Archive for March 2019

Reason for Hope in Treating Alzheimer’s Disease

Thanks to G. Wayne Miller for his recent article entitled “Rhode Island doctor sees reason for hope in hunt for Alzheimer’s treatment” in the Providence Journal.

I have known the lead physician featured, Dr. Brian R. Ott, since the 1990s when we served together on the Board of the Rhode Island Alzheimer’s Association. Brian has also graciously spoken to students in the Elder Law class I teach at Roger Williams University School of Law. However, I did not know Dr. Ott’s “origin story”—that is, how, as a behavioral neurologist, his interest in seeking treatments for Alzheimer’s disease evolved.

As Dr. Ott points out, when he began his work thirty years ago, “there were no treatments at all”, however, “they were just starting to do clinical trials”. Nevertheless, Brian could see that “down the tracks we’re going to get a treatment”, and participated in clinical trials for the first drug approved by the FDA for prescription to treat Alzheimer’s disease and related disorders.

Having followed the news of many false starts for the treatment of this devastating disease over the years, I was encouraged to read in Wayne’s story of Brian’s hope for the future. Dr. Ott and his team of researchers at Rhode Island Hospital’s Alzheimer’s Disease and Memory Disorders Center are participating in national studies of new treatments, causing him to be “optimistic again”.

These studies, and the work of Brian’s team members, including Dr. Lori Ann Daiello and Dr. Jonathan D. Drake, are described in more detail in Wayne’s article, which includes an audio recording of Brian and his team describing their work. Also featured in the article are videos of two participants in the research, who graciously shared their own stories, which are sure to resonate with anyone whose family member or other loved has coped with this condition.

Thanks to Brian and his team for their persistence and dedication, and thanks again to Wayne and the Providence Journal for their reporting of it.

Mark Heffner Video Testimony to RI Task Force on Elderly Abuse and Financial Exploitation

Following up on a post from this last Wednesday, we are sharing the video testimony of Attorney Mark Heffner’s presentation to the Rhode Island Special Task Force on Elderly Abuse and Financial Exploitation.

Mark Heffner Presents to Rhode Island Special Task Force on Elderly Abuse and Financial Exploitation

Our firm’s principal, Mark  B. Heffner, Esq., will present later today (March 6, 2019) at the fourth meeting of the Rhode Island Special Task Force to Study Elderly Abuse and Financial Exploitation.

Attorney Heffner, who is also a sitting member of the task force, served for ten years as a member of the Rhode Island House of Representatives. In that capacity, Mark chaired the Guardianship Commission and the Probate Commission, the work of each of which he will reference in his remarks today.

In 2016, Mark’s article in the Rhode Island Bar Journal on the history of guardianship laws in Rhode Island won the Bar Journal’s annual writing award. A copy of that article has been distributed to Task Force members and will be available to attendees of today’s hearing.

We hope to publish a video of Mark Heffner’s presentation at a date in the near future.