Physician-Assisted Suicide and Elder Abuse Fraud

On March 26, 2013, Philip Tummarello, a retired police Sergeant Inspector, testified before the Montana Senate Judiciary Committee on on behalf of HB 505. His testimony included the Thomas Middleton case in which physician-assisted suicide had facilitated the defrauding of an elderly man. An article from KTVZ.com states: 

"State and court documents show Middleton, who suffered from Lou Gehrig's disease, moved into Sawyer's home in July 2008, months after naming her trustee of his estate, The Bulletin reported Saturday. Middleton deeded his home to the trust and directed her to make it a rental until the real estate market improved. 

Instead, Sawyer signed documents that month to list the property for sale, two days after Middleton died by physician-assisted suicide. The property sold in October of that year for more than $200,000, the documents show, and it was deposited into an account for one of Sawyer's businesses, Starboard LLC, and $90,000 of that was transfered to two other Sawyer companies, Genesis Futures and Tami Sawyer PC." (Emphasis added).

To read the entire article, go here:

Originally printed here.