AMDG                                                                                                                         U2                                                                                                                            B”H                                                                                                                                                                                                                               

Quantum Justice.org

Amiel Foundation for Justice Inc.

Artists for Seniors.org

 __________________________________________

 

Our Moral Imperative:  Justice for American Nursing Home Residents

Our Challenge:  Raising Awareness About Ongoing Human Rights Abuses

        in US Government Regulated Nursing Homes.

____________________________________________________

A healthy American nursing home resident hours before death. 7 days after food and

water were withheld in a US long term care facility. Weight at time of death, 57 pounds.

“You can choose to look away but you can never again say that you didn’t know”

                                                                                 William Wilburforce, 1758

The US Supreme Court Law

In 1997 the US Supreme Court ruled that food and water (nutrition and

and hydration) can be with-drawn from patients who are terminally ill.  

This law is routinely manipulated in order to lend the appearance of

legality to the illegal action of with-holding food and water from

HEALTHY nursing home residents who are not terminally ill.

Research Findings:

52 % of healthy nursing home residents are intentionally starved to death in

 US government regulated nursing homes.  Care plans document the statistics.

As the senior population rises the number of victims also rises making

many more seniors (and their families) vulnerable to the existing inequities.  

80 % of nursing home residents are women

A Final Injustice

In a final injustice helpless, healthy seniors are denied their human right

to comfort death.  They are deprived of water while they die because water

keeps HEALTHY bodies alive.  This profound injustice cannot be overstated.

We borrow Albert Einstein’s quote about the Holocaust,

“This is no different than common murder”.         Einstein on Peace 

___________________________________

The Manipulation of a Well Intention-ed Law

A well intention-ed law that was designed to end pain and suffering for

 patients who are dying of terminal disease, can, when manipulated, result in excruciating pain and suffering, and ultimately, death by slow, silent agony

for healthy seniors. The same law that seeks to protect one group of people

from suffering, can cause terrible suffering for another group.  

Silent, Invisible Brutality

One of the most sadly neglected areas of patient care is the lack of information

 about how healthy bodies react while they die of hunger and thirst.  After a

certain point of deprivation the body digests its internal organs and muscle

tissue, and drains moisture from its cells to quench the agony of thirst.

Physical pain is only one concern

After extended deprivation human beings are too weak to move, unable to

speak, and unable to express pain except with their eyes, an effort that is often unnoticed.  Although silence robs them of the ability to draw attention to their

desperate plight, silence does not diminish the fact that they suffer pain.

Moreover this silent, invisible brutality leaves no procedural evidence.

It is impossible to imagine the desperation and emotional pain that human

beings suffer while they are dying of thirst.  In its final, most severe stages

the agony of thirst is silent.  Silence represents the disconnect between

someone’s pain and the inability of others to perceive that pain.

      “Many of the world’s evils are committed in silence”.  Robert Louis Stevenson

The Difference Between Dying with Dignity and Being Forced to Die in Agony

Terminally ill bodies reject food.  

Their systems are shutting down, dying from disease. In order to insure merciful, comfort death, and the right to die with dignity, hospice care provides water to terminally ill patients while they die.  Water does not keep dying bodies alive.  

They die peacefully, silently, within minutes after with drawl of sustenance.

Healthy bodies do not reject food.  

Their systems are not shutting down from disease.  However, in the presence of

care plans to with hold water, hospice does not provide water to healthy nursing

home residents while they die because water would extend their lives.  Without

water, healthy people suffer a silent, agonizing death.   Hospice offers no respite

for them.  Forcing healthy human beings to die of thirst must not be confused

with merciful death or death with dignity merely because the process is silent.

An Unacknowledged Reality.

We are convinced that the US government has surreptitiously franchised

government regulated nursing homes to engage starvation as a weapon

of elimination against nursing home residents who are “seen as”

a drain on America’s rapidly depleting social security funds.

“The law is more than words on a sheet of paper.  The law depends upon

the character and integrity of those who interpret and implement it”.

                                                 Rod Rosenstein, Former US Deputy Attorney Genera

Theory

US government regulated nursing homes are

nothing more then modernized, beautified extermination camps.

Logic

Every nursing home resident who dies is one less person for our

American government to support with dwindling social security funds.

Fact

US government agencies look the other way while healthy nursing home

residents are intentionally starved to death in government regulated facilities.

Conclusion

Our nation faces a humanitarian crisis that is far more

serious and impending than any other concern worldwide.

The Take Away

Even if there is only a 1% probability that someone you love, you

yourself, or any other healthy human being, could be forced to die

of starvation, none of us can afford to take that risk.

Resolution

Agree, disagree or indifferent, we invite you to direct others to this site.  

Allow them to draw their own conclusions.  

Together we can raise awareness.  Together we can initiate change.

_________________________________

A society is known its humanity, and by the way it treats its weakest members.  The entire point of civilization is that the strong protect the weak.

Crimes Against Humanity

In March 2023 a German judge sentenced a woman to ten years in prison

for with holding water from a 5 year old Yazidi girl, and for forcing the child,

whom she kept as a slave, to die of thirst and dehydration.  The woman, an

Isis convert, was found guilty of Crimes Against Humanity.  Withholding

water from dependent seniors is also a Crime Against Humanity.

A Tragic Indictment

With-holding food and water from HEALTHY, nursing home

residents is a silent, invisible Crime Against Humanity that delivers a

tragic indictment against our civilized society.

 Only God knows what damage is done to the souls of the people who

perpetuate this atrocity.  They overlook the larger psycho social concept

that those who hurt others also hurt themselves. 

Justice for All

Justice prevailed for a child.  American nursing home residents still await justice.

They are the last unrepresented segments of society.

Our mission is to advocate for them.

Helping the weak is one of humanity’s greatest joys.

The Beginning of the Second Holocaust

      We interviewed hundreds of families whose healthy loved ones were

deprived of food and water in US government regulated nursing homes.  

All of the participants in our study are convinced that their collective

experiences represent the beginning of the Second Holocaust.

Why have so many people decided to tell their stories?

    To protect others from suffering a silent, invisible, agonizing death.  To raise awareness about a hidden government strategy that eliminates helpless, dependent seniors.  To speak their truth.  Families are convinced that our government shields its reprehensible, murderous strategy by hiding under the benevolent veneer of American nursing homes.  Nursing homes are the government’s willing executioners.      

Anyone could be next.  

     We renew our plea.  Agree, disagree or indifferent, we invite you to

direct others to this site.  Allow them to draw their own conclusions.  

Together we can raise awareness. Together we can initiate change.

“All that is required for change is that decent people love justice, and act with mercy”.  

“The Seven Pillars of Civilization”.  Collins     

“The world is held together by the love of a very few people”    James Baldwin

 In time, the love of many more people will bring about change  

We are grateful for your interest.

“You can choose to look away but you can never again say that you didn’t know”

                                                                                 William Wilburforce,1758

A Letter to America About The Second Holocaust                                     

                                                                                                               Reading time (Approximately)  40  minutes

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                      

Dear America                                                                                                      2023

Re:  In 1997 the US Supreme Court ruled that food and water can be with-drawn from terminally ill patients.  This law is routinely manipulated in order to lend the appearance of legality the unlawful action of with-holding food and water from healthy nursing home residents who are not terminally ill.            

        We are writing this letter to raise awareness about a little known medical and legal atrocity that takes place every day, in American nursing homes, nationwide.  Justice Brandeis wrote, “Sunlight is the best disinfectant”.  Once the atrocity is brought to light honorable people will join together to end this silent, invisible, unimaginable, crime against humanity.  

        Fifty-two percent of HEALTHY nursing home residents are starved to death in US government regulated, long term care facilities.  Eighty percent of residents are women.  Healthy seniors are intentionally deprived of food, then denied their human right to comfort death because water would extend their lives.  Moreover, the numbers are rising as the senior population increases.  A calculated euphemism, “benign neglect” shields the horror.

Above, Mrs. Dorothy “Dottie” Holmes Jacobus.  

An artist.  A lady. A humanitarian from Macon, GA who provided food for those in need for over 50 years.

                  Dottie was healthy not terminally ill.  And she was a ward of the state.

Left: One week before Dottie entered the Lutheran Home at Kane, PA.  Right: One hour before she died of starvation and dehydration.  A Pennsylvania judge (John Cleland) signed an illegal order to with-hold her food and water.  It was later learned that he co owned the facility. Dottie weighed only 48 pounds at the time of her death.  Witnesses heard her last words spoken in faint, halting whispers,

                                                “I.....am……thirs…..…………..ty.   

       How can anyone read those words and not be moved?

______________________________________________________________

      Although this crime takes place behind closed doors, out of view from public scrutiny, the statistics are documented by Federally mandated “care plans” which must be signed by three people.  

1.  The patient’s responsible party (usually a blood relative).

2.  The patient’s primary care physician.

3.  A nursing home representative.

      A calculated euphemism, “benign neglect” shields the horror.                                                                                                                                                                              

    How is the atrocity carried out?  Through a series of multi-level, multi-stage strategies, operating under the guise of concern for people in need.  

   In 1997 the US Supreme Court ruled that food and water can be with-drawn from human beings who are terminally ill.  (Vacco versus Quill; Cruzan versus The State of MO).  Certain conditions must be met.        

1.  The person must be TERMINALLY ill, and have a living will expressing end of

     life preference.

2.  ALL family members must agree to the proposed withdraw.

3.  Three physicians must evaluate the patient for an extended time to confirm the

     existence of a persistent vegetative state. Two physicians must be neurologists.

     

The law could not be more clear.

There are absolutely no exceptions.  No ambiguities.  

Note:  A persistent vegetative state occurs almost exclusively after a fall or other serious injury that deprives the brain of oxygen for longer than five minutes.  

  Extended evaluation time means years, not weeks or months.

     Despite its clarity this law is routinely manipulated in order to lend the appearance of legality to the illegal action of with-holding food and water from HEALTHY, nursing home residents who are not in persistent vegetative states.  

     Recall Professor Einstein’s quote about the Holocaust,

                   “This is no different than common murder”.    Einstein on Peace”

         

               

Above: A healthy human being after being deprived of food and water for five days in a US

government regulated nursing home.  Weight at death, 50 pounds.  Anonymous.

                           

      Who is responsible for the manipulation?  A committee of well informed people led by government officials who represent the various government agencies that crafted, and continue to promote and execute, the care plan concept.  The breakdown:  Government officials work hand in hand with nursing home executives, certain physicians, and other health care professionals in a well orchestrated, joint effort.  The objective:  To persuade (and in some cases pressure) trusting, under-informed responsible parties to sign documents that authorize the illegal, inhumane action of with-holding food and water from healthy seniors.  

       Although establishing a committee insures that no single person or agency is held solely accountable, care plans cannot be legally executed without the responsible party’s consent and signature.  The immorality of this process is obvious.  Does consent legitimize an illegal act?  In the case of with-holding food and water from healthy nursing home residents, absolutely not.  Even if 300 people consent, absolutely not.  The death penalty is more humane than death by starvation and thirst.

     Only God knows what damage is done to the souls of the people who perpetuate this atrocity.  They overlook the larger psycho social concept that those who hurt others also hurt themselves.     

                                                                                                              

     We interviewed hundreds of Americans whose healthy, elderly loved ones were starved to death in nursing homes.  Many families report being unaware of medical and legal definitions before signing care plans. They now describe the care plans as “death plans”.  Other families were never advised of the care plan requirement.  Actions were taken without their consent.

THE BEGINNING OF THE SECOND HOLOCAUST

       After years of research there is no doubt in the minds of the families who participated in the study that the process of withholding food and water from healthy, elderly Americans is the beginning of the Second Holocaust.

How do we reach this conclusion?  

Basic Economics. Basic Math. Fundamental Logic.  

Social Security will be bankrupt by 2034.  At that point the government will be unable to pay social security benefits to anyone.  Logical to conclude that every nursing home resident who dies is one less person for government to support with dwindling social security funds.  The fear is that eventually, in a word of rapidly evolving medical and legal events, every dependent person, regardless of location, in or out of a nursing home, could be victimized.

_______________________________________________________

                                                     

The Most Frequently Asked Question

     Trusting, unsuspecting people ask, “Why would nursing homes want to kill their patients?  Wouldn’t they want to keep them alive as long as possible?  The longer they keep people alive the more money they make?  

Logic provides insight.

     When Social Security was initiated (1935) most people died before age 60.  Today people live into their 90’s.  By 2040, 40 million Americans will be over the age of 65.   Many will enter nursing homes that charge $6000 to $8000 a month.  85%  of that fee is currently subsidized by the government through rapidly depleting social security funds.  (Social security will be bankrupt by 2034).  

     The Breakdown: The mean social security benefit is $1400 a month.  Top benefit amount, paid to the very rich: $3400 a month.  When people enter nursing homes their social security benefits are paid directly to the facility.   However since facilities charge $6000 to $8000 a month, (average) residents owe an additional  $4600 to $6600 a month.  Who pays the difference? The government. 

     Basic Economics:  Government cannot afford to pay all that money, to keep all those people alive, for all those years. (From diminishing funds). There is absolutely no financial incentive for government to keep nursing home residents, or anyone else, regardless of their location, alive “as long as possible”.  The longer people live the more money government will need to spend to keep them alive. Therefore, the longer nursing homes keep people alive the more money the government LOSES.  

     Economists cite obvious facts:  Regardless of social security benefit amounts, every person who dies (including the rich) is one less person for government to support with dwindling social security funds.  

     The same economic formula and logic apply to Long Term Care insurance. The longer people live the more money insurance companies LOSE. Those who rely on LTC insurance face similar financial limitations.  Finite insurance funds cannot afford to pay all that money, for all those years. to keep all those people alive “as long as possible”.  

      Hidden concerns emerge with Long Term Care insurance.  Many LTC facilities and LTC insurance companies are owned by the same parent corporation creating a conflict of interest.  Additional data:  The average nursing home resident lives six months.  LTC facilities are not long term.  Nor is LTC insurance. “Connect the dots”.      

      Social commentator and comic, Jeff Foxworthy delivers insight, “A living will is a license to kill.  If I stub my toe my wife can say, ‘Let him die, he wouldn’t want to live that way’”.  Additional insight from author, comic, Richard Belzer: “The people who benefit most from LTC insurance are insurance agents and their companies.  The people who benefit most from living wills are the lawyers who write them.  Government benefits indirectly from both”.  

     Analysts draw two historic comparisons:  “Most nursing homes are nothing more than modernized, beautified, extermination camps.  The silent, invisible, brutality, this institutionalized murder of healthy nursing home residents (who are seen as a drain on social security) is the beginning of the Second Holocaust”.  

  Agree or disagree, authors invite readers to consider the evidence and acknowledge the economic facts. The Beatles acknowledged the facts in poignant lyrics, “Will you still need me, will you still feed me when I’m 64”.

      A 14 year old who participated in our study simplifies, “Does anyone really  think the government wants to spend ALL that money for ALL those years, to keep ALL those people alive as long as possible?”.

_____________________________________________________________________

   Professor emeritus Michael Tigar, Duke University Law School, advised students to “address the heart of the matter” of every case.  The heart of this matter, The longer nursing homes keep people alive the more money the government loses.   Every nursing home resident who dies is one less person for government to support with dwindling social security funds. 

    Richard Belzer’s insight strikes again, “Nursing homes are the government’s hit men.  They do the government’s dirty work and the government comes out smelling like a rose”.

A fundamental fact of life:   

Healthy people are forced to die when their food and water are with-held.  Unlike terminally ill patients who are free to express their choice to die (in order to end their suffering) and unlike healthy people who are free to write advance directives (hoping to avoid future suffering), millions of healthy nursing home residents, who are weakened and debilitated by hunger and thirst, are robbed of the ability and the option to express any choice because they are unable to speak for themselves.  As a result others speak for them: “He wouldn’t want to live this way”, then sign care plans to with-hold food and water.  Without food and water human beings cannot survive.  They are forced to die.  The process of this second Holocaust is ongoing in American nursing homes.  

Above:  Ms. E, a widow, was healthy not terminally ill.  She entered a facility to recover from a prior medical condition.  Upon her recovery, her physician signed her release forms..  The plan changed abruptly when a family member initiated a care plan to withhold her food and water.  MS E. died six days later.  Elizabeth’s friend/caretaker was advised by the nurse director, “Don’t cause any problems”.

                                                               

Above:  Ms. E,  shortly before she died of starvation & thirst in an American nursing

home, 6 days after her food and water were with-held.  Wt. at time of death, 52 lbs.

       Families who were not advised of care plan requirements express shock. “No one told us about care plans. Dad was fine when he went to the home.  His choice.  One day the nursing home told us dad had dementia and would be better off in the Alzheimer’s wing.  Then they said he stopped eating.  We thought that was strange because he was eating before he went to the Alzheimer’s wing.  But they told us people stop eating when they get old.  We believed them.  We didn’t ask questions.  Now we know they stopped giving him food.  We trusted them but they lied to us.  They knew they could lie because dad couldn’t tell us the truth. He was too weak from starvation to say anything.  Alzheimer’s Wing is just another way to say Killing Wing.  Many people can’t afford an autopsy or they’re afraid to have a doctor cut into a loved one’s brain. We wanted the truth.  The autopsy showed that dad didn’t have Alzheimer’s.  Our dad was forced to die.  He did not die a natural death”.   

      Terminally ill patients or seriously injured patients who are kept alive artificially (by machines that provide nutrition, hydration and/or respiration) die peacefully within minutes after their life support systems are with-drawn.  Healthy seniors who are not attached to life support suffer for weeks in silent agony when their food and water are with-held.  The same law that seeks to end physical suffering for one group of people can, when manipulated, cause terrible suffering for another group of people.  

The horror of this profound injustice cannot be overstated. 

           

Euthanasia and Mercy Killing

   Referencing euthanasia and mercy killing:  Withholding food and water from elderly people does not meet the definition of euthanasia.  Inconceivably, health care professionals advise families to the contrary.  Nothing could be further from the truth.  Euthanasia is “the act of permitting the death of hopelessly sick or injured people or animals with as little pain as possible, for reasons of mercy”.  

       Starvation is a long, slow, painful, mercilessly cruel process.  After a certain point of deprivation healthy bodies digest their own internal organs and muscle tissue to satisfy hunger, and drain moisture from their cells to quench the agony of thirst.  Severe dehydration causes blood clots in the lungs, hallucinations, and other massive and subtle systemic dysfunction including electrolyte imbalance which leads to heart failure.  Starvation is not a merciful process. There are no words to describe the agony of thirst.  

       As the deprivation intensifies, healthy, elderly people are too weak to move or speak for themselves. They are unable to organize rallies, hold press conferences, launch websites or draw attention to themselves or their plight.  One more time, to reinforce the crisis at hand, these healthy nursing home residents are the last unrepresented segments of society.  All of us must advocate for them.  

     We are inspired by Rabbi Harold who was asked, “How can God allow such cruelty in the world?”.  The Rabbi’s reply, “While people ask how can God allow such cruelty, God is asking, How can people allow such cruelty?’’

                             

           

      Patient hours before death by starvation and dehydration. Seven days after food

and water were with held.

       “Aging is not a terminal disease”.  Maria Schriver.  Nor is aging the result of a serious injury that deprives the brain of oxygen.  Aging is a natural process.  Manipulating the law and transposing medical definitions in order to justify the decision to withhold food and water from healthy, aging human beings meets the definition of the crime of murder, “to kill a person unlawfully and with premeditated malice or intent”.  Withholding food from healthy people is intentional not accidental.  This crime shows ultimate and intentional disregard for God’s law and man’s law.  The entire point of civilization is that the strong protect the weak.  

THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN MANSLAUGHTER AND MURDER IS INTENT.

     

  Families ask chilling questions:  “Who originated the idea to withhold food and water from nursing home residents?  That idea didn’t materialize out of thin air.  Most people wouldn’t dream of doing that to their loved ones.  Neither would doctors.  Even if they could, that’s murder.  What kind of heartless monsters would even think of killing people this way? And plan every detail.  And have the deceitful nerve to call it a “care plan”?  It’s cruel and sadistic.  And why choose slow starvation?  Why not something faster, like poison or stabbing someone in the back?  Financially, government benefits most from the idea.  Connect the dots. This is intentional”.  One prescient family member asked, “Does the government compensate doctors and nursing home owners to help them eliminate the drain on social security by killing patients?

A  CRITICAL  DISTINCTION                  

The Difference Between Being Allowed to Die with Dignity

and Being Forced to Die in Agony.

Healthy bodies and terminally ill bodies die differently.

     Most lay people are unaware of the distinctions which are rarely discussed and not well understood outside medical circles.  

      Terminally ill bodies reject food.  Their systems are shutting down, dying of terminal disease.  Mercifully, terminally ill patients receive comfort death while they die because water does not keep dying bodies alive.  Terminally ill patients do not suffer the agony and the desperation of thirst while they die.  They die peacefully, within minutes after their life support is with-drawn.

      Healthy bodies do not reject food.  Their systems are not shutting down from disease.  Regardless of age healthy bodies need food to survive.  When healthy nursing home residents are deprived of food they cannot survive, they are forced to die.  In a final inhumanity and injustice, healthy residents are denied their human right to comfort death while they die, because water would extend their lives. They suffer a slow, silent, agonizing death for weeks.  This is not mercy.               

Note:  Death by starvation does not happen overnight.  When healthy bodies are deprived of food the dying process lasts for weeks.  

       “People who want to die want to end their suffering not prolong it.  Someone might say, ‘When I get too old, too weak, too sick, or too lonely,  I want to die’.  No one says says, ‘I want to suffer when I die.  Don’t give me any food.  Starve me to death.  And while you’re at it really make me suffer.  Don’t give me any water’.  This is not a senior issue, it is an awareness issue, an American issue”.  

                                                                             M. Means, PhD,  Humanitarian, Bio-ethicist,

Healthy people rarely choose to die of starvation or thirst.

1.  In 2019 two teens were swept to sea off the South Carolina coast.  Rescued seven days later one boy described his hunger, “I was so hungry I almost chewed my fingers off.”  He added,  “I was so thirsty I thought I was going crazy”.

2.   Following the Essex disaster three marooned sailors drew lots to decide which one of them would be eaten.    

3.  Survivors of a plane crash in the Andes cannibalized the frozen bodies of deceased relatives.  The book “Alive” documents their hunger.  

4.  A Holocaust survivor describes her hunger and thirst during a three day march from one concentration camp to another.  “At the destination camp I saw people eating human flesh. I looked to heaven to ask, ‘Please keep me from eating human flesh’.  I looked down and saw grass”.

5.  During evacuation of a French prison one man was left behind.  Rescued three weeks later, he told officials that he was in “so much pain from hunger and thirst that he couldn’t think”.  He survived by eating shoe strings soaked in his urine.

6.  Actor Aiden Brody, reduced food intake in order to prepare for the film, “The Piano”. His comment, “Until I went without food, I could never have imagined how painful starvation is”.    

       People choose cannibalism before they choose to die of starvation.  They drink their own urine to relieve the desperation of thirst.  Who among us believes that healthy nursing home residents would choose to die of starvation or choose to be denied the comfort of water while they die?

One Memorable Exception:  

In 1981, Irish hunger striker, Bobby Sands, member of the Provisional Irish Republican Army, chose self imposed starvation in order to draw attention to prisoners’ rights.  While imprisoned, he was forcibly given vitamin infused water by his captors which extended his life for 66 days before he died of starvation.  Although Mr. Sands did not suffer thirst, his journals document the pain of starvation.

     March 2023, a wrestling student in Kentucky died of thirst and dehydration after coaches refused to give water to him. In his desperation, he ate dirt while screaming, “Someone please give me water. My head feels like it’s exploding”.  Does anyone believe that nursing home residents feel any less thirsty when deprived of water?  Although they are too weak from starvation to scream, their silence does not diminish the agony of thirst.  

      A number of people in our study tried to see how long they last without drinking water.  Most of them felt excruciating thirst after only eight hours.  One person, Mr. X. managed to endure thirst for 18 hours.  He wrote, “I was INSANE with thirst.  My throat and mouth were so dry and cracked that the inside of my mouth felt like cement”.  He lost his voice, he was too weak to move.  Friends who monitored his experiment had to lift him from his bed.  A few hours later he might have suffered heart failure from electrolyte imbalance.  

       Healthy nursing home residents are deprived of water for longer than 18 hours.  Magnify Mr. X’s agony a thousand times, his pain does not begin to reach the level of pain felt by healthy nursing home residents who are deprived of moisture and hydration for days.  A few cases exist in which families rescued an elderly loved one.  Those survivors describe their agonizing thirst.  

Image

     

     One more time for any remaining skeptics, healthy people choose cannibalism before starvation.  They drink urine to quench the agony and desperation of thirst.  

   

How did we uncover this nursing home horror?   

On March 17, 1998 our beloved grandmother was starved to death in a nursing home in rural, NW Pennsylvania.  Her name was Mrs. Dorothy Holmes Jacobus.  She was not terminally ill.  She was not attached life support.  She was HEALTHY.  And she was a ward of the state.  In America judges are required by law to protect a ward’s best interests.  A rural county judge ignored the rule of law then signed an illegal order to withhold her food and water.  His name is John Cleland.  None of the US Supreme Court conditions were met in our grandmother’s case. Judge Cleland deprived our 76 year old grandmother of her human right to receive comfort death. He forced her to suffer the agony of thirst while she starved to death for weeks.  Our parents tried to take our grandmother out of the nursing home. They tried to stop the starvation many times, many ways.  Judge Cleland blocked them at every turn.  His unlawful order to withhold food and water from a ward of the state is unprecedented in America.  It was later learned that Judge Cleland co owned the nursing home, the Lutheran Home at Kane, PA.

    We are saddened to learn that 52 % of America’s nursing home residents are also starved to death.  Many are poor or marginalized people who have no one to speak for them.  We are telling our grandmother’s story to help them and, for those who have families, their families as well.

A Human Rights Atrocity

     Mewail Mebratu, Eritrean human rights advocate and lawyer, who emigrated to America from his war torn homeland, reviews Mrs. Jacobus’ case.  She was known as “Dottie”.  

   “The horrors of Dotie’s case exceed the horrors of the crimes against humanity that occurred in my country.  There, the Ethiopians launched open war, and openly committed atrocities against, Eritrean enemies who possessed the strength to defend themselves.

     In Dottie’s case, Judge John Cleland, launched a sneak attack against a defenseless woman in his own country, a nursing home resident who was too weak to defend herself.  He was obligated by American law to protect her.  Instead he orchestrated her murder by the slow, silent, invisible, brutal, process of starvation and dehydration.  Instead of weapons he attacked her with an unlawful court order to deprive her of food, then deprived her of her human right to receive comfort  death while she starved to death.  

     As a human rights advocate I have learned that many Americans are unfamiliar  with the definitions of comfort death and dying with dignity.   The concepts are not fully discussed or well understood. Definitions are rarely available on line or in dictionaries. I deliver the following information for those who value enlightenment:  All human beings have the fundamental human right and God given right to receive water while they die. 

     The human body can survive for five days without water.  Judge Cleland forced Dottie, a defenseless woman, to suffer the agony of thirst for five days while she died of starvation.  The evidence in this case is heartbreaking:  An American judge ignored the law.  An American judge caused the death of a woman in his own country not an enemy country.  An American judge forced another human being to suffer the agony of hunger and thirst in America.  An American judge who was legally obligated to protect another American, refused to honor his legal responsibility.  An American judge killed a healthy woman. This atrocity did not occur in a third world country.  It took place in America.  

       Other healthy residents who are not wards of the state have also been, and continue to be, starved to death and deprived of water while they die.  Their cases have been brought to light because of Dottie’s case.  Murder by starvation and dehydration, is not an isolated event.  Moreover it is ongoing.   

   

     This unimaginable tragedy falls beyond the scope of known horror.  Judge Cleland’s order is unprecedented in America.  The horror of this profound injustice cannot be overstated”.

     The fact that 52 % of healthy nursing home residents are also forced to starve to death is a crime against humanity that rivals all other atrocities worldwide.  I am convinced that the US government franchises government regulated nursing homes to use starvation as a weapon to murder nursing home residents who are “seen as” a drain on America’s dwindling social security funds.  This unacknowledged reality must be brought to light.

      Although Mrs. Jacobus’s case is the only one of its kind on record in America in which a judge withholds food and water from a ward of the state (a woman he was legally obligated to protect) she is not the only nursing home resident to suffer the agony of death by starvation and dehydration.  We interviewed hundreds of families whose healthy loved ones were also victimized.  Their narratives are documented, curated and included in our research.  In our commitment to raise awareness about this silent, invisible, crime, their case histories will heard, at last.  

 

A Review of Mrs. Dorothy Jacobus’ Case

Mewail Mebratu, Esq.

A brief history of the Dorothy Holmes Jacobus case.  (Because her case entered the courts, names can be named).  “Dottie” entered the Lutheran Home at Kane, PA as a fully ambulatory, highly interactive person.  Friends describe her as a beautiful lady who was unfailingly kind, an artist and humanitarian, who made everyone happy.  Her husband, Attorney Philip Jacobus, renown, criminal defense lawyer, and political power broker who traded legal fees for home baked pies, and favors, was respected, trusted and feared. 

     Atty. Jacobus placed Dottie in the facility against her will, and against her daughter’s wishes.  In America, a husband has more authority over a wife’s care than a child by blood.  (Very few spouses or other family members are aware of this law until the need to defend themselves against it is long passed). 

    After meeting certain legal requirements to establish a speculative, inconclusive, Alzheimer’s diagnosis for Dottie, Atty. Jacobus petitioned the court to have her declared incapacitated (incompetent).  He used his legal expertise to block her daughter from introducing evidence which would show that Dottie was competent.

     In fact Dottie did not have Alzheimer’s.  She was afflicted with other medical conditions, including Lyme Disease—the type that mimics the symptoms of Alzheimer’s Disease.  (Alzheimer’s can only be determined conclusively after autopsy).

     Note: Because Lyme Disease closely mimics many other diseases, people who are afflicted with the condition are often misdiagnosed by doctors.  Dottie was one of these people.  Three doctors incorrectly diagnosed Dottie with advanced stage Alzheimer’s.  This incorrect diagnosis would lead to adverse legal consequences.

     Based upon her incorrect diagnosis, Dottie was adjudicated, incorrectly, to be incapacitated.  At that point, Dottie became a ward of the state.  Atty. Jacobus and a non blood relative, Greta Jacobus (a sister in law by marriage who was not close to Dottie) were appointed co guardians.  In America, judges are required by  protect a ward’s best interests by monitoring a guardian’s actions.  Judge Cleland was in complete control of all major decisions regarding Dottie’s medical and legal care.

Note:  The average nursing home resident lives six months after entering a facility,  Dottie survived at the Lutheran Home at Kane for seven years.    (Largely due to Atty. Jacobus’s constant presence),  Several times during those seven years, Dottie’s daughter renewed her request to seek treatment for Dottie’s Lyme Disease.  (She spent thousands of dollars in legal fees in her attempt to help Dottie).  For seven years Judge Cleland refused, basing his refusal on the specious excuse that Atty. Jacobus opposed the treatment.  

    Recall that by law, judges control all major decisions that affect a ward of the state.  The law required Judge Cleland to order Dottie to be evaluated for Lyme Disease.  Again, Judge Cleland refused to follow the law.  Tragically, to Dottie’s detriment.  It was later learned that Judge Cleland co owned the facility.  

     Early in year seven, after suffering weeks of unidentified, gradual health decline Atty. Jacobus left PA for medical evaluation in New York City.  He did not return as expected.  He died five days later under suspicious circumstances while under a son’s care. (Before his trip to NYC, friends noticed extensive behavioral evidence that suggests poisoning as the cause of his gradual decline).

     Immediately after his death, co guardian, Greta Jacobus, abused her authority as co guardian.  (Recall that the US Supreme Court law requires that ALL family members must agree to the proposed with drawl of food and water.  Without consulting Dottie’s daughter, blood related sister, or grandchildren, the surviving co guardian, Greta Jacobus, ignored the law and instructed Lutheran Home officials to “stop giving Dottie food and water)”.  The basis for her statement, “Dottie wouldn’t want to live without her husband”.  No care plan was in place at that time.  The facility also ignored the law and acted upon verbal instructions, a violation of Federal law.  

      Recall that before any action is taken, for ANY patient, especially wards of the state, a judge must authorize the decision.  Recall that “care plans” must be signed by three parties.  Recall that judges (not family, guardians or nursing home officials) are in charge of every major decision that concerns a ward’s best interests.  In matters that concern wards of the state, no action can be taken by ANYONE without a judge’s authorization.  

     Those legal requirements were not followed in Dottie’s case.  In an attempt to sidestep Federal investigations, a special care plan was quickly tailored to accommodate the unique circumstances of Dottie’s case.  (Only someone with legal expertise could accomplish that task. Either the Lutheran Home’s Philadelphia law firm, or Judge Cleland, or another lawyer would fit that bill).

      Once complete, the care plan was signed by Dottie’s physician, Emmanuel Hippolito, MD, Lutheran Home DON, Mary Ellen Starner, and surviving co guardian, Greta Jacobus.  Judge Cleland did nothing to block the illegal action.  The same people who were obligated to protect Dottie, plotted her murder.  They ignored the rule of law, and re-engaged the plot to murder her, this time under they perceived to be the protection of a special conditions “care plan”.   The goal, to lend the appearance of legality to murder.

The Court Hearing to Restore Dottie’s Food and Water

      When Dottie’s daughter and blood related sister learned about Atty. Jacobus’s  death, and the care plan to murder Dottie, they went to court to compel Judge Cleland to follow the US Supreme Court law (as well as his moral and legal obligation to protect his ward’s best interests) and restore Dottie’s food and water.

Note: Dottie’s daughter learned about the unlawful care plan from Fr. Philp Pinzewski, a Catholic priest at St. Callistus Church in Kane, PA.  Without having the facts in Dottie’s case, Fr. Pinzewski presumed facts not in evidence and announced to parishioners, “It is God’s will that Dottie should die”.  A non Catholic replied, “It was not God’s will, it was man’s will.  It was Judge Cleland’s will”.

     Catholics believe in protecting life from the womb to the tomb, a principle that many pro life advocates may have overlooked.  Fr. Pinszewski could have saved Dottie’s life.  He chose to remain silent.  It can only be concluded that the feared taking a stand against the judge.

Note:  A physician friend of Dottie’s daughter contacted Dr. Hippolito to ask, “Is everything kosher with this patient’s case”.  Dr. Hippolito’s reply, “NO!  The person making the decisions is not a blood relative and she’s close friends with the judge.  She’s following his instructions”.  Dr. Hippolito’s comment confirms the surviving co guardian’s allegiance to Judge Cleland, as well as Judge Cleland’s alliance with the nursing home.  

        Dr. Hipolito did not attend the hearing to save Dottie’s life.  He testified by phone.  He falsely represented Dottie’s as being in a persistent vegetative state due to Alzheimer’s.  Later, in direct conflict with his false testimony, he signed a death certificate listing a common, treatable medical condition as Dottie’s cause of death. (Normal Pressure Hydrocephalis)  It is a Federal offense to falsify a public document.  Dr. Hippolito lied during the hearing, then told the truth on the death certificate.

      By delivering false testimony Dr. Hipolito also delivered an indictment against himself.  By refusing to protect his patient, he violated the first rule of the Hippocratic oath,  “To do no harm”.  How easy, how noble it would have been for him to protect his patient.  Under the law, Judge Cleland would have been required to follow “doctor’s orders”.  Instead, Dr. Hippolito lied.  Clearly, he feared repercussions.   (Short version, Judge Cleland was calling the shots).  

    Following a seven hour hearing, Judge Cleland considered testimony for only fifteen minutes, then refused to restore his ward’s food and water.  No judge can review an seven hour hearing in fifteen minutes. Clearly Celand had already made his decision (to murder Dottie) before the hearing.  A ward of the state was murdered by the very people who promised to protect her and were obligated by law to do so.  

Note: Conflicting Actions:  Greta Jacobus was also guardian to Helen Boiney, a maiden aunt. Although Ms. Boiney was 14 years older than Dottie and suffering from a diagnosis of advanced stage Alzheimer’s, Greta Jacobus did not instruct the nursing home with stop Ms. Boiney’s food and water, further supporting allegiance to Judge Cleland.

Note: Conflicting Motivation:  During the hearing Dottie’s son, Philip Jacobus, Jr, testified by phone, “Mom is vegetable who would want to die”.  His position may have been financially motivated, a will lay in wait.  While Dottie’s daughter and blood related sister tried to protect Dottie’s life, her son lobbied for Dottie’s death.  

Note: Conflicting Legal:  Lawyers are required to report a judge’s wrong doing or misconduct. (by PA Rule, R.P.B. 8.3 B).  The three lawyers who attended the hearing to save Dotties’s life were all aware of Judge Cleland’s duty to protect Dotty’s life.  They were aware of his violation.  They violated their oath and failed to or refused to report Judge Cleland.  (The lawyers:  Scott Hare, Esq., lawyer for Dottie’s daughter and sister; Catherine Guillespie, Esq., lawyer for the Lutheran Home at Kane, a specialist in nursing home law. (Ms. Guillespie was an associate with a large Philadelphia law firm that had to have been familiar with the law).  Fred Gallup, Esq., who had been hired seven years earlier by Atty. Jacobus to represent his wishes in past hearings during those years.   (After protecting Dotties’s rights in court for seven years Mr. Gallup turned abruptly “pro death” at Dottie’s life or death hearing.  Mr. Gallup and Judge Cleland are close friends in a small rural county).  How easy it would have been for the lawyers to follow the law and save Dottie’s life.  Apparently all of the lawyers in this case feared repercussions from Judge Cleland.

                                                                                                                   Alex Brandon, AP photo credit 

Judge John “Jocko” Cleland arrives for Penn State Coach Jerry Sandusky’s child molestation hearing.  Most judges maintain dignity while cases are in progress.  Why is Judge Cleland laughing during a serious sexual molestation case?  What was his state of mind?  Eritrean lawyer and human rights advocate, Mewail Mebratu asks, “What was Judge Cleland’s state of mind when he signed the illegal order to withhold food and water from Mrs. Dottie Jacobus, a healthy person and ward of the state?

     Many people in Kane questioned Judge Cleland’s action.  His response falls beyond the uncivilized pale, “Atty. Jacobus left “orders” that if he predeceased Dottie, she wouldn’t want to live without him and should not receive food and water.  So she could be with him after death”. Cleland claims, “I followed those orders”.  

    Recall that judges not family are in charge of all major decisions in a ward’s case.   A psychologist and ethics professor observed, “Since when can a family member tell a judge what to do?  If that were true, I could say, ‘Judge I want you to kill my dad, so I can get his money.  The judge would say, ‘Sure, How do you want me to do it?  Beat him to death?  Shoot him?  Stab him? I know I’ll stave him to death and make it look legal’.   Judge Cleland’s comment about Atty. Jacobus’ order is specious and absurd’’  Did he really expect people to believe that he was following Atty. Jacobus’ instructions. (We reference the Dead Man’s Statute in our book).  Ultimately, Judge Cleland was the highest and final authority in Dottie’s case.  He refused to protect her, then blamed a dead man who was not present to defend himself.

      One more time for those who are inclined to trust judges without question:  

Judge Cleland’s order is the only one of its kind on record in America in which a judge signs an order that causes the death of a ward of the state.  His unlawful order is unprecedented in America.

  ___________________________________________________________

   James Kratovil, Esq., humanitarian, delivers humane legal insight,  “It has not yet been proven in ANY court of law, worldwide, that ANYONE’s best interests are served by starving them to death.  Or depriving them of water while they die”.

 ______________________________________________________________

Message to American Women

 A comedy writer who asked to remain anonymous because his grandfather resides in a nursing home delivered this insight, “Message to American women, choose your husband carefully.  He possesses ultimate power over your life.  If he wants to get rid of you, he can have you declared incompetent, send you to a nursing home against your will, then after a respectable period of time, sign a care plan to withhold your food and water.  It’s a slower way to kill you than drowning you in the bathtub, but achieves the same result.  And it’s easier than a messy divorce.  Bonus to your husband, he doesn’t have to split the assets.  On the surface everything looks nice and legal.  He comes across as a compassionate husband and no one suspects a thing because the nursing home does all the dirty work.  It’s an updated version of the film ‘Gaslamp’.  It’s the perfect murder plot.   The infallible game plan for murder.

       Abused women beware.  First the abuse is verbal, then physical, then in some cases, murder.  Given today’s laws, if a husband wants to get rid of you all he has to do is abuse you to the point that you’re a nervous wreck, then have you declared incompetent, then send you to a nursing home.  Murder is the ultimate abuse”.

     The same message applies to men.  Choose your wives carefully.  No one is safe under the current law.  

    In Dottie’s case, substitute Judge Cleland for any husband, and you have a murder that looks nice and legal.  At least on the surface.

The difference between murder and manslaughter and murder is intent.  

Judge Cleland and others planned Dottie’s murder.  That shows intent”.

        A 15 year old’s comment, “They all knew they were supposed to protect Dottie because she was a ward of the state.  The judge knew he had to protect her because of the US Supreme Court law.  But he stopped her food and water anyway.  They all knew that would kill her.  That’s murder.  How did they think they could get away with murder?  How did they think they could fool people with a care plan?  Just because you have a piece of paper that says you can do something that will kill someone, that doesn’t make it legal. This is America.  Not a third world country where women can be murdered any time.  And why did all those people want Dottie dead?”

        Atty Mebratu broadens the teen’s insight. “The US Supreme Court decision was handed down in November 1997.  However, it would not appear on the books until June 1998. The care plan to with-hold Dottie’s food and water was initiated in January1998, six months before most people were even aware of the law, long before the law was published.  Translation:  Someone had been looking for, and waiting for, a way to kill Dottie.  Someone definitely wanted her dead.  Someone who understood the law”. Someone who knew the government would back up  their plan to murder Dottie.

     “Judge Cleland could have saved Dottie’s life at any time.  Had he restored her food and water, she would have danced out of the nursing home and he would have been seen as heroic.  Instead he killed her.  Now he looks like a monster”.

Murder is a Crime of Hate

     Gordon Frevel, Esq. humanitarian and legal analyst provided additional insight.  Murder is a crime of hate.  What could Dottie have possibly done to Judge Cleland to cause him to hate her so passionately that he would want to kill her?  Why would he risk his career by signing an unlawful order to deprive her of food and water, an action that would cause her death?   What level of raw hatred motivated him to act with such depraved disregard for life? Was Judge Cleland motivated by revenge against Dottie?  Others?  Many Kane residents offered insight.  “For years, Dottie suffered abuse at the nursing home. Her daughter (and others, including nursing home staff) contacted Health Departments at state and Federal levels, which led to investigations and media coverage.  Judge Cleland was so furious with Dottie’s daughter that he killed Dottie as an act of revenge against her daughter”.    

     Regardless of his motivation, Judge Cleland’s state of mind is reflected in his cruel, draconian order.

     “Dottie’s case leads to questions about the millions of other American nursing home residents who are also starved to death.  (Not by a judge’s order, by care plans).  What could these defenseless people have possibly done to anyone to warrant being murdered by starvation and deprived of comfort death while they die?  Are they hated by government merely because they are “seen as” a drain on social security funds?  How low has our society fallen”?    

_________________________________________________

If there was ever a moment of insight in Dottie’s case it surfaced in

the words of a ten year old child, son of immigrant parents from India,

“I thought judges helped people.  I didn’t know they could kill people.

_________________________________________________

   Human Rights in America, Human Rights Abroad

Recall the case of the five year old Yazidi child who was deprived of water by a German woman who held the child as a slave.  A German judge sentenced the woman to ten years in prison for forcing the child to die of thirst. The woman was convicted of Crimes Against Humanity.  Judge Cleland intentionally signed an order to with-hold water from Mrs. Jacobus.  Judge Cleland’s action also constitutes a crime against humanity.  Yet he was not convicted of a crime against humanity.  US government regulated nursing home abuse the human rights of healthy nursing home residents and mislead families into signing care plans that authorize the abuse.  Yet they are not convicted of crimes against humanity.  Civilized people must question why and how the American legal system justifies looking the other way when a judge and nursing homes commit Crimes Against Humanity.”  

     Judge Cleland’s illegal order to withhold food and water is documented on the public record.  This unimaginable tragedy, this crime against humanity, took place in open court, under public scrutiny.  Given the circumstances of a judge’s public disregard for the rule of law, other concerns emerge:  What atrocities take place in secret, off the record, behind closed doors?  

     Participants in our study enlighten us.  For families who decline to sign care plans other murderous strategies await unseen. Diet pills, suffocation, aspiration, “accidental” exposure to infections, “accidental” medication overdose, “accidental” fatal falls.   These narratives are included in our research publication.

      Recall again that Dottie’s emaciated body weighed 48 pounds at the time of her death.  Recall again her last words, spoken in faint halting whispers, shortly before she died,

                                   “I….am…….....thirs…….……...ty”.

Insert Close up Image of Dottie below (please leave a little space above and below image, not tight against the text.

We ask again,    How can anyone read those words and not be moved?  

  _____________________________________________________________  

                     

Contradiction

       Three months after Dottie’s death/murder in a nursing home, a Pittsburgh, PA woman, Mrs. Gladys Martin-Jones died in her daughter’s home.  Police charged the daughter with murder.  Pathologist-lawyer, Cyril Wecht, MD, conducted an autopsy then determined the cause of death, “starvation, dehydration and gross wanton neglect”.  Had the woman starved to death in a nursing home her death would have been identified as “benign neglect”.           

     Regardless of physical location (private home or nursing home) there is no arguable difference between benign neglect and gross wanton neglect.  Neglect is neglect.  We question the integrity, the humanity, and the motivation of those who see any difference. 

Note:  Dottie Jacobus’s daughter contacted Dr. Wecht for an autopsy.  Judge Cleland, the same judge who forced Dottie to die, also blocked the autopsy.  In a letter to the editor of a nearby paper, one reader asked, “If no one had anything to hide about the starvation death of Dottie Jacobus, why did Judge Cleland block the autopsy?”

Outsiders Looking In                                                                                                                                                                                                                            

       Many well intention-ed people, who have little or no experience with nursing home procedures, or the complex subtleties of the law, stand on the outskirts of a complex situation offering easier said than done advice.  Talk show host asked, “Why didn’t the daughter just take her mother out of the facility?” Dotty’s daughter, a forensic psychologist, and her husband, a physician, tried.  Many times, many ways.  They went to court.  Their efforts are documented on the public record.  Judge Cleland blocked them at every turn.  At the time they were unaware of the fact that Judge Cleland co-owned (still co-owns) the nursing home.  The detail was buried under layers of shell corporations.  Other factors apply.

    Moreover, as noted earlier, Dotty’s husband, Philip Jacobus, Sr, was a powerful, well known, criminal defense lawyer.  In America, by law, a husband has more control over a wife’s care than a child by blood. There are exceptions to that law, and because Dottie was a ward of the state, those exceptions applied.  Nevertheless, Judge Cleland ignored the exceptions.  Why?  Incestuous rural justice.  Additionally Atty. Jacobus contributed extensively to the Lutheran Home at Kane’s coffers, including a fully equipped, customized transportation van, and  ongoing free legal advice from an experienced lawyer for nursing home staff.

      For families whose loved ones are not wards of the court, this quote from an Office of Aging official applies, “Nursing homes make it very easy for people to place their loved ones in a facility but very difficult to take them out”.   Even though judges are not involved in cases that affect residents who are not wards, those residents also face great risks.

     Other people who trust government agencies ask, “Why didn’t Dottie’s daughter contact the Department of Aging, the Ombudsman’s Office, AARP or other government agencies for help?  Dottie’s blood related family members contacted 23 government agencies for assistance, at all levels, local, state and Federal, to no avail.  Several employees at the nursing home, contacted government agencies on Dottie’s behalf, also to no avail.

 

       People also ask, “Why didn’t Dottie’s daughter just give her mother water?”  Recall that Cleland’s (illegal) court order prohibited that action. Dottie’s daughter  ignored the ILLEGAL order and gave water to Dottie, while family searched for a lawyer.   When D.O.N. Mary Ellen Starner discovered the daughter’s life saving effort she stepped in, “If you give your mother water, I’ll have to call Judge Cleland and you won’t be able to see your mother while she dies”.    (At that time Dottie’s daughter was unaware of the fact that Judge Cleland co owned the nursing home.  D.O.N. Starner was aware”.  

Note:  Many people asked how Dottie endured the magnitude of her starvation for nearly two months. It was later learned that staff and friends secretly slipped water and morsels of food to her whenever possible. Their compassion, and Dottie’s will to live, in spite of the obstacles that were placed against her, extended her life.

     It is well known in health care circles that after a certain point of deprivation, after a person’s vital signs fall below a certain level, nursing home residents are given lethal doses of morphine to hasten death.  The  day after the D,O.N. learned about the daughter’s efforts Dottie was given a lethal morphine injection that killed her.  

      Note:  A nursing home employee who wishes to remain anonymous offered  a brief commentary that merits attention.   Over the years he has seen residents of  his nursing home enter hospice. Three days later they are dead.   This tragedy, this obvious crime against humanity is documented in our book.  

    One of his accounts, included in our book, highlights the resourcefulness of many nursing home residents.  One lady who was locked in her room for a small infraction, found a way to circumvent restrictions.  She took the door from its hinges.  

   Note:  Recall the case of Mrs. Terry Schiavo, in 2001.  Her family was prohibited     by court order from giving water to her. They were also prohibited from photographing her while she died.  Ms. Schiavo was not a ward of the state.  Thankfully, Dottie’s daughter, and friends, including a journalist, photographed Dottie’s emaciated body in 1998.  Their photographs document the atrocity that forced Dottie to die.

       Many people who are shocked by Dottie’s case, ask, “Why didn’t Dotties’s daughter just hire a lawyer and sue the judge, the nursing home and the doctor?  Humanitarian, producer, talk show host, Leeza Gibbons comments, “People who ask that question don’t understand that filing a law suit is very expensive, financially and emotionally”.  Publisher, editor, Judith Reagan was asked why she couldn’t find a lawyer for her case against a powerful man.  She replied, “Try to find one who will take your case”.  (In most cases, finding a lawyer to represent you against a more powerful person or institution is nearly impossible).  Social commentator, and comic, Richard Belzer says it all, “Very few lawyers, if any, will sue a judge.  Judges hold the future of a lawyer’s career in their hands”.

        Too often, people ask a question that misses the point,  “If someone’s mind is gone they wouldn’t want to live”.   Regardless of mental condition, healthy physical bodies continue to feel the pain of starvation, and the agony of thirst.  

 

Supplemental Data:  The horror of incestuous rural justice.  

Atty Mebratu comments, “Judge Cleland was raised two doors from the Jacobus home in Kane, a small town, in rural NW Pennsylvania.  Atty. Jacobus mentored Cleland’s early legal career and later used his political influence to seat Cleland on the bench.  A tacit, reciprocal agreement was in place. Favors were extended,  accepted, and returned in an isolated, provincial (and at the time) one judge county.  Judge Cleland’s co ownership of the facility further motivated him to accommodate Atty. Jacobus instead of following the rule of law.  Dottie was held captive in the restrictive facility instead of living in a loving, interactive environment with her daughter and physician son in law”.  

Note:  As a teen, Judge Cleland and Dottie’s sons played ball in the Jacobus driveway.  Dottie served lemonade to a young Cleland in those days.  Incomprehensible that Judge Cleland would ignore the rule of law and refuse to restore food and water to Dottie.  

     Justice Holmes wrote, “What it legal is not always just”.  

Horror writers take note:  Incestuous rural justice is real horror.

A Public Matter versus a Family Matter.

     In cases that do not concern wards, care plans are decided by family without a judge’s intervention. Decisions are left to family.  These cases are family matters.  In the case of a ward, judges not family control all major decisions regarding a ward’s care.  These cases are not family matters matters, they are public matters.

    Attorney Mebratu elaborates, “In most cases decisions about a loved one’s care are left to a family member or responsible party. These cases are known as family matters or private matters.  Judges are not involved in family matters.  Private matters are not documented on the public record.  As a result the American public knows very little about the ”care plans” to with-hold food and water from nursing home residents.  

    However, as mentioned earlier, in matters that concern wards of the state, no major decision can take place without a judge’s authorization.  These cases are not family matters, they are public matters.  No decision can occur in a ward’s care without a judge’s authorization.  In cases that concern a ward the judge’s decision must be documented on the public record.

   Because Dottie was a ward of the state her case is a public matter to this day.  Judge Cleland’s order to with-hold food and water from a ward of the state is documented on the public record.

     The fact that Dottie’s case is the only one of its kind on record in America does not alter the subsequent fact that 52% of healthy nursing home residents are also deprived of food and water in government regulated facilities.  In those cases the atrocity is documented only in confidential nursing home records, not on the public record.  Confidentiality protects the abusers.

    Absence of documentation on the public record does not diminish the number of healthy nursing residents who are also forced to die of starvation and thirst in US government regulated nursing homes.  Because of Dottie’s case, the facts of will come to light.  At last.

Note:  Dottie’s case draws attention to the many complex, subtle distinctions that exist within the law.  These complex factors are often unknown to lawyers, judges, doctors or lay people.  Mrs. Jacobus’ case history will enlighten many people.

Referencing Mrs. Terry Schiavo’s Case

While on the topic of wards of the court, a comment from Atty. Gordon Frevel about Mrs. Terry Schiavo.

  “Mrs Schiavo’s case focused international attention on the 1997 US Supreme Court decision that food and water can be with-drawn from a human being who has been diagnosed as being in a persistent vegetative state.  

     One of the major differences between Mrs. Jacobus’ case and Mrs. Schiavo’s case is that Mrs. Schiavo was not a ward of the state.  Had she been a ward, a judge could not have legally ordered her food and water with-drawn.   He would have been obligated by law to protect a ward’s life by restoring food and water  

       Had Terry’s parents petitioned the court for guardianship, a judge would have been required to honor their request to protect Terry’s life, and their hope that she would recover.  Cases abound in which patients recover years after being in a comatose state.  Terry’s case draws attention to other subtle legal strategies.

        The similarities:  In Mrs. Jacobus’s case. By law, a spouse had more authority over her care than a child by blood.   In Mrs. Schiavo’s case, a spouse had more authority over her care than her blood related parents”.

Note:  Although Michael Schiavo was still married to Terry, he was living in a married state with another woman and their two children.  Under those circumstances, had Terry’s parents petitioned the court for guardianship, as Attorney Jacobus did in Dottie’s case, a judge would have been legally obligated to grant their request.  As guardians they would have had more authority over Terry’s care than her husband.  For reasons which are discussed in our book, lawyers for Terry’s parents (Mr. and Mrs. Schindler) did not petition the court for guardianship.  The numerous, complex subtleties and strategies of guardianship law are addressed in our research paper and upcoming book.

Another Case Provides Alternative Insight

Mr. K placed his 86 year old father in a nursing home to recover from surgery.  While in the facility his father became ill with the flu which caused him to lose his appetite, and stop eating.  Mr. K’s doctor advised the son, “I can’t tell the nursing home to stop your giving your father food and water, but if you tell me that’s what you want, I can write and order for a care plan to that effect”.  Mr. K’s son replied, “Are you insane?  I’m not going to starve my dad to death”.  Mr. K’s son monitored his father’s care and personally fed chicken broth to him, daily.  Mr. K recovered, left the facility and lived into his 90‘s.  His case and his son’s love are featured in our book.  Their experience offers alternative insight.   Richard Belzer’s observation, “People need to know that they’re in charge not doctors.  That’s why doctors have consent forms”.  

       Dottie’s suffering is over.  We are raising awareness so that other healthy nursing home residents and their families will be protected from the same horror.  We honor psychiatrist, Dr. E. Jean Carroll’s guidelines,

“Be bold for the helpless.  Be mighty for the weak”.  

Realistic      

       We are realistic.  Government will not be deterred from its commitment to eliminate the drain on social security.  Their efforts, including the murder (however well disguised) of nursing home residents, may in fact accelerate.  Our goal is to raise awareness about the manner in which the extermination is executed.  Once decent people are aware of the facts they will convince the government to find a faster, more humane method than slow, painful starvation and agonizing thirst.  

“All that is required for change is that decent people love justice and act with mercy.”.                                                                     “The Seven Pillars of Civilization”.  Collins.

                 

THE LYME DISEASE FACTOR.  THE DANGER OF MISDIAGNOSIS

 

      We are deeply concerned for the welfare and fate of nursing home residents who have been diagnosed with Alzheimer’s disease.  Many of them may be misdiagnosed.  In fact they may suffer from misdiagnosed, untreated Lyme disease or pseudo dementia as a result of untreated depression.  Research confirms that the symptoms of Lyme disease mimic the symptoms of many other diseases.  (lupus, MS, heart disease, Parkinson’s, copper deficiency, black mold infection, RA, and a host of other physical and mental illnesses, including schizophrenia, traumatic amnesia, acute neuro trauma, aphasia, depression, pseudo dementia as a result of untreated depression, or Alzheimer’s disease).  In many cases the symptoms of Lyme disease exactly mimic the symptoms of every stage of Alzheimer’s from early onset to advanced stage.  

     Adding to the concern, brain scans for patients with Lyme resemble the scans of Alzheimer’s patients.  This mimicry can fool physicians, which increases the risk of misdiagnosis.  Under the circumstances patients with Lyme disease can be misdiagnosed with Alzheimer’s and suffer further decline for lack of accurate treatment. 

       Moreover since Alzheimer’s can only be diagnosed conclusively at autopsy the probability of misdiagnosis increases, leaving many more people vulnerable to the nightmare of mis-diagnosis.                                                

       Other factors raise concern.  Blood tests for Lyme are often false negative.  As a result patients who are afflicted with the type of Lyme that mimics Alzheimer’s, will, left untreated, also slip into further decline and develop additional symptoms that mimic advanced stage Alzheimer’s.  Given the nearly identical symptoms of advanced stage Alzheimer’s Disease and the persistent vegetative state, patients can be incorrectly determined to be in persistent vegetative states.  

                                                 

                                          www.LymeBasics.org 

       Next, either through incompetence or intent the law can be manipulated in order to justify decisions to withhold food and water.  Although patients who are diagnosed with Alzheimer’s (or untreated Lyme disease) may appear to be not of sound mind, in many cases their bodies are healthy.  They suffer weeks of agony while their healthy bodies die of starvation and thirst.  

        The fear is that in a world of rapidly evolving medical and legal events, those who rely on living wills now in order to avoid future suffering later, could, if misdiagnosed, die in agony, when their food and water are withheld.

    Duke University medical school professor, Neil Spector, MD who self diagnosed Lyme disease after 14 years of misdiagnosis and incorrect treatment, documents his experience in his book, “Dead in a Heartbeat”.  For 14 years cardiologists treated him for heart disease.  Had his Lyme disease been diagnosed earlier he would have been spared the complications of misdiagnosis and subsequent years of incorrect treatments.  

      Before his death Dr. Spector worked tirelessly with the Canadian organization, Lyme Hope, advocating for accurate Lyme diagnosis, and raising awareness about the symptomatic mimicry between Lyme and so many other conditions.  He expressed grave concern for the nearly identical symptoms between Alzheimer’s and pseudo dementia as a result of untreated depression, “Only specially trained psychiatrists can identify the difference between Alzheimer’s and severe depression.  Physicians without specialized training can incorrectly diagnose Alzheimer’s”.  

         Lyme spirochetes are resilient, pervasive, insidious organisms.  During the 1970’s live specimens were found in the mummified remains of 17th century rodents.  

      Since many seniors develop depression after entering nursing homes the probability of Alzheimer’s misdiagnosis skyrockets.  This occurred in Dottie’s case.  Following the deaths of her child, her brother, her closest friend, a beloved pet, and other family crisis, together with untreated Lyme disease, Dottie developed depression which worsened after confinement to the facility.  

       Tragically, general practitioners who lacked specific training, incorrectly diagnosed Dottie with Alzheimer’s instead of severe depression or Lyme disease.  Many other residents (who are not wards of the state) suffer similarly.

Note:  The radiologist who supervised Dottie’s brain scan, a courageous man of integrity, disagreed with his colleagues’ Alzheimer’s diagnosis.  After reviewing Dottie’s brain scans this specialist, advised, “I don’t believe that Mrs. Jacobus has Alzheimer’s.  The sulsi in her brain are better than average for a patient her age”.  When Dottie’s daughter raised the radiologist’s expert opinion at the haering to restore Dottie’s life, Judge Cleland ignored that information.  Clearly, Judge Cleland was only interested in information that would justify Dottie’s death.

Note:  Many general practice physicians are married to the Alzheimer’s diagnosis.  They subscribe to a time saving rule of thumb that imperils everyone, “When you hear hooves think horses not zebras”.   As a result, Lyme disase patients who are misdiagnosed with Alzheimer’s Disease are often irresponsibly over medicated which creates additional barriers to accurate diagnosis and treatment.

___________________________________________________

     Dr. Spector’s statement alerts all of us, “For years the question was, ‘Who has Lyme disease’?  Today the question is, ‘Who doesn’t have Lyme disease’?  His concerns about blurred boundaries, warrant everyone’s attention.

________________________________________________________________

       Ms. Yolanda Wolfel another advocate for Lyme awareness in humans and pets was also misdiagnosed for years, first with schizophrenia, then other psychotic disorders.  During extended stays in psychiatric wards she was incorrectly medicated which led to additional complications.  When doctors misdiagnosed Alzheimer’s her husband consulted world renown Lyme specialist Dr. Joseph.  After numerous false negative tests, Ms. Wolfel was accurately diagnosed with Lyme and recovered.

       Many celebrities discuss their delayed Lyme diagnosis.  

1.  Singer Avril Lavigne, misdiagnosed for a year, wrote, “I though I was dying”.

2.  Model Yolanda Foster’s memory loss was so severe that she forgot the alphabet.

     She was misdiagnosed for so long that her friends accused her of faking memory

     loss in order to gain attention on her reality tv show.  

3.   Ms. Foster’s daughter, model and horsewoman, also suffered from Lyme Disease.

      Both women worked with horses outdoors where exposure to Lyme infected tics

     increases.

3.  Actor Alec Baldwin said, “I didn’t know what was wrong.  I felt like I was going

     crazy”.

4.  Author Amy Tan said, “I know what it feels like to have Alzheimer’s.  I lost my

     memory and forgot how to speak”.   Her Lyme Disease was undiagnosed for years.

   

      Victims of Lyme Disease often languish in misdiagnosis for years.  Because Lyme Disease mimics so many other diseases, people are tested for other conditions while the Lyme Disease becomes more virulent.  In an effort to illustrate this face, the film, “The Punk Singer” opens as a punk rock study then draws attention to the Lyme EPIDEMIC.

       These cases and others form the basis of our concern for nursing home residents who suffer from un-diagnosed Lyme disease, Pseudo Dementia as a result of un-diagnosed depression, or severe depression.  We acknowledge and embrace our responsibility to speak for these helpless seniors who suffer from Lyme Disease but have been misdiagnosed .  

The Nightmare of Misdiagnosis            

German physician Alois Alzheimer, MD, first studied the symptoms of the disease during the early 1900’s.  At the time Lyme Disease was not well known.  As a result, patients who exhibited certain symptoms were too easily categorized as having Alzheimer’s Disease.  Then and now patients who are diagnosed with Alzheimer’s disease may in fact have Lyme Disease.

Note:  Although Dottie Jacobus tested positive for Lyme Disease, Judge Cleland refused to consider that evidence, (and other evidence) when her daughter went to court to save Dottie’s  life.  Instead of following the law and protecting his ward’s life, Judge Cleland ignored the rule of law.  In an unprecedented action, he signed an illegal order to with-hold food and water from a human being.  As mentioned, Judge Cleland’s illegal order is the only one of its kind on record in which a judge orders death for a ward of the state.   This does not diminish the fact, and the concern, that other nursing home residents are also misdiagnosed with Alzheimers’ disease.  Or that they will be starved to death as a result of that misdiagnosis.

Referencing Judge Cleland’s unlawful, cruel, draconian order: 

    When Dottie’s daughter and sister by blood asked Cleland to consider evidence that Dottie had Lyme Disease, (not Alzheimer’s Disease) Judge Cleland was obligated to delay his death decision and order evaluation for Dottie until her actual condition could be confirmed and treated.  Instead Cleland adopted an off with your head approach and ordered an action that would cause Dottie’s death.

    United States Supreme Court Justice Scalia, a wiser,  humanitarian judge, wrote, “Better to make a reversible mistake and order life than make an irreversible mistake and order death”.  

       After the hearing Judge Cleland commented, “Well, it’s all over now”.  He would soon learn, IT WAS NOT OVER.  Investigations revealed that he co owned the Lutheran Home at Kane, other investigations followed. Dottie’s case continues to enlighten others.

     The Population Increase

       By 2030, 43,000,000 Americans (50% of America’s population) will be over age 65.  Overpopulation further depletes social security funds.  Given the impending financial crisis, government will be completely bankrupt and unable to pay benefits to anyone.  

    Recalling our study:  Many participants were unaware of the illegal manipulations and blurred boundaries before they signed care plans.  Families describe feeling “so overwhelmed emotionally about their loved ones, and so overloaded with information” that they placed blind faith in the information they received from health care professionals.

      Later, after reviewing additional data families recalled inconsistencies between the information they received and the actual medical and legal facts, families reached identical conclusions.  “The government knew it was going broke, knew it had to plug the drain.  How? Eliminate (kill) everyone who is seen as causing the drain.  First the elderly then anyone else who collects benefits but isn’t working. The government developed care plans to cover up the murders.  Those plans didn’t happen overnight, they had to have been planned years in advance”.  

         

       Our parallel study on Lyme misdiagnosis led families to similar conclusions.  “The longer people live the more likely they are to be diagnosed with Alzheimer’s or dementia. Since one type of Lyme disease looks like Alzheimer’s, anyone who has that range of symptoms is in danger of being misdiagnosed with Alzheimer’s, and starved to death.   Call it murder by blurred boundaries and misdiagnosis”.       

       Based upon first hand narratives, a combined analysis of basic economic factors and the application of fundamental logic, the participants in our studies conclude the following:

1.  Every nursing home resident who dies is one less person for

     government to support with dwindling social security funds.

2.  Most government regulated nursing homes are nothing more than

     modernized, beautified extermination camps.

3.  The extermination of healthy seniors is the beginning of The Second Holocaust

                           

Attorney Mebratu broadens that view.  

Nursing home residents are not the only people at risk.  

Every healthy social security recipient, regardless of age, diagnosis, benefit amount, financial status, or location (private home or nursing home) will eventually be jeopardized.  All recipients who are seen as draining social security (homeless people, addicts, patients with chronic conditions, physically, emotionally or mentally challenged adults and children, are in danger of being deprived of food and the comfort of water while they die.  Even very rich seniors, especially the very rich, who earn the highest benefit amount (currently $3,400 a month) and are therefore seen as draining the most money from social security, are at risk.  Those who believe that children will be protected have forgotten that infants and children were murdered during the Holocaust.  German military were not the only killers. German civilians killed Jewish children for sport.  (“Hitler’s Willing Executioners.  Ordinary Germans and the Holocaust”.  Goldhagen).      

THE BEGINNING OF THE SECOND HOLOCAUST

“US government regulated nursing homes are nothing more than

modernized, beautified, extermination camps”.

Mewail Mebratu,Esq., Eritrean human rights advocate, activist, lawyer

Gordon Frevel, Esq.  Humanitarian, Senior Advocate

       Even if there is only a 1% probability that the atrocity of a Second Holocaust is real, all of us, including skeptics, are at risk.

       An economist whose grandparents were killed during the Holocaust agrees that the

starvation of nursing home residents is the beginning of the Second Holocaust.  His view, “In many ways America’s nursing homes are worse than Nazi Germany’s extermination camps.  At least the Nazis gave water to their victims.  At least they gassed people to death within 20 minutes.  Nursing homes starve people to death for weeks and deprive them of water during the process.  The Nazis killed people they hated.  Nursing homes kill people they promise to take care of”.  

       “The Nazis were honest about their intentions.  They announced their hatred of Jews and made little secret of their intention to exterminate them.  They openly identified their plan as “The Final Solution”.  As if killing were a math problem.  Nursing homes are not open or honest.  They hide their intentions.  They extend offers of present term care while failing to reveal future options, including the documented, government approved action of withholding food and water from healthy seniors in order to eliminate the increasing drain on social security.  The US government learned from the Nazis not to advertise America’s Final Solution.  Nursing homes lie by omission.  Families deliver their healthy loved ones to nursing homes like lambs to slaughter”.

       Part of the success of this horror lies in the power of deceptive verbal persuasion.  Nursing homes displace the facts with cleverly fabricated false narratives.  Facilities advertise good care, “Bring your loved ones here.  We’ll take care of them.  We have volley ball, movies, crafts, bingo, bus trips, good food.  The government offers Medicare.  Relax.  We’re here to help”.  

       There would be no basis for concern or outrage if nursing homes delivered the facts, if they posted signs above their doors that read, “Bring your loved ones here. We’ll starve them to death and make it look legal”.  

       The next phase of deception hinges upon the power of visual deceit.  “The Nazis did little to hide their extermination camps.  They killed people in cement buildings that stretched for blocks, in plain sight, along the side of the road.  The German public was aware of the extermination, they saw the smoking chimneys behind the barbed wire fences.

 

       

The US government operates its death camps in disguise. Lesson learned from Theresienstadt.  Nursing homes are designed to look like beautifully landscaped mansions, elite hotels or luxurious spas that are set back from the main roads.  Instead of placing facilities in long rows by the side of the road, individual homes are located throughout cities and towns.  Many are completely hidden from view.  The modern extermination leaves no physical evidence.  No smokestacks, barbed wire, cattle cars, mass graves, or tattoos.  The modern Holocaust takes place without drawing attention to

 itself, without even announcing its presence.

 

  Americans are conditioned to trust beautiful images, smiling faces and kind voices.  Participants in our study call it, “The Ted Bundy Syndrome”.  Government regulated nursing homes displace the ugly facts with false narratives and enchanting images.  People rarely suspect beautiful facades of perpetuating evil.  As a result too many Americans are too easily fooled.    

  German concentration camps were first built to house the elderly and the severely mentally ill, then later transformed into extermination camps.  A few Jews who recognized the future danger escaped the extermination.  Today’s danger is less obvious, almost invisible.  Few people will escape America’s modernized, cleverly disguised extermination camps.  

     The Nazis made no pretense about killing people they hated. America’s government regulated nursing homes maintain the pretense of caring, fully aware of the option to kill the very people they say they care about.  The duplicity is as horrific as it is effective”.

      An RN who worked in nursing homes for years, resigned after seeing the truth about what she describes as “the extermination camps for seniors”.  Her insider information reveals another deceptive strategy, “Most facilities have a ninety-five year old resident who is friendly, relatively self sufficient and usually attended by attractive family members.  These residents are showcased to visitors who are considering nursing home care for loved ones.  The truth?  The elderly persons are shills who enjoy reduced fees in return for their PR service.  They’re the token old people”.  

      In 2020 a nurse admitted to killing seven healthy nursing home residents by injecting them with lethal doses of morphine.  He said he “didn’t want them to suffer”.  He was not prosecuted, news coverage disappeared.  Participants in our study are convinced, “The nurse knew the residents were next in line to suffer death by starvation and dehydration.  A trial would have focused national attention on the extermination plan.  Logical to conclude that government sidestepped the risk of public outrage by offering a deal.  The state agreed not to prosecute in exchange for the nurse’s silence”.

 

                     

      It is well known health in care circles that after a certain point of deprivation, morphine is administered to hasten death.  In 2004 Congress introduced HR 2250, Any health care professional (including nurses’ aides) can administer pain killing medication.  Even if the injection results in death, the professional will not be held accountable.  Sen. Dennis Hastert opposed the bill, describing it as, “Nothing more than a license to kill”.

The same law that seeks to end pain for those who suffer from incurable physical disease, can, when manipulated, cause pain and suffering for those who are healthy.  

 A Word to the Wise for Skeptics

      For skeptics who cannot accept the possibility that government would exterminate elderly people in order to eliminate the drain on social security, we suggest reading,

1.  “The Secret Plutonium Files”, Eileen Welsome.  For over twenty years as part of a US government approved experiment, doctors injected trusting, unsuspecting patients with varying amounts of radioactive plutonium.  Some patients died, others suffered worse than death side effects. They kept returning to doctors who continued the injections. Experiments were conducted without informed consent.  When the secret came to light doctors said they chose poor, uneducated patients because rich, educated patients asked too many questions.  Doctors testified that they didn’t believe they had done anything wrong because the experiments were government sponsored.  Doctors were compensated twice, by patient insurance and government funding.  

  Other cases document government deception,

1. The book and film, “Philomena”,

2.  The Tuskegee Experiments.

3.  The displacement of native American children.

4.  The film, “And the Band Played On” reveals government suppression of information about AIDS.  Many people died.

     Recall the financial details of “The Secret Plutonium Experiments” and other government projects.  Physicians were compensated for their participation in experiments.  Does our government compensate nursing home owners and physicians to eliminate the drain on social security by killing nursing home residents.  

We renew our concern:  Even if there is only a 1% probability that the atrocity of a Second Holocaust is real, all of us, including skeptics, are at risk.

       Richard Belzer offers related insight about Dottie’s case.  “One wonders if Dottie’s case was also part of a government experiment.  One of several or many that were designed to see how lay people would respond (if at all) after learning that food and water were being with-held from healthy nursing home residents in their small communities.  Dottie’s case took place in Kane, PA, in a small nursing home in a sleepy, provincial, isolated, rural community, where people might not notice a horror that is usually carried out in secret.  Or might not speak up for fear of losing jobs in the town’s major employer, the Lutheran Home at Kane, PA.  If the residents of similar small towns remained silent, the starvation strategy could be applied on a larger scale.  In larger cities, and in larger facilities. The mass murders could continue until enough people took notice and put the pieces together.  If they ever did put the pieces together.  

      In Dottie’s case, because she was a ward of the state, her murder could not be kept secret.  Her case was a matter of public record.  And the plot to murder a healthy nursing home residents by starving her to death also became a matter of public record.  Taking the matter public shed light the governments plan for secrecy.  Interesting that Judge Cleland would leave a paper trail by documenting his illegal order on the public record.  Either he was stupid or he was certain that he was protected”.

     History is filled with examples of governments that abuse of the faith of the people worldwide. Not a far stretch to suggest that our government would conduct experiments to see if they could murder nursing home residents.  

       A few people in Kane described Judge Cleland as the Wicked Witch of the West for his plot to murder Dotty.  His collaborators in Dotties murder were known as Cleland’s Flying Monkeys.  To quote the Wicked Witch of the West ‘What a World. What a World’. The anonymous comedy writer’s insight, As co owner of a nursing home Judge Cleland had to have been aware of a government strategy that was in place.  He had to known that he could get away with his illegal action and had to have know that the government would provide back up.  What a world. What a world”.

       Additional insight from Mr. Belzer,  Starvation and dehydration are silent, invisible, weapons.  More time is required for effectiveness than bombing but the end result is the same.  Benefit to killers, few people notice the long, slow, silent process.  And there’s no evidence of mass destruction.  

 

__________________________________

                                                                                                     

    During our awareness effort we followed the example of animal rights advocates who use media to show images of suffering animals.  We contacted media about our mission.  Media would not accommodate our focus.  (During WW II, American newspapers refused publish articles about Germany’s extermination camps because US industrialists were working hand in hand with German industrialists).

  Undeterred we contacted influential people (entertainers, organizations and foundations) asking for assistance in raising awareness.  We asked for words not money.  Except for a few people everyone we contacted in the entertainment industry responded.  (writers, musicians, actors, directors, producers, comics).  Although their responses were oblique their humanity reignited our commitment.  A Seth MacFarlane character spoke for us, “Seniors are America’s most valuable resource”.  Pope Frances visited Auschwitz then wrote, “Cruelty still exists in our society”. Writers for “Life in Pieces”, “Blackish” and “SVU” highlighted our concerns.  Abigail Disney wrote, “We must protect America’s elderly”.  

      Benjamin Ferencz, Esq. last surviving prosecutor of the Nuremberg Trials asked for our data and offered support, “Never give up”.  Ricky Gervaise’s insights continue to encourage us.  To return their kindness and awareness, we still pray for the people who help us to advance this cause.

     Encouraged, we contacted daytime talk shows that feature public interest topics.  How humane it would have been for hosts to interview families about nursing home experiences.  We curate our research and share our findings.  Not one show responded.  

       We contacted the UN Human Rights Office, Amnesty International, The DOJ Office of Violence Against Women (misleading word choice for a protective agency), AARP.  Because 80% of nursing home residents are women we alerted NOW, Justice Ginsberg, and other national and international organizations that protect women.  We asked them to direct attention to the plight of elderly women in nursing homes.  No organization, none of the women who advocate women’s rights addressed the concern.  

       A Women’s History professor in our study described the brank, or scold’s bridle, a 17th and 18th century device that women (and a few men) who were seen as too outspoken, were forced to wear.  Artists and writers, including Edgar Alan Poe, depicted the common practice.  Some women were sentenced for so long that they starved to death.  The device was also used to silence slaves in America

17th century  illustration

       

The professor suggests that the process of starving elderly women to death is an invisible, silent adaptation of the brank designed to eliminate women who are seen as having outlived their usefulness.

Robin Williams observed, “Society has one motto, If you can use it, kill it”.

      Next we contacted politicians nationwide, including former US presidents.  Only a few responded. No pro life organization responded, despite the fact that,  “Caring about life at one end of the spectrum includes caring about life at the other end of the spectrum”.      

     We were at a loss to understand the basis for this pandemic silence.  Initially we could only conclude that politicians and others were paralyzed by disbelief, or that no one cares about the elderly.  Franz Kafka illustrated this phenomenon in “Metamorphosis”, the story of a man who wakes one morning in the body of a cockroach, the study about how society treats people who have outlived their usefulness.  For three years we were unable to explain the apathy of people who say they care about justice.

The Answer:  Basic Math, Basic Economics, Fundamental logic

Finally the answer surfaced.  “Government and big business work hand in hand”.  (“The Power Elite”, C. Wright Mills).  Nursing homes are BIG business.   The long term care industry is the biggest business in America.  More lucrative than prostitution and illegal drug trafficking combined.  (Because of the many other businesses that are associated with the long term care industry).  Government agencies fund, administer and regulate nursing homes.  Politicians and public figures either own nursing homes, or they, or their family members sit on nursing home boards, or they invest in mutual fund portfolios that include nursing homes.  (Politicians and captains of industries know where the money is).  Politicians and public figures will not investigate their own money makers.  Nor will they draw attention to the shortcomings of their own high performing assets.

     Their nationwide silence protects their investments, as well as the government’s agenda.  Just as worldwide silence protected the Nazi agenda.

      Families rage in their collective view, “Organizations, politicians and  powerful people won’t do anything because they own nursing homes.  We have to tak action ourselves.  When a law is abused we have to take action ourselves”.

In 2021, The Alzheimer’s Association earned over $235,000,000.  Participants in our study voice their concern, “Without Alzheimer’s a lot of people will be out of a job.  TheAlzheimer’s Association doesn’t want to find an Alzheimer’s cure.  If they did they’d look at Lyme disease”.

       US Supreme Court Chief Justice Roberts delivered a 2017 commencement address that includes the following remarks,  “I hope you will be treated unfairly because that will teach you justice.  I hope you will suffer because that will teach you the importance of loyalty”.  Roberts fell under criticism for his comments.  In fact his words echo the wisdom of Justice Holmes, “It is a sad commentary about American justice that those who have never suffered sit in judgment of those who suffer”.  

   Allied soldiers who liberated the concentration camps wept when they saw the survivors’ emaciated bodies.  Families in our study provided photos of loved ones who were deprived of food in nursing homes.  We include several photos of their emaciated bodies submitted during our study. They did not survive.

Note:  Every photo we received shows loved ones with their mouths open, the universal expression of the agony of thirst for all life on earth, mammals, birds, reptiles, insects. All life on Earth needs water to survive.
 

      Forensic psychiatrist Gregory Bishop, MD provides an everyday analogy, “This case is like an onion, every layer that’s peeled away reveals another layer”.  Our research peels back layers of information that can protect helpless people.  

      This is not a senior issue.  It is an awareness issue.   An American issue.

        We ask for your assistance in raising awareness.  Directing others to this site will advance that cause.  One more person who knows is one more person who knows.  Not a tautology, fact.  We subscribe to Professor Rupert Sheldrake’s view of collective intelligence.  The more people are aware of information the faster the information spreads.  As more people become aware of this Second Holocaust the sooner we can join together to end the atrocity and protect future generations from the same inhumanity.  We all share equally in this responsibility.

      Social commentator and author Fran Leibowitz wrote, “Great people talk about ideas, average people talk about things, small people talk about wine”. There are many great people in America who can draw attention to the Second Holocaust.

     

      We are grateful to Professor George Saunders, winner of the MacArthur Genius Award for Literature.  When asked if he had any regrets in his career, Saunders replied, “The one regret I have is not doing more to help others”.   And to IL Senator Bill Foster, physicist, lawyer, legislator who wrote, “At the end of our lives we must ask ourselves, what have we done to help others?  

         We are also grateful to humanitarians, J. A. Brodie, PhD, Hillel Hoffman, Esq,  Ms. Susan Haber, and Daniel Silverman, Esq. who believe that every person has a million rights.  To Larry Lareau, MD, Craig Miller, MD, PhD, David Fineberg, MD, Federal Court Justice Glenn Mencer, Family Court Judge Alan Penkower, Justice D,C., Ms. Rebecca Merry, D and B. Mc, Ms. Lilly Tomlin, Benjamin Ferencz, Esq., D.A.R., Mr. Grover Rine, Mr. Batton Lash, Mr. Jim Buck, Disler, Taffer, Halpin, Haberman, Inc, Mr. Michael McGear, Judge Jason Legg,  Bodiacao; Ms. Ringold, C. F., G. H., D. M., B.W., J.T., E.W.D, and many other people worldwide who are not afraid to help us or others in need.

Thank you for reading our letter.  

Be bold for the helpless.  Be mighty for the weak.    

                         In God’s love.                      

                         Kaji Benghu

We regret that we are unable to grant interviews at this time, we have received threats to life and property.  However we welcome narratives about your personal experiences.  

                          Contact: doctorstevespencer@yahoo.com    

                          Amiel Foundation for Justice  (NPO, 501 C 3 pending).

                                       

Dorothy Holmes Jacobus, our grandmother.

       

                                                                                           

Note:  Families who provided photos of their loved ones asked us to include the images on this site and in our book.   They understand the imperative of alerting others to the danger that we all face.  These intimate photos provide evidence of the invisible atrocity and Crime Against Humanity.  Occasionally someone criticizes the decision to include these images.  We invite those visitors to recall images of the emaciated bodies of Holocaust survivors.  

       News outlets show award winning images of the emaciated, weakened bodies of children and adults who are dying of starvation and dehydration in Africa.  Photos of Bobby Sands’ emaciated body circulated worldwide during the Irish Hunger Strike, drawing attention to N. Ireland’s struggle for independence.

       In her memoir, Patrick Swayze’s widow includes photos of her husband’s emaciated body hours before he died from pancreatic cancer.  PEOPLE Magazine published the photos.  The images warn about the danger of smoking.  Annie Leibovitz, photographer for Rolling Stone Magazine photographed author Susan Sontag’s emaciated body after Ms. Sontag’s death.

Many Holocaust survivors predict,

 “Unless we are aware, the Holocaust will happen again”.  

 

“The present never becomes the past.  The past isn’t even the past.  

(R. Platt, Theoretical Physicist).

The photos on our site show that the atrocity is happening again.  

The photos show the truth.