Your Elderly Loved One May be an Abuse Victim

Elder abuse is the term used to refer to any knowing, intentional or negligent act by a caregiver or any other person that causes harm to an elderly adult. Most of the nation's abuse against the elderly occurs in nursing facilities and hospitals where families have entrusted the care of their elderly loved one.

The National Center on Elder Abuse (NCEA) periodically collects, analyzes and publishes statistics on abuse of the elderly in the United States. It is estimated that over 500,000 elderly adults are abused each year, and a shocking 84% of those abuse situations remain hidden. Some reports estimate that a startling 5 million elderly adults may be abused each year. It is very difficult to say how many older Americans are abused, neglected or exploited because surveillance of these facilities is limited and the problem remains greatly hidden.

Types of Abuse

There are many different types of abuse that an elderly person can suffer including:

Physical abuse
Sexual abuse
Emotional abuse
Neglect
Abandonment
Financial Exploitation

Signs of Physical Abuse

Bruises, abrasions, broken bones, or burns
Open wounds
Cuts
Signs like broken eyeglasses or torn clothing indicating a struggle

Signs of Sexual Abuse

Bruises around breasts and genital area
Unexplained venereal disease or infection
Torn or bloody undergarments
Unexplained vaginal or anal bleeding

Signs of Emotional Abuse

Upset or agitated
Withdrawn and non-communicative
Exhibits any unusual behavior
Appears more timid or quieter than usual

Signs of Neglect

Malnutrition
Dehydration
Poor hygiene
Bed sores
Unsanitary living conditions
Untreated health problems

Signs of Abandonment

The elder is left at a nursing facility or hospital
The elder is left at some other public place like a church or grocery store

Financial Exploitation

Financial exploitation is one of the most insidious forms of elder abuse, and it is the most prevalent. Financial exploitation is estimated to be the type of abuse in half of all elderly abuse cases that are reported.

Elders who are frail and not fully able to take care of themselves are vulnerable to abuse. Family members, contractors, telemarketers, church leaders, financial advisers, and healthcare workers are the most common predators on the elderly person's money. Elderly adults who have been financially exploited are often left without the resources they need to care for themselves. Sometimes older adults made destitute by financial exploitation have to turn to public aid for their necessary care.

There are steps to take to ensure your elderly loved one is not taken advantage of by greedy caretakers, family members or healthcare professionals. Power of attorney is a useful legal tool that allows an individual to designate some other party to manage their funds in the event that they are unable to do so.

If your elderly loved one has been abused, neglected or has even died due to someone else's negligence in Missouri or Illinois, please contact the Nursing Home Abuse and Negligence Lawyers at Brown & Brown, Attorneys at Law.

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What To Do When You Suffer An Injury On The Job?

For over 30 years I have been representing injured workers for work place accidents in Virginia workers compensation proceedings and there are some basic errors that injured workers make time and time again which result in denied claims. It is particularly sad to see claimants lose good claims as a result of simple mistakes.

First, it is common for injured workers to ignore a serious injury for a day or even for a couple of days. This can be a serious mistake because the workers compensation insurance company will often deny a claim that is not promptly reported to an employer. Thus, every type of injury should be reported and in writing if possible.

Second, the injured worker will delay going to an doctor for his/her injury. This can be a serious error because the longer you wait the harder it is for the doctor to establish a causal link between the accident and the injury.

Third, the insurance company will often want to take a recorded statement from the worker right after the injury. Giving this statement without legal advice can result in the loss of a legitimate claim.

Fourth, the injured worked will not follow the guidelines set by the doctor. This can be a serious error. For example, if the doctor specifies certain lifting restrictions and these are violated by the injured worker it can result in loss of benefits.

Fifth, the injured worker will be asked to take a drug test often right after the injury. A failure of this drug test can result in termination of employment and loss of compensation. Often, injured workers do not know that marijuana can still in one system for weeks after smoking resulting in a postive drug test.

Sixth, the injured worker who has a serious injury fails to consult an experienced workers compensation lawyer. Not every attorney knows workers comp law, shop carefully. If the attorney is listed "AV" by Martindale-Hubbell, you can can feel confident you have an attorney who has been rated the best in his field.

IN SUMMARY, avoiding these simple mistakes will greatly enhance your chance of winning your claim.

This may be considered AN ADVERTISEMENT or Advertising Material under the Rules of Professional Conduct governing lawyers in Virginia. This note is designed for general information only. The information presented at this site should not be construed to be formal legal advice nor the formation of a lawyer/client relationship.

Gerald G. Lutkenhaus, Attorney at Law, in Central Virginia. In the July 1999 issue of Richmond Magazine he was recognized as the Best Attorney for Workers Compensation in Central Virginia. In 2003 he received Martindale-Hubbell's highest rating of AV.

For More information: our web site http://www.geraldlutkenhaus.com and email us at jervalaw.com

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Understanding Social Security Disability Insurance Benefits

Many Americans have a limited understanding of the disability benefits available from the Social Security Administration (SSA). This federal government agency provides benefit programs to individuals with serious disabilities and to their families.

The Difference Between Social Security Disability (SSD) and Supplemental Security Income (SSI) Social Security Disability Insurance Benefits (DIB) are available to disabled workers who paid enough earnings into the Social Security system. SSA determines if you are eligible for DIB, based on your work history during the years before you became totally disabled. As a general rule, you probably have enough work credits to qualify, if you worked for 5 out of the last 10 years. The following factors determine eligibility for DIB:

• Whether or not you have enough work credits to qualify for disability benefits.

• Whether or not you have an impairment that has lasted, or is expected to last, for at least 12 months, or is expected to result in death.

• The nature and extent of your impairment.

• Your ability to engage in substantial gainful activity since your impairment began.

• The date your disability began.

The family members of a person approved for Disability Insurance Benefits also may qualify for benefits, based on the disabled wage earner's SSA earnings. Furthermore, children and spouses of deceased individuals who accumulated enough SSA earnings prior to death may be eligible for benefits.

Supplemental Security Income Benefits (SSI) are provided to low-income disabled children and adults. SSA considers other benefits, savings, certain assets, and income of household members, to determine whether a claimant's income is low enough to qualify for SSI.

The following factors determine eligibility for SSI:

• Whether or not your household income meets the SSI income limits.

• Whether or not you have an impairment that has lasted, or is expected to last, for at least 12 months, or is expected to result in death.

• The nature and extent of your impairment.

• Your ability to engage in substantial gainful activity since your impairment began.

• The date that your disability began.

Do I Qualify for Social Security Disability Benefits?

You must be totally disabled from employment and meet the Social Security Administration requirements for prior earnings.

As defined by the Social Security Act, a disability means:

Inability to engage in any substantial gainful activity by reason of any medically determinable physical or mental impairment which can be expected to last for a continuous period of not less than 12 months or result in death.

Therefore, you may be eligible for Social Security Disability benefits if you can answer yes to one or more of the following questions:

• Do you have a severe physical or mental impairment that prevents you from participating in any type of gainful employment?

• Do you have a disability that prevents you from working at any job, rather than just your previous employment? Has your disability lasted, or is it expected to last, for at least one year?

• Is your disability life threatening?

Medical Evidence for Your Social Security Disability Claim The Social Security Administration requires evidence of the extent of a disabling condition before awarding benefits. To succeed in obtaining benefits, you must have a severe impairment that is shown by "medically acceptable clinical and laboratory findings."

Unfortunately, many illnesses may completely disable an individual, but remain difficult to diagnose. In these cases, an attorney can analyze your medical records to try to find the evidence necessary to prove that you have a serious disability.

If you or a loved was denied Social Security benefits, talk with an experienced Social Security lawyer today.

Attorney Marya Sieminski joined the Law Offices of Sam Bernstein in 2003. She is admitted to practice law in Michigan state courts and in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Michigan. She earned her Bachelor of Science degree at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and graduated magna cum laude from Wayne State University Law School. Marya has worked as a trial lawyer for 10 years and exclusively represented victims in personal injury litigation and in workers compensation claims. She also was appointed by the Governor to serve on the State of Michigan Workers Compensation Qualifications Advisory Committee. The Law Offices of Samuel I. Bernstein, our Michigan Social Security disability and personal injury law firm, has championed the cause of seriously injured Michigan victims for three generations.

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Hijacked! What To Do When Your Website is Stolen

Recently while checking the usage statistics for our company website I saw over 2000 "referrals" coming from a particular company. I usually investigate any links with such high numbers (often, it's as simple an article of ours that someone has placed on their website). What I was shocked to find when viewing this link, was that basically our entire website was duplicated on this site. Our copyrights were removed and replaced with this company's, and even our logo had changed to this company's name.

For those who have not experienced such a thing, consider yourself lucky. It has been said that imitation is the sincerest form of flattery, but usually, when you discover something like this, all you can think about is the hours and hard work you and your team have put into your website and the audacity of someone to come along and call it their own.

The internet, being the free and open place that it is, makes it easy for would-be thieves and not-so-savory companies to lift anything and everything from another website. It is important to take a stand when infringing material is found. Consequences of another individual or company using your written material, graphics, or even logo can damage your reputation, get you blacklisted by search engines, and more.

So how does one find out if this is happening and what can one do about it?

Stay Alert

As mentioned at the beginning of this article, the way this incident was discovered was by checking for unusual traffic in our usage statistics program. This is a bit of software that most hosts provide with your website hosting package. Look for unusually high "hits" or traffic coming or going from any link. The culprit link on our statistics was found under the Total Referrers heading.

Some of the large corporations write special spider programs into their code to specifically seek out things such as: same names of images, same names of files, etc. Once these are found and flagged, they are investigated for any infringement.

Another site that has recently come to my attention is http://www.copyscape.com. This site will allow you to check for instances of your content showing up on other websites.

Sadly, most infringements are never found, or are found completely by accident (such as typing something into a Google search or being alerted to it by someone you know). However, if you have a popular site, it is a good idea to regularly check statistics, have a spider created to protect your copy written material, or routinely do web searches containing some of your copy written material to make sure it doesn't show up anywhere you wouldn't want it to.

Busted

So what do you do when you find your material (text or graphics) on another website?

The first course of action is to perform your own research. Go through the website you find your material on and note which pages your content or graphics are being used on. Pay attention to any copyright statements that are on the website (for example, a website claiming your content as its own). In the case of articles note if the website mentions you/your company as the author. As you find violations, make screen captures or print outs of the offending material. Another very cool tool that you can use to help prove that you are indeed the owner of material is to try typing in your website address at the Internet Archive Way Back Machine (http://web.archive.org/collections/web.html). This website archives other websites over the years.

The next step is to find the contact information for the individual or company who operates the website. Most often, sites will have a contact page or at least an email written somewhere within the site. If you can't find anything, check the whois (http://www.whois.net) directory for who owns the site.

Once you have this information, you will need to compose a Cease and Desist letter to the individual or company. You can find samples of such a letter on the web by searching "cease and desist letter" in any of the search engines. If you or your company has access to the services of a lawyer, you can have them write and send the letter, but it is not required.

This is usually enough to have the individual or company remove your material.

If you receive no response from a company, you should perform at least 3 attempts to contact them, including physically mailing your letter before taking additional steps. Those additional steps can include contacting the hosting company (which can also be found through the whois directory) and explaining the situation. Usually a hosting company will also contact the offending website owner, and if they fail to hear from them, will delete the files from their server.

You can also submit a complaint to Google to have the offending site banned from the search engine: http://www.google.com/dmca.html.

Your final option would be to peruse full prosecution of the individual or company, in which case you would need to consult with a lawyer who is familiar with general as well as internet copyright laws.

Additional Helpful Tips

After doing my own research into the topic I noticed others who had run into the same or a similar problem. Here are additional things you should consider if this happens to you:

- If you are an ecommerce website, be sure to notify your ecommerce provider what has happened. The perpetrator may be trying to set up a fake site to attain user's credit card or other sensitive data.

- Change all internet passwords that access your site in any way to a cryptic combination of letters, numbers, and symbols.

- Notify your advertisers or any organizations you belong to about the infringement (especially if the offending site is using the advertiser's info, organization logos, etc.).

- After the issue is resolved, keep a close eye on the domain name of the offending site for several months and of course, be on the lookout for more theft. Quick Facts About Copyright and the Web

Even if a document or image on the Web does not have a copyright notice, it is still protected by copyright laws. No copyright statement or registration is required, although having the statement can only benefit you. With websites, a copyright can appear at the bottom of each web page, or even placed into your meta tags.

U.S. Copyright law is explicit that the making of what are called "derivative works" - works based or derived from another copyrighted work - is the exclusive province of the owner of the original work.

There is no "sure-fire" way to protect your website from being stolen, but by following the tips above, you can defend yourself if it is.

Useful Websites on Internet Copyright and Other Legal Issues

http://www.copyright.com/
http://www.copyright.gov/resces.html
http://www.hwg.org/services/classes/legalissue.html
http://www.piercelaw.edu/tfield/copynet.htm

Sherry Holub received her degree in design from UCLA in 1995. She is now the Lead Designer and Creative Director at Southern California firm, JV Media Design. Sherry is also a member of the NAPP, the International Academy of the Visual Arts (IAVA), and Cambridge Who's Who.

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Bridging Loan UK Always Stand in Good Stead

Dynamic nature of the time works endless. With the changing speed, the time envisages some financial ups and downs. But only the thing always remains with a person are his home and its equity. Despite taking chance of indulging the home into hamper, one solution of bridging loan UK comes up with to fill the financial gap. That financial gap is of between loan provision and home denomination.

As the name suggests, the bridging loan UK is secured in nature. During processing of the loan the applicant requires collateral as his security. On the basis of current market value of the asset, the actual amount is sanctioned. However, the lenders offer a sum of 100, 000, taking stock of the borrowers inconvenience into consideration the lending authority has raised the amount up to 400, 000. Lending period of the sum is about a week to a year at best.

As short-term loan in nature, interest paid on the bridging loan UK is high. Owing to heavy competition in the fiscal market, the applicants have good chances of getting the bridging on comparative terms and conditions. There are many commercial institutions are going in for providing the bridging loan UK facility, only the need of the hour is to access online. Take your time on understanding different lenders lending policies and plans of bridging loan UK. Make a thorough study of different loan quotes before any deal.

Utility of the bridging loan is innumerable. The fund can be fuelled into home improvement that is ultimately enhances the equity, purchasing ones dream car, in mood of celebrating wedding, or are in keen desire to take on for a selective holiday destination. Besides all, the bridging loan UK stands on the good stead of the individuals having in great emergency i.e., medical, childrens educational fees and other unexpected bills.

Nowadays, the fiscal market is growing successfully with such kind of loans. However, due to volatile nature of the market, the applicant has comparative chance of getting the bridging loan UK. So making the availing process handy one, the loan offers the money instantly.

Peter Taylor is a senior financial analyst at 24hrbridgingloan with an acumen for finance and insurance. In recent years he has taken up to provide independent financial advice through his informative articles. To find Bridging loan UK , 24hr bridging loan, 24hr bridging loan uk, best bridging loan, bridging high loan, bridging loan open visit http://www.24hrbridgingloan.co.uk/

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