102 The Hemlock Society is one of the foremost proponents of the right to kill oneself (and assist others to kill themselves) and has infiltrated the hospice movement as Hospice for Hemlock, which has direct links to the Hemlock Society, inviting the public to join the Hemlock Society. [Back]
103 The Hemlock Society, Hospice for Hemlock and the World Federation of Right-to-Die Societies all list Compassion in Dying as one of the Right-to-Die organizations. [Back]
104 The World Federation of Right-to-Die Societies lists Partnership for Caring as a Right-to-Die organization [Back]
105 Henry (Rex) Greene, MD of California, describing Compassion in Dying, email dated: 11/11/2002 [Back]
106 See The Terri Schiavo Foundation website [Back]
107 Nancy Valko, RN, (President of Missouri Nurses for Life) commenting on recent JAMA article: "A Piece of My Mind," Vol. 289 No. 6, 2/12/ 2003; [Back]
108 "Improving Care at Life's End," Report of the California Mediated Public Policy Dialogue on Physician-Assisted Suicide and End-of-Life Issues June 2002. "Kevorkian: Right Problem, Wrong Solution," The Washington Post: 1/17/1994 [Back]
109 "Hospice Data - FY 1991 - FY 2001," Center for Medicare Services; [Back]
110 "Important Questions for Hospice in the Next Century," U.S. DHHS Office of Disability, Aging and Long-Term Care Policy; [Back]
111 I observed this in Grand Rapids, Michigan at one of our local hospitals. [Back]
112 "No Applause for Last Acts," Disability Rights Organization "Not Dead Yet" - Flyer: 11/2002; [Back]
113 "Students Protest Princeton Professor Who Advocates Infanticide;" Prof. Peter Singer of Princeton University advocates the extermination of any person whose quality of life is deemed "unworthy" of life, yet Singer is an ardent animal rights activist! [Back]
114 "Unspeakable Conversations," New York Times Magazine: 2/16/2003; [Back]
115 Health Administration Responsibility Project - Preemption of state tort claims; [Back]
116 Health Administration Responsibility Project: "ERISA Outline;" [Back]
117 All references to Kaiser HMO are copyright 2003: Charles Phillips, MD from HMOs - Licensed to Kill, draft version; Fresno, California [Back]
118 "Breaux, Hatch to Introduce "Elder Justice" Legislation," 2/7/2003 [Back]