Chapter 14 - The Bigger They Are - 2022
“This is the voicemail of Abi Jackson. Please leave your name, message, and number. I will get back to you as soon as I can. ”
Charles left a message to the effect he had a follow-up story on Rick the Windshield Cleaner Man. When reviewing her messages she had a hard time remembering the story, when she did think of it, she wondered how a follow-up on that story could be interesting. Even with her doubts, one thing she had learned was to follow up on leads.
“Charles speaking,” he said as he answered the phone in his deep voice.
Abi identified herself.
“Glad you called Abi; I thought you might be interested in following up on Rick. He now lives in Delaney Valley.”
“How did he get that sort of money,” asked Abi?
She knew that it was one of the more expensive areas of the Baltimore suburbs.
“You need to start at the William Donald Schafer rest home to get your answer,” replied Charles.
“Don’t you know,” asked Abi ?
“I have a good idea. It appears to involve insurance fraud on the part of an insurance company, but I don’t have proof.”
“Charles, I have your name and phone number, so I can find out more about you. What is your role in this?”
“I’m an undercover cop with the Baltimore Police Department.”
This was the beginning of a mutually beneficial relationship that would rock the political and criminal worlds of Baltimore for several years.
Abi decided to go straight to William Schaefer to see what would develop by dropping in. There was no one at the front desk when she entered the lobby. There wasn’t evidence of human occupation for years if the three-year-old calendar was any clue. The sign-in book hadn’t been used in seven years. She decided not to bother signing in.
As she entered the next area, which was the wide-open common area used for meals and general meetings, she saw a harried member of housekeeping wiping down a table.
“I am looking for someone who can tell me about Richard King,” she inquired.
The lady looked blank for a moment. “Oh, you mean Rick, Marsha’s husband. Silvia in the office would know them best. Marsha worked there. ”
The housekeeper pointed her to the office area. Abi walked into the open office area.
A lady looked up and said, “May I help you? Oh, you’re Abi Jackson, what are you doing here?”
Abi was pleased that she had been recognized though it would change her tactics slightly.
“I am flattered that you recognized me,” she replied.
“We watch your noon newscast every day. Rick got it started. I think he has a crush on you. Even though he and Marsha have moved out we still watch your show.”
“What’s your name,” Abi asked, as she held out her hand.
“Ruth Richards and I are pleased to meet you,” was the reply as they shook hands.
“I understand that Rick and Marsha now live out in Delaney Valley. That is a real jump from working here.”
“Oh, they didn’t work here. They were both patients, though Marsha did volunteer in the office while Rick worked his corner.”
“That seems to be out of the ordinary.” 
“Very, but you know they were among the first returnees from Alzheimer’s. It is such a blessing we have six other patients more alert and getting up now.”
“No, I didn’t know that Ruth. ”
“I think that they had to do with the big lawsuit they won. Well at least, I heard they won a large lawsuit. I don’t know of any of the details.”
“Who would know?”
“Silvia our Office Manager might,” replied Ruth.
“Where would I find her?”
“She should be back any minute. She just went to the restroom.”
Abi asked a few background questions of Ruth, how long she had worked at William Donald until Silvia returned. She also recognized Abi. Abi had no complaints about having a fan base. She was still young enough to enjoy the recognition.
Abi caught Silvia up on her basic story. She was considering a follow up on Rick, one of those, where are they now stories? She was very surprised to learn that he was living in Delaney Valley.
“How did that happen,” she asked Silvia. Silvia hesitated then remembered something Marsha had said not that long ago.
“If any member of the media asks about us, answer their questions, as long as they don’t conflict with your professional ethics. ”
Silvia thought, “William Schafer wasn’t involved in that lawsuit so that isn’t a problem. Our former patients have released us from our confidentiality responsibility, besides it isn’t a HIPPA issue, so why not.”
She was careful to explain that reasoning to Abi. She continued to explain.
“They sued GHI insurance and had an out-of-court settlement with them. I don’t know what the lawsuit was about or for how much, but it must have been quite a bit.”
Abi had a few more general questions about Rick and Marsha’s stay. She was also interested in the fact that they were considered to be Alzheimer’s returnees but wasn’t able to develop anything other than that they had severe dementia, came out of it, and then judged to be competent.
This gave Abi two lines of investigation. First, the legal records of their competency judgment, the second was the lawsuit filed against GHI. It didn’t take long at the courthouse to find, and purchase copies of all the relevant documents. This was much more interesting than a follow up on a guy who washed windshields.
Abi took this to her producer before she could spend more time; she had to have his buy-in. After laying out what she knew, the producer was eager to follow the story. He also came up with the thought that they should do a local story on the other returnees at the rest home .
The major networks were all over the returnee story, but a home segment would go over well locally. If they followed some of the local returnees and reported their progress once a month it would help ratings.
Abi was able to build on that by adding, “You should let sales know. I bet there would be some health care types that would be glad to sponsor those segments.”
The producer went on, “I hate to say this, but the patients at William Schafer have no one to return to, check at places like Northeast. It would be good to have families with loving grandchildren. It would be much more photogenic.”
Abi sighed, “You are right, but in the meantime, I am going to follow up on this GHI story. I will start with Rick and Marsha.”
Silvia had given her their phone number, so she returned to her cubicle and made the call.
“Is this the King residence,” she inquired when a woman answered the phone.
“Yes, it is who is calling?”
“This is Abi Jackson with WBAL, I was wondering if I could come to your house and ask a few questions.”
“You are that lovely young newscaster whom Rick always listens to. When would you like to come over? ”
“Now if it is not too soon.”
“Oh dear, I will have to hurry and clean up our apartment.”
“It will take me almost an hour to get there, is that alright?”
“Yes, that will be fine, what needs cleaning the most is Rick. I have to get him out of those grubby old clothes he likes, into something decent. When he hears it is you coming that will help.”
She gave the address before hanging up.
Abi went to her station provided car with WBAL in large letters and spoke the address to the built-in GPS. It took her fifty-five minutes to get there, so she went right to the door.
The door was answered by a lady who looked to be healthy mid-seventy. She was dressed in a pair of green slacks and a brown sweater with a long necklace with copper disks. With her low-cut heels and light makeup, she looked very elegant.
A man also in his seventy’s was standing back slightly. He wore light tan chinos, with a blue-button down collar shirt. He had on a tweed sport coat with elbow patches.
Abi looked at them and said, “Are you, Rick and Marsha.”
Marsha replied, “That’s us. ”
Abi responded, “Well you certainly look better than when I interviewed Rick last Christmas.”
“Exercise and good food really help,” replied Rick.
“I must say my pay was much better on the street when I appeared to be older.”
Abi thought, “This story just keeps getting better.”
“That is very interesting, but what I was interested in was the lawsuit you just won against GHI. What was the fraud they perpetrated against you?”
Rick and Marsha exchanged glances.
Rick replied, “I wish I could tell you but part of the settlement was that we wouldn’t talk about our suit.”
“You say ‘our’ suit like there could be others.”
“As I said we can’t discuss how we were admitted to William Donald Schafer.”
“Could I talk you into an interview of how your life has changed since you have got off the street?”
“I don’t see how,” replied Rick, “It would bring up questions of how we got our money. I don’t want to be accused of welfare fraud.”
“Well thank you for your time,” said Abi .
“Uh, before you go could I have your autograph,” asked Rick. Marsha just barked a laugh and said, “Boys.”
Abi thought about it on the drive back to town. It was like they were trying to say something without saying it. There would be other lawsuits if people knew how they were admitted to Schafer. How were they admitted, and how could she find out? Then she remembered that the lawsuit mentioned they had been admitted from Northeast.
She gave the voice command to the GPS, “Northeast Baltimore rest home.” She arrived in fifteen minutes.
This lobby area was completely different from the other rest home.
As soon as she entered there was a cheerful, “Hello may I help you?”
The lobby was bright; there were fresh flowers at the desk. There was clean carpeting instead of a dingy tile. The calendar was current and she was immediately asked to sign in, as she explained that she would like to speak to the director if it was convenient.
No, she didn’t have an appointment. When told that Abi Jackson from WBAL was in the lobby the Director immediately found time for her.
Unfortunately for Abi, that was almost the last thing he found for her. After settling her in a comfortable fabric-covered chair in his office, and her declining coffee, he had to tell her that he couldn’t share the contents of the files of Marsha Wren and Richard King. It would be in violation of the HIPPA laws.
He seemed to be sorry that he couldn’t do so, but he couldn’t violate the law, surely she understood. A disappointed Abi said she understood then brought up the second reason for her visit.
“Another story that my station would like to follow is the returning of Alzheimer’s patients. We know that nationals are covering it, but we would like to do some local segments as people come back, and how their families react.”
“That we can help with, if the patients and their guardians agree, how often?” 
“We would like to have a two-minute segment once a month. It would follow three people as they make the transition. We would interview them, the staff, and their families. If it is possible we would like to talk to some of them first so we have the most likable ones.”
The Director Paul Douglas laughed, “Yes people are people and not all of them should be returning if you ask me, but please don’t quote me.”
Abi grinned, “No we won’t. I suspect I will know which ones you are talking about very quickly. Is there anyone on staff that I should be working with? ”
“There are several but starting with Emily Sheetz, head of physical therapy, would be best. She is well-spoken and very outgoing. She will represent Baltimore East the best I think. Let me call her in and introduce you.”
Emily came into Paul’s office in a short while. Paul introduced them and said, “You look like sisters!”
The young grey-eyed blondes looked at each other and said, “Nah.”
It would have been better if they had not said it in unison like sisters. They quickly established they were no relation at all.
The Director told Emily what Abi was there for and asked if there were any patients who would interview better than others.
“Yes there are several that I can think of,” said Emily. “Would you like to meet them Abi,” she asked.
“Briefly if I can, what I really need to do is get this written up as a program that we can share with those families we would like to participate and obtain releases from them,” replied Abi.
The two young ladies left the Director's office to meet some of the people. Emily mentioned, “It’s a shame you aren’t doing this over at William Donald Schafer, there are two people there that would have been great. ”
Abi asked, “Would that have been Richard King and Marsha Wren now Mrs. King?”
“I was at their house earlier today.”
“Why were you there,” asked a surprised Emily.
“I was trying to follow up on a lawsuit they filed against GHI for fraud conducted on their care.”
“Oh, I saw that in their file, they were sent from The Oaks Hospice center to here for one day. After they arrived, GHI said they weren’t covered, and had them sent to William Schafer.”
Abi kept a straight face, but now she knew what happened. This could be big.
“I wonder if there are any other people in that situation.”
“I have no idea Abi,” replied Emily.
After that, Emily took Abi around to visit several patients whom Emily thought would be good to follow. Each of the two women and one man were pleasant, outspoken, and had family support. Abi thanked Emily for her help and returned to the studio.
Abi and her producer Jack Rowland decided that the best place to start on the GHI story was to get official support from Schafer to identify patients who had been covered by GHI .
They would then try to trace back and see if they had been in other rest homes, and for how long. Abi would return to Schafer the next day and start with Silvia.
The next morning Abi met with Silvia. After explaining what she looking for, Silvia thought it best she set up a meeting with Dr. John Towers the Director of Baltimore East Hospital who also had jurisdiction over the William Donald Schafer rest home.
A call by Silvia along with a brief explanation got them onto the Director's afternoon schedule at 2:00. He loved media attention.
At 2:00, Abi and Silvia were escorted into the Director's office. The way he made them welcome and comfortable in his plush office left Abi cold.
She knew this type well. All for themselves and the power they could grab. She compared this office to the lobby of Schafer and knew his priorities. It would be easy to get what she wanted.
“Dr. Towers, thank you so much for meeting with Silvia and me quickly,” Abi gushed.”
“God I hate myself when I have to do this,” she thought.
“No problem at all,” said the flattered Doctor. “How may I help you? ”
“To recap what I have learned without any HIPPA violation occurring, we are pretty certain that GHI has been conducting insurance fraud by declaring people that they covered, no longer covered without a legal reason, and then dumping them onto your budget at Schafer.”
“How do you know that,” asked Dr. Towers?
“We know of a couple that found out about it, sued GHI and received a settlement, but had to sign a non-disclosure agreement.”
“What do you propose to do about this,” inquired the Doctor?
“With your permission, we would like to follow the story as your attorneys go through your patient files of those who have suffered dementia and identify those who were originally insured by GHI. Then with court orders issued follow your people back to their previous rest home and see how long they were there. That will give the evidence for Baltimore East to file a suit for all your losses.”
“That sounds very good, and if it’s as you have said we certainly need to recoup these funds for the city.”
Abi smiled inwardly as she thought, “Gotcha, I knew the appeal to your budget, and the good publicity you personally will get would hook you.”
“ We would have to hire an outside attorney to handle this as I know our attorney does not have the expertise. Towers certainly knew the attorney didn’t have the expertise, as he was his son-in-law.
Abi said, “I know the attorney that won the other settlement. She couldn’t talk about that case, but she certainly would know what buttons to push at GHI.”
“That would be excellent,” replied Towers.
Since there was so much money at stake it took two years to settle the case.
Clarisse Bowden’s firm received thirty percent of the one hundred million dollar settlement. This time since WBAL followed the story from the start, there wasn’t a non-disclosure clause.
The buyers of the GHI division moved and renamed the policies to their company. The GHI division headquarters was closed down, and the entire staff let go.
The City of Baltimore received sixty-five million dollars as part of the settlement. None of it went to upgrading William Donald Schafer's rest home.
Dr. John Towers was put in charge of the entire City of Baltimore Hospital system.
WBAL later was able to document that five million dollars were diverted as consultancy fees to the law firm of Dr. Tower’s son-in-law. One million of this was paid out in bonuses to the son-in-law .
Another million was contributed to the Mayor’s re-election campaign through several different avenues.
The Mayor won the election. Abi Jackson became ever more cynical even after winning both an Edward R. Murrow and a Polk award for the story she had broken.