Townsend out as TJJD chief

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Cherie Townsend, head of the Texas Juvenile Justice Department, announced today that she's retiring at the end of next month following harsh criticism from state Sen. John Whitmire, who accused her of having a "hug a thug" mentality for not utilizing solitary confinement.

Until the Legislature fixes structural flaws, though, and adequately staffs facilities, the underlying problems aren't going away. Now that Townsend's on her way out, who will be the next scapegoat? Honestly I don't know who would want the top TJJD spot: It's a bit like the honor of being named Darth Vader's next lieutenant. Find Townsend's letter to employees announcing her retirement below the jump.

Dear Staff,

I want you to know that today I informed the TJJD Board of my intent to retire from state service effective June 30, 2012.  Over the last two months, it has become clear that the focus on my values and principles related to best practices in juvenile justice are detracting from the mission and work of the agency.  

I have worked for over 40 years as a juvenile justice system practitioner and leader.  It has been my privilege to serve in many capacities, to work with thousands of employees and community leaders, and to lead organizations at both the local and state level.  Serving as your executive director was the culmination of all that work.  As I look back, I am astounded by the accomplishments over the years by people working collaboratively to make certain that communities were safer and that youth had opportunities for change and success in their lives.  That was especially true here in Texas. 

It took a lot of soul searching to reach this decision.  I believe in the goals of this new agency.  And, I have appreciated your support and commitment to accomplishing those goals as well as to doing all that you could to insure safe and secure facilities, to achieve better outcomes for youth and to support their families.  You are an amazing group of individuals with great talent.  And, I will miss you.  

I will be working through the end of June and hope to have the opportunity to speak with many of you personally during that time.  Please know that you will always have my support, respect and admiration for the work that you do and your dedication to serve youth and the goals of this agency.  I will always be thankful for the time we worked together. 

Best regards,Cherie

Note to readers: Now that Townsend has tendered her resignation, please steer comments away from trashing her - you've won, she's out! - and instead discuss by what criteria her successor should be chosen and what that person needs to focus on once they're installed. Should they hire from inside the agency? Hire from out of state? Hire a juvie probation director from one of the larger counties?Former Travis County juvenile court Judge Jeanne Meurer turned down TYC for the top spot five years ago, but now that it's been combined with juvenile probation, perhaps she could be approached again. Anyway, please focus comments on where to go from here - both personnel and policy-wise - and not why Cherie Townsend is causing all the agency's problems. Not only is that meme false, it's now irrelevant.

MORE: Mike Ward reports that Jay Kimbrough will be interim chief; see Grits' earlier assessment of the former TYC conservator. AND MORE: From the Texas Tribune.

Catherine Rohr finds life after PEP

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Inc. magazine has a profile of Catherine Rohr, the founder of Texas' Prison Entrepreneurship Program (PEP) who left in disgrace when she revealed having had sexual affairs with program graduates following her divorce. As folks in Texas' prison milieu will surely recall:

The media, which had frequently celebrated Rohr's efforts to reform prisoners, pounced on the story of her downfall. The scandal became news as far away as China. "Prisons Ban Founder for 'Improper Relationships,'" read the headline in the Austin American-Statesman. That particular story attracted more than 60 online comments, most of them negative. "Let me guess, the greater the crime committed by the ex-convict, the dirtier the sex?" wrote one commenter. Others claimed to have knowledge of more than four affairs. "I was just bawling my eyes out," says Rohr. "They wrote untrue things—all sorts of uninformed comments. I didn't want to live anymore. I thought that I would live my whole life covered in shame."

Before the scandal, Rohr often spoke at churches and conferences about the prison program. She would always ask the crowd, "What would it be like if you were known for the worst thing that you ever did in your life?" Now, she was in that very situation.

The scandal nearly destroyed the organization. "We came very close to having the doors locked," says PEP CEO Bert Smith. "There were a number of people who were convinced that without Catherine Rohr, PEP would fail. I'm happy to say that it didn't."

Rohr is an impressive, charismatic figure who had been the subject of a number of near-hagiographic profiles for her work to turn prisoners into entrepreneurs. Grits always thought this to be a particularly smart approach. So few employers will hire an ex-con, why not start small businesses themselves if that's in any way an option? If a job doesn't exist, create one by marketing a product, service or skill. PEP gives ex-offenders tools to approach their dilemma with that kind of can-do, entrepreneurial attitude and at least a reasonable chance of success. Though I've never seen long-term success rates for PEP (and indeed, success rates aren't terrific for new startups in general), in theory, the approach makes a whole lot of sense.

As for Rohr, after a bout of moping and self pity, she regrouped, decamped, and launched another, similar program in the Empire State:

She dyed her auburn hair back to its naturally darker shade and moved back to New York City, hoping that the city's energy would help jolt her back to life. She entertained a job offer from a VC firm before finally giving in to what her heart was telling her to create: a new nonprofit. She would create a version of PEP that operated outside the prison system....

Defy Ventures has raised more than $1.5 million in donations and pledges from VC firms, hedge funds, businesses, and private foundations. Last fall, Rohr began accepting applications for the first class. After requesting referrals from the New York parole and probation departments and about 25 prisoner rehabilitation programs, Defy received more than 180 applications from former inmates interested in the free classes. Rohr looked for candidates who had high school diplomas or GEDs, who owned up to their crimes, and who were motivated to change their lives.

Today, when Rohr stands before a classroom of ex-cons and future entrepreneurs, everyone understands that the group shares a common story of failure—separated by degrees, of course. A few weeks after the program began, she told them all about what happened in Texas. "I was very hesitant to step foot in the classroom again," says Rohr. "I was concerned about how would these guys look at me. But I've never felt that. They are so respectful. I think that I'm able to be a better leader now that, in a way, we have a shared experience. I know what it feels like to let people down."

Good for her! While like everyone I was disappointed when Rohr's alleged sins wounded prospects (happily, not mortally) for a promising program, Grits personally was much more aggrieved at the two-faced media who lept onto her situation with even greater fervor than they'd heralded her accomplishments, trashing her seemingly that much harder to make up for the fact that they could find no fault in their prior reports. Before the scandal, reporters were happy to hype Rohr's program six ways from Sunday because she is young, attractive, smart, religious, well-spoken, and an unlikely prison reformer who carved out her own quirky but visionary path. Those same reporters, though, not to mention more than a few criminal-justice reformers, were as a group exceptionally eager to tear her down for the same reasons. The media frenzy she endured was vicious and I wouldn't wish it on anyone. Everyone's your friend on the way up in politics and public life; if you're looking for a friend on the way down, get a dog. It's why Grits has three.

Spillover corruption: Texas companies laundered bribes to Mexican politicos

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Grits continues to maintain that the most significant "spillover" of violence and corruption along the Texas-Mexico border, at least so far, happens north to south. Most recently, reported the Wall Street Journal ("Mexican businessman charged in Texas with money laundering," May 24), a federal indictment alleged that "an array of corporate entities in Texas" laundered money used to bribe "elected officials and political candidates in Tamaulipas," the Mexican state across the river from Brownsville whose northern and eastern borders are defined by the Rio Grande and the Gulf of Mexico. Said the Journal:

A Mexican businessman from Ciudad Victoria was indicted in the U.S. on Tuesday for acting as a front for politicians and candidates for office in his home state of Tamaulipas.

Fernando Alejandro Cano Martinez was charged with conspiracy to launder money and conspiracy to commit bank fraud. The indictment, handed up in Brownsville, Texas, charges Cano with using an array of corporate entities in Texas to launder portions of bribes paid by a drug cartel to elected officials and political candidates in Tamaulipas.

The bribes, according to the indictment, were paid in exchange for little or no police interference in the drug cartel’s activity within the state. They were paid directly to corrupt officials throughout the state beginning in 1998 or earlier, and the total is unknown but prosecutors estimated it to be in the millions of dollars.

Cano received and controlled bribes destined for the elected officials in Tamaulipas, and established corporations in Texas to be used as fronts to hide the nature of his activity, the indictment said.

These particular indictments target alleged money laundering and corruption by the embattled Gulf cartel. Here's the US Attorney's formal statement.

RELATED: Americans are quick to judge Mexican corruption, but this isn't the first recent scandal involving US-based corporations handing out bribes in Mexico. Though so far no one has accused the company of laundering money for drug cartels, from the April 21 NY Times, see "Vast Mexico Bribery Case Hushed Up by Wal-Mart After Top-Level Struggle."

Housing, employment barriers spur recidivism, budget cuts de-funded reentry programs

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The Fort Worth Star-Telegram has a story ("Ex-offenders in Texas often can't find housing or work," May 28) on issues surrounding prisoner reentry, drawing on the Sunset Commission staff report which will be reviewed at a public hearing next week. Wrote reporter Mitch Mitchell:

In the three years after release, about 32 percent of Texas state jail offenders and 24 percent of the prison population will be re-incarcerated, according to a Sunset Advisory Commission review of the Texas prison system released this month. Taxpayers bear the burden when offenders are re-incarcerated at an average cost of $50.79 per day, the review says.

Finding housing and employment are crucial to an ex-offender's successful reintegration into society, experts say. But after serving their time, many ex-offenders find that they cannot get a job without a home address and cannot find a place to live without the money to pay rent. So they may end up roaming the streets.

During a 2011 homeless survey in Tarrant County, more than 76 percent of the 410 people surveyed said their criminal records were the main reason they were unemployed, according to Cindy Crain, executive director of the Tarrant County Homeless Coalition.

Kay Smith, founder of Texas Re-Entry Services, said: "If you are coming out of state prison you get $100, a bus ticket home and a suit of clothes. If they have a place to go they're lucky. If they aren't lucky they end up homeless."

During the past three fiscal years, funding cuts have curtailed Re-Entry Services' reach, Smith said.

Grits was interested to see a lobbyist for apartment owners suggested a version of tort reform that might induce more landlords to rent to tenants with criminal records:

The issue for landlords and property owners is not money, but liability, said John Mitchell, executive director of the Apartment Association of Tarrant County. Landlords who rent to ex-offenders, whatever the crime, increase the likelihood that they will be sued if that person commits another crime that harms a tenant, Mitchell said.

"There are a lot of great people out there who are trying to get their feet back under them, but their housing options are limited," Mitchell said. "If their risks could be limited, I'm sure landlords and property owners would open up their portfolios to some nonviolent ex-offenders."

Read more here: http://www.star-telegram.com/2012/05/28/3991412/ex-offenders-in-texas-often-cant.html#storylink=cpyIf that's true, then we'd only have to worry about the VIOLENT offenders ending up homeless and desperate after being released from prison ... great!

What many folks don't seem to realize is that most criminals in prison will eventually be released and the more important question than how long they stayed is how will they behave when they get out? Texas now releases (far) more inmates every year than were incarcerated in the entire prison system in 1990 when Ann Richards was elected. The Startlegram reported that, of the "75,000 inmates whom the Texas Department of Criminal Justice releases every year ... about 7,000 are expected to return to Tarrant County." That includes people who committed violent crimes. It includes sex offenders. Common sense dictates that they must be able to find a home and a job as well. Good intentions aside, if they can't, who will be surprised when, in desperation, they eventually return to crime?
Read more here: http://www.star-telegram.com/2012/05/28/3991412/ex-offenders-in-texas-often-cant.html#storylink=cpy

Did prosecutor misconduct shift balance of power to Dems in US Senate?

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Last week, counsel for former US Senator from Alaska Ted Stevens put out a statement damning the Department of Justice for issuing light punishments to prosecutors who failed to turn over exculpatory evidence and engaged in other misconduct, noting that the case "resulted in the loss of Senator Stevens’ re-election bid" and, as a result, the "balance of power shifted in the United States Senate." See the May 24 statement from Williams Connolly LLP, below the jump, via White Collar Crime Prof Blog.

Today the Department of Justice demonstrated conclusively that it is not capable of disciplining its prosecutors. Apparently, prosecutors can violate the Constitution, deny the defendant exculpatory evidence demonstrating innocence, and introduce perjured testimony without any fear that they will be punished. Prosecutors orchestrated a miscarriage of justice in Senator Stevens’ case that caused the Attorney General of the United States to order the case dismissed. Trial Judge Emmet Sullivan declared that the misconduct was the worst he had encountered in 25 years on the bench. The misconduct caused a jury to render an illegal verdict, which in turn resulted in the loss of Senator Stevens’ re-election bid. And, the balance of power shifted in the United States Senate. The punishment imposed is laughable. It is pathetic. No reasonable person could conclude that a mere suspension of 40 and 15 days for two of the prosecutors is sufficient punishment for the wrongdoing found in the report.

It took a massive scandal and a independent investigation for two federal prosecutors to face even these sanctions - essentially unpaid vacations and a black mark in their files - while three of the six prosecutors involved faced no punishment at all. (A sixth committed suicide during the investigation.) Grits doubts any of these prosecutors have been or will be sanctioned by the bar, though even DOJ agrees they withheld exculpatory evidence. These suspensions will likely be the full extent of accountability for what happened. See the full report [large pdf] on prosecutorial misconduct in the Stevens case, which concluded that “This misconduct was intentional.”)

Grits frequently insists that criminal justice issues mostly don't fall along partisan lines and this episode provides a great example: After prosecutorial misconduct literally helped shift the balance of partisan power to Democrats in the US Senate (and nobody even gets fired over it!), conservatives surely have just as much of a stake in reducing it as progressive reformers.

[CA] Police Chief's wife Brinda McCoy on trial for shooting at police officers

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TRIAL IN PROGRESS:

People vs. Brinda Sue McCoy, Case Number 10CF3399.

PREVIOUS POST:
[CA] Police Chief McCoy's wife Brinda to face trial for shooting towards officers - Brinda Sue McCoy, 47, who is married to Oceanside Police Chief Frank McCoy, called 911 and said she needed help... When the Cypress Police Dept. arrived at her home, she refused to come out and put the gun to her head. According to the District Attorney's Office she then fired the gun twice at officers...

Brinda is the wife of Oceanside Police Chief Frank McCoy Jr. and the photo above is her current Facebook profile picture. The articles don't mention the presence or absence of her husband in court (?) but it would seem they may be trying to get through this - and that the media is trying to leave him out of it (?) - but he's clearly an influencing factor of how things have gone so far.

In public comments online of course folks are noticing a double standard - that a regular citizen would have been killed instead of bean-bagged like Brinda. Most of us would like to see equal compassion for others in distress. So what is the formula and what's next? (Remember Fort Lauderdale Police Chief Franklin Adderley 's wife Eleanor Adderley?) We will have to see how this works out in the end.

"It all begins on Dec. 16, 2010, with the defendant's decision to call 911," Deputy District Attorney Rebecca Olivieri said. [Brinda] McCoy allegedly "test fired" her husband's duty weapon about 7:10 p.m., prompting her neighbor Diana Orr to call McCoy, Olivieri said. McCoy responded, "Why the (expletive) are you calling me? What the (expletive) do you want? I've had it"... McCoy also allegedly told her neighbor she "would fire at police to have them gun her down"... McCoy refused to leave her house and pointed a firearm at her head and the ceiling before pointing it directly at the officers. "I don't care," was her response when warned if she fired the weapon she could injure officers, Olivieri said... In her last exchange with a police dispatcher McCoy said: "You know what? Don't f------ call me anymore," Olivieri said. Moments after that, McCoy fired another shot at officers positioned behind vehicles outside her home... Brinda Sue McCoy came out the front door but did not show her hands when officers asked her to, saying instead "f------ shoot me"...

Brinda's defense attorney presented that she was depressed after a family argument about their son, her husband left with their son but left his Semiautomatic Sig Sauer .45-caliber, she took a newly prescribed anti-depressant, had dinner and a martini and never "in a million years" intended to hurt any officers. "She exercised very poor judgment," he said.


FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:
WOMAN FACES TRIAL FOR SHOOTING AT POLICE OFFICERS AFTER CALLING 911 FOR HELP AND INITIATING STAND-OFF
ORANGE COUNTY DISTRICT ATTORNEY
Tony Rackauckas, District Attorney
Case # 10CF3399
May 24, 2012

SANTA ANA – A woman faces trial today for shooting at responding police officers after calling 911 and initiating stand-off. Brinda Sue McCoy, 49, Cypress, is charged with six felony counts of assault with a semi-automatic firearm on a peace officer and one felony count of discharging a firearm with gross negligence with sentencing enhancements for the personal discharge of a firearm. If convicted, she faces a maximum sentence of 61 years and eight months in state prison. Opening statements are expected to begin today, Thursday, May 24, 2012 at 10:30 a.m. in Department C-45, Central Justice Center, Santa Ana.

At approximately 7:00 p.m. on Dec. 16, 2010, McCoy is accused of calling 911 and stating she needed police assistance. Cypress Police Department officers responded to the defendant’s home and attempted to get McCoy to come out of her residence.

McCoy is accused of refusing to leave her house, pointing a firearm at her head and the ceiling before pointing it directly at the police officers outside. The officers warned the defendant that, if she fired her weapon, she could hurt one of the officers positioned behind vehicles in front of her house. Despite this warning, McCoy is accused of firing the gun twice from inside her home at police officers who were stationed behind two parked vehicles outside.

Special Weapons and Tactics officers used less-than lethal force to subdue and arrest the defendant.

Senior Deputy District Attorney Rebecca Olivieri of the Special Prosecutions Unit is prosecuting this case. [LINK]


OCEANSIDE: ASSAULT TRIAL BEGINS FOR POLICE CHIEF'S WIFE
North County Times
By Paul Anderson
May 24, 2012
[Excerpts] The wife of Oceanside police chief and former Cypress City Councilman Frank McCoy threatened suicide by cop several times and fired her husband's service weapon at Cypress police twice during a standoff that lasted hours in December 2010, a prosecutor told jurors Thursday. But Brinda Sue McCoy's attorney told jurors in the opening statements for her trial Thursday that while she is guilty of shooting the gun, the evidence will show she did not intend to hurt any of the police officers... McCoy allegedly "test fired" her husband's duty weapon about 7:10 p.m., prompting her neighbor Diana Orr to call McCoy, [Special Prosecutions Unit Senior Deputy District Attorney Rebecca] Olivieri said. McCoy responded, "Why the (expletive) are you calling me? What the (expletive) do you want? I've had it," according to Olivieri. McCoy also allegedly told her neighbor she "would fire at police to have them gun her down"... McCoy called 911 and told the dispatcher "she wants to be taken out of her misery"... McCoy paced through the house and at times pointed the gun out the window of her home... Several times, McCoy demanded police move her son's pickup truck, behind which some officers had taken position... McCoy eventually fired the gun at the truck... One officer, who was a friend of the family, tried to talk McCoy into surrendering and warned her that officers were behind the truck she was threatening to shoot at... "I don't care. Move the truck or I will shoot," McCoy responded, according to Olivieri... Defense attorney Lew Rosenblum told jurors that McCoy had been suffering from depression and had a prescription for Wellbutrin, but it was not working, so her physician put her on Klonopin... McCoy, who was a nurse and knew many of the officers who responded, threatened to shoot the gun at the truck because she wanted her other son, who is an adult and a Long Beach police officer, to leave the area so he wouldn't see her get shot by police, Rosenblum said... [Full article here]

BRINDA SUE MCCOY, WIFE OF TOP OCEANSIDE COP AND FORMER CYPRESS MAYOR, FACES 61 YEARS AS ARMED STAND-OFF TRIAL BEGINS
Orange County / OCWeekly
By Matt Coker
Thu., May 24 2012 at 10:45 AM
[Excerpts] The wife of Oceanside's police chief (and Cypress' former mayor) is scheduled to face a trial - heck, right now -for calling 9-1-1 and initiating an armed stand-off with Cypress police in December 2010... ... Refusing to leave her house, Ms. McCoy allegedly pointed a semi-automatic firearm at her head and the ceiling before pointing it directly at the police officers outside. Unlike, say, everyone else in the world, the cops did not immediately take her out but instead warned her that if she fired her weapon, she could hurt one of the officers. McCoy is accused of responding by firing the gun twice from inside her home at police officers who were stationed behind two parked vehicles outside. Unlike, say, every breathing being in the universe, McCoy was subdued through the use of "less-than lethal force" by Special Weapons and Tactics officers. [Full article here]

POLICE CHIEF’S WIFE ACCUSED OF SHOOTING AT CYPRESS OFFICERS DURING TRIAL’S OPENING STATEMENTS
89.3 KPCC
By Don Frances
May 24, 2012
[Excerpts] On an evening in late 2010 in the town of Cypress, one person was causing major trouble for law enforcement: the police chief’s wife... In their opening statement this morning, prosecutors told an Orange County jury that Ms. [Brinda Sue] McCoy called 911 for help, then fired at officers when they arrived, told the dispatcher not to call her anymore, then squeezed off another round at the police outside, the Orange County Register reports... Frank McCoy’s bio on the Oceanside Police Department website states that he has served eight years on the Cypress City Council. It also states that “Chief McCoy is married to his wife Brinda and has five children.” The trial is sparking controversy over the way police handle dangerous or unstable people in standoff situations, with some seeing a double standard... [Full article here]

PROSECUTOR: CHIEF'S WIFE SHOT TWICE AT COPS
The Orange County Register
By Vik Jolly
Published: May 24, 2012
[Excerpts] A woman used her police chief husband's semiautomatic handgun to test-fire a shot and later fired twice at Cypress police officers responding to her 911 telephone call for help, a prosecutor told an Orange County jury Thursday. More than 1½ hour after the call, with numerous officers outside her home on the evening of Dec. 16, 2010, Brinda Sue McCoy came out the front door but did not show her hands when officers asked her to, saying instead "f------ shoot me," Deputy District Attorney Rebecca Olivieri said in her opening statement... In her last exchange with a police dispatcher McCoy said: "You know what? Don't f------ call me anymore," Olivieri said. Moments after that, McCoy fired another shot at officers positioned behind vehicles outside her home despite being told repeatedly not to shoot because officers could get hurt, the prosecutor told jurors in Superior Court Judge Francisco Briseno's courtroom. [Defense attorney Lew] Rosenblum said his client should be convicted of discharging a firearm with gross negligence but the two shots she fired 20 minutes apart through a window were not "in a million years" intended to injure any officers. "She exercised very poor judgment," he said. Authorities made a bad situation worse by lying to McCoy, who wanted her Long Beach police officer son's truck moved from in front of her house, Rosenblum contended... That afternoon, McCoy argued with her teenage son for having excused himself from school by calling there pretending to be his father, the defense attorney said. Already having emotional problems and battling severe depression, she despaired when her husband sided with their 16-year-old and left with him, Rosenblum said... She dialed 911, but later told police to never mind... A neighbor who is expected to testify heard a test shot McCoy fired and called McCoy to make sure she was safe, the prosecutor said. McCoy told the neighbor she was waiting for police to come shoot her, saying she would fire so they would shoot her down. "I'm f------ tired of this," she said to the neighbor, Olivieri said. She asked responding officers to get their lights off her house and threatened to fire out of a house window, the prosecutor said. McCoy moved about the house and at one point opened a patio door, let her dogs in, drew the blinds, put the lights down in the living room and sat with the gun in her hand at the kitchen table, the prosecutor said. McCoy refused to leave her house and pointed a firearm at her head and the ceiling before pointing it directly at the officers. "I don't care," was her response when warned if she fired the weapon she could injure officers, Olivieri said... [Full article here]

SINCE LAST POST - FROM JANUARY 2011:

[UPDATED] BRINDA SUE MCCOY IN DEEP DOODOO AND LUCKY TO BE ALIVE: WIFE OF OCEANSIDE POLICE CHIEF AND FORMER CYPRESS MAYOR ACCUSED OF SHOOTING AT COPS
By Matt Coker
Mon., Jan. 31 2011
[Excerpts] ...As officers pleaded with her to surrender, she paced inside the home between the window and the front door, at times pointing the gun at her head and, at other times, at officers. She eventually fired a shot at a Long Beach Police Department truck in her driveway that officers had taken cover behind, reports the Times, which notes her son is a Long Beach officer and her husband was a commander there before coming to Oceanside. Officers fearing for their lives retreated to find better cover, and McCoy is accused of later firing a second round that struck a Toyota Prius, shattering its front passenger window. Hours after it began, the standoff ended when the woman stepped outside, and SWAT officers shot her in the chest with a beanbag shotgun. She was immediately arrested, then taken to a local hospital for evaluation before being moved to a psychiatric hospital. The order to remove all guns from the McCoy home came over the objections of defense attorney David Diamond, according to the Times. They are next due in court March 18 for a pretrial hearing. One often hears about guns stolen from gun owners eventually being used against cops. Whoever imagined a cop's gun would be used against them? By a cop's wife? Allegedly. [Full article here]




[police officer involved domestic violence oidv intimate partner violence ipv abuse law enforcement public safety lethal female perp perpetrator california state preferential treatment politics]

Radiology Society of North America Image Share Project Completes Phase One With Allowing Patients To Use and Store Medical Images in the Cloud–PHRs

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the program has been funded by the National Institute of Biomedical Imaging and Bioengineering at the NIH.  The next step will allow patients to share images without being uploaded to a PHR.  Normally you would want records connected of course connected to your personal health records; however in case of trauma situations this would be helpful.

Phase 3 gets a little interesting as it touches on what we all talk about today and that is privacy, as this phase will allow for the images to be used with clinical trials but they will be de-identifed.  At any rate having this available connected to a PHR now is great.  As it works now patients need to create an account and password and then are given access to images via their PHR and when you read below there’s quite a few mainstream Clinics and Hospitals working the project.   For the rest of us, Microsoft HeatlhVault can store images and Endoscopic videos.  BD 

HealthVault Begins Storing Medical Images (Dicom) Using Windows Azure Cloud Services With Full Encryption

 

 

Multi-Media Data Sharing Comes to HealthVault PHR–Store and Share Your Endoscopic Videos From Physicians

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Patients can successfully pull their medical images from the "cloud" making it faster for them to distribute them to their physicians regardless of where those physicians might be, according to a preliminary report of an image share project that involves five different academic institutions.

The image share project includes the University of California, San Francisco, University of Chicago, Mayo Clinic in Rochester, MN, the University of Maryland in Baltimore, and the Mount Sinai Medical Center in New York, NY.

"The patient can arrange with their radiologists' office to have their images and the radiology reports exported into an Internet-based personal health record (PHR)," said David Mendelson, MD, principal investigator of the image share project. Once the information is in the personal health record, the patient has full control over distribution of the images and reports. Images can be viewed immediately online by signing into one's PHR. In addition, e-mail links can be sent to physicians allowing them to view and download the images and reports as needed, said Dr. Mendelson.

http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2012-04/arrs-isp041912.php

FDA Approves New Drug for Treating Genetic Disease Gaucher From Protalix and Pfizer–Will Compete With Genzyme and Help Fill Drug Shortages

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The competitor for the drug for the rare genetic disease was purchased by Sanofi last year for a huge amount and they also create drugs that treat other rare diseases.  There are only about 2000 patients in the US being treated for the condition.

Genzyme Sale to Sanofi-Aventis Finally Going to Take Place for Over $20 Billion

What also makes this drug interesting is the fact that it is made from carrot cells and is the first FDA approved drug made from a genetically engineered plant.  Protalix is located in Israel and Pfizer paid to have the distribution in the US.  BD 

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. drug regulators gave the nod on Tuesday to Protalix Biotherapeutics Inc and Pfizer Inc's experimental biotech drug for a form of the rare genetic disease Gaucher.

The Food and Drug Administration approved the intravenous drug, known chemically as taliglucerase alfa, after rejecting it last year and asking the companies for more data.

Shares of tiny Israeli biopharmaceutical company Protalix jumped nearly 23 percent to $7.60 in after-market trading following the approval of its leading product, which the companies plan to sell under the name Elelyso.

Gaucher disease stems from an enzyme deficiency that prevents the breakdown of certain fats in the body. It can cause organ damage or death and affects about one in 50,000 to 100,000 people. It is particularly prevalent among Ashkenazi Jews, according to the National Institutes of Health.

http://www.chicagotribune.com/health/sns-rt-us-fda-gaucherbre8401jz-20120501,0,5155428.story

MedXCom Replaces the After Hours Answering Systems for Doctors That Pushes Patient Profile to the Cell Phone–Works With Medical Records Systems And is a PHR for the Patients…

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This sounds pretty cool for the doctor to be able to get a history of surgeries, meds, allergies and so forth before talking to the patient.  We live in the information age and this was created by a doctor who of course saw the value of having information rather than playing a guessing game with memory or having to go through other procedures to get his/her hands on the medical records.  If they are in an office, on paper, well we know what that would mean for sure. 

The article states it will work with any EHR and the information is migrated to the application once the patient gives permission and is that not a breath of fresh air, patient give permission, the way it should be.  A patient only version is coming out soon which is basically a PHR that the patient can use whether or not their doctor is or is not. 

The after hour patient calls are forwarded  and the app records, archives and transcribes them.  I like that part as even with just my cell phone I have that now with messages. Patients are informed that they are being recorded.  At $29.95 a month it won’t break the bank either.  I try to put what I feel is something that is usable on the blog and this certainly fits the bill it appears. 



You can also e-prescribe through the software and do referrals with doctors who are also using the system.  I am guessing this is modular and service levels, depending upon what is chosen might raise the price a little as it appears you can use as much or as little of the features as desired.  BD 

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Michael Nusbaum rarely thought twice about giving his personal cell phone number to patients after he operated on them. Nusbaum is a bariatric surgeon at New Jersey’s Morristown Medical Center, and he wanted patients to be able to reach him easily by phone or text. But then he found out that sending text messages to patients violates federal privacy laws. Whenever patients texted him, “I wouldn’t text them back,” Nusbaum says. “I had to pick up the phone and call them so I wouldn’t violate the law.”

If a doctor is subscribed to MedXCom, after-hours calls get forwarded to his cell phone instead of an answering service. “Before I speak to you, it will push your entire health profile to my cell phone,” Nusbaum says. “I can see everything—what surgeries you’ve had, what allergies you have, the medications you’re on. I have all that information even before I take the call.” If the doctor wants to order a prescription, he can do so right through the app.

MedXCom is designed to work with any EMR. When patients agree to use the product with their doctors, their EMRs are automatically migrated into the app. Patients can then add information to the app, and they can scan and upload paper records from their visits to other doctors. They can also sign up to get reminders of routine checkups for themselves or their kids by phone or text, and they can use the app to schedule appointments.

Giffen charges physicians an average of $49 a month to use the telecommunications features of MedXCom—far less than the $250 or so they would pay per month for an answering service with a live operator, Nusbaum says. Doctors who opt out of the telecom services can still use the EMR features at no charge, and everything is free for patients, he says.

http://www.xconomy.com/new-york/2012/05/02/giffen-solutions-created-by-fed-up-doc-connects-mds-and-patients/?single_page=true

IBM Buys Tealeaf Technologies–Mining Software That Captures Users Activities When Visiting Websites

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This is one of those software companies that is mining and tracking you on the website, which I don’t mind but when they turn around and sell my data other than in house use for better intelligence I get concerned with a lot of this software.  I was on a site a few months ago and they had some issues and what was funny is there was a rogue algorithm and on the screen I got to see someone else’s data being captured, it was funny and again a fluke in the software but while I was there I watched.  Now I have used software as such that allows you to watch a user’s activity but for me, does it matter, no.

Analytics do matter though as far as seeing what interests visitors and where to better target information and who’s not doing that today.  If you have been on some of the big company websites, Wells Fargo as named here for one as a client, you have been captured. 

“Tealeaf has over 450 customers worldwide including 30 of the Fortune 100 companies, including Dell, Wells Fargo, Air Canada, GEICO, Orbitz, Crate & Barrel, Neiman Marcus, Expedia, Zappos, ING Direct, Best Buy, DirecTV, McKesson and StubHub. The company has raised $12 million from Bay Partners, Matrix Partners and Foundation Capital.”

ClickTale is another company that does the same thing as far as collecting data and again for smarter marketing not a bad idea but the selling of the data is the part that bothers me the most. 

We Pay Gasoline Tax to Keep Up the US Highway Infrastructure–Why Not Tax the Data Selling Companies and Banks to Keep Up the US Government IT Infrastructure? A “Buffett Tax” Alternative

I looked for a privacy policy on the page and didn’t see one, so in addition to being analyzed, you are more than likely being sold here too.  Wonder if IBM and these folks would be adverse to paying some tax money on what they harvests as banks and companies are making billions mining and selling data and today it is so engrained that some businesses could not stay in business if they took it away, so tax them instead and let’s work on bridging the inequality in the country as soon the mining folks are going to run short on users to mine if we don’t add more jobs, besides those working with algorithms as the economy as it is now is so dependent on formulas that we cant’ get more manufacturing back to the US because of this as it makes billions with very little over head.  BD 

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Another week, another IBM acquisition. Big Blue has announced the purchase of Tealeaf Technology, which provides customer experience analytics software that helps organizations access information about consumer web experiences.

Financial details were not disclosed. 

Basically, Tealeaf’s software captures and records what each customer is doing and seeing in real-time on every page and across all site visits, down to the page-by-page, browser-level experience. By capturing every single customer’s visit, as well as the reaction of the site in response to the customer’s requests, Tealeaf captures both the quantitative and qualitative details of every single interaction. This data is then used towards optimizing the customer experience.

http://techcrunch.com/2012/05/02/ibm-acquires-tealeaf-to-add-customer-buying-analytics-to-smarter-commerce-products/

West Palm Beach Timeshare Boiler Room Manager Pleads Guilty to Fraud Charges

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Wifredo A. Ferrer, United StatesAttorney for the Southern District of Florida; and John V. Gillies, SpecialAgent in Charge, Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), Miami Field Office,announced that Michael Ferrari, 27, of West Palm Beach, pled guilty yesterdayafternoon to conspiracy to commit mail fraud, in violation of Title 18, UnitedStates Code, Section 1349. Ferrari’s sentencing is scheduled for July 30, 2012.
According to the criminal informationand plea documents filed with the court, Ferrari and his co-conspiratorsengaged in a scheme to defraud timeshare owners throughout the United Statesand Canada. From July 2009 through February 2010, telemarketers contacted morethan 2,000 victims and collected more than $3.3 million in advance fees fortimeshare marketing and sales services, which were never provided. Thetelemarketers, operating under the name International Resort Solutions LLC(IRS), solicited clients through at least six boiler rooms, each of which waslocated in Palm Beach County. The telemarketers would make false and misleadingrepresentations to the timeshare owners regarding IRS’s services. Among thefalse representations, the telemarketers claimed that IRS had buyers for theirtimeshares, that IRS had closing scheduled for their timeshares, and that IRSwould actively market their timeshares to potential buyers.
Ferrari was a manager of one of the IRSboiler rooms and responsible for overseeing the day-to-day operations of theboiler room and supervising the telemarketers. Earlier this month, six otherIRS boiler room managers, Jeffrey Fields, Thomas Ford, Bryan Bergeron, JoshuaHolmes, Colin Van Nest Talmage, and Joseph Eichenlaub, also pled guilty toconspiracy to commit mail fraud in connection with this case. All of thesedefendants are facing a maximum term of imprisonment of up to 20 years,followed by up to three years of supervised release.
Three other defendants, MichaelFranzenburg, Kenneth Foote, Jr., and Joseph Grizzanti were charged in aseparate information in connection with the IRS fraud. Franzenburg was theowner of IRS and Foote and Grizzanti were managers of an IRS boiler room. Footeand Grizzanti were recently sentenced to six years’ imprisonment and fiveyears’ imprisonment, respectively.
Mr. Ferrer commended the investigativeefforts of the FBI. This case is being prosecuted by Assistant U.S. AttorneyAdrienne Rabinowitz.

Pittsburgh Man Charged with Using Craigslist to Find Victims to Defraud

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PITTSBURGH—A resident of Pittsburgh,Pennsylvania has been indicted by a federal grand jury in Pittsburgh on chargesof wire fraud, United States Attorney David J. Hickton announced today.
The four-count indictment named JesseJames Gasior, 25, of 146 Newburn Avenue, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, as the soledefendant.
According to the indictment, Gasior usedcraigslist.com to find persons who were trying to buy tickets for concerts orsporting events. Gasior defrauded many of these persons through a wire fraudscheme that involved making contact with the prospective ticket buyers over thetelephone or by e-mail when, in fact, he had no tickets to sell to the variousevents.
The law provides for a maximum totalsentence of up to 20 years in prison, a fine of up to $250,000, or both foreach count. Under the Federal Sentencing Guidelines, the actual sentenceimposed would be based upon the seriousness of the offenses and the priorcriminal history, if any, of the defendant.
The Federal Bureau of Investigationconducted the investigation leading to the indictment in this case.
An indictment is an accusation. Adefendant is presumed innocent unless and until proven guilty.