Disgust at Balch as Alleged Elderly Exploitation Scandal Erupts

Even the Alabama Supreme Court appears to be disgusted with the shenanigans allegedly involving Balch & Bingham partner Amy Adams and the alleged exploitation of 88 year-old Joann Bashinsky, known as Mrs. B.

In January, the Supreme Court stayed all proceedings against the elderly woman worth $218 million after Mrs. B’s attorneys filed a Writ of Mandamus, according to al.com

The scheme to control Mrs. B’s financial affairs appears to have been orchestrated by two fired employees who had worked for Mrs. B; Greg Hawley, the Conservator of Jefferson County; and Balch’s Adams (above, left) even though Mrs. B allegedly did not want Balch representing her, according to an explosive report on Alabama Today last Friday.

And what did these alleged co-conspirators apparently say was wrong with Mrs. B?

That she has dementia.

Yet the physician who treated Mrs. B for over five years provided written testimony that Mrs. B, even after being tested and treated by a neurologist, did NOT have dementia, and was competent to make decisions on her own.

So why did the court approve an order appointing a temporary conservator and guardian?

Because a letter from Dr. Caroline Harada (above, center) and other reports appear to have declared that Mrs. B had dementia and was “in need of protection.”

And what is Caroline Harada’s connection to Greg Hawley and the alleged co-conspirators?

Harada and Hawley were both listed as contributors to the prestigious, private Highlands School in 2015-2016, where Hawley’s wife Sally had been on the Board of Trustees.

Harada and her significant other, Fred Vars, (above right) a professor of law at the University of Alabama, were listed as contributors to the Highlands School.

Vars has written about mental health, gun violence, and suicide, including a letter to the editor with Harada in 2012 in the Journal of the American Geriatrics Society.

And what do they whine about in their letter? A Wisconsin Supreme Court decision holding that individuals with dementia cannot be placed involuntarily into “units for the acutely mentally ill.”

In other words, Mrs. B, worth $218 million, if she had dementia, could be placed involuntarily into a unit for the acutely mentally ill, and that would be just fine, perfectly fine.

Disgusting. Absolutely disgusting.