New Castle County Police in Delaware have arrested a woman and charged her with intentionally abusing and causing harm to a homebound, 82-year-old man.
But it’s too late. The man died last weekend after spending two months in a hospital intensive care unit. He was admitted February 20 with a body temperature of 87 degrees. He had pressure sores on his back, legs and groin and suffered from dehydration and hypothermia.
Jailed at the Women’s Correctional Institute is 46-year-old Louanna Gary, after she failed to post a $5,000 secured bail.
New Castle County Health Officials and the Attorney General's Office said Gary was responsible for taking care of the victim the last two years. Authorities said the victim’s home fell far below health standards.
As disturbing as this case is, it’s rare. The National Center on Elder Abuse has long-determined 47 percent of elder abusers are the adult children, 19 percent are spouses, and 17 percent are grandchildren or other relatives. The revealing fact is just 16 percent of elder abusers are unrelated to their victims.
The timing couldn’t have been worse for Jacqueline and Alex Burt.
Arrested last week by Clark County (Nev.) police and charged with criminal neglect of their 86-year-old grandmother, the pair faces a court date May 12.
Their case comes just as the State of Nevada’s Attorney General’s Office has mandated punishing elder abusers a priority. The Elder Abuse Unit or EAU was created in the fall of 2007. The Clark County District Attorney’s 4-person team seeks to apprehend and prosecute those charged with abuse or negligence of the elderly and demented, reports KVBC, the NBC affiliate in Las Vegas.
In the Burt’s case, their grandmother was found with pressure sores and living in squalor.
“If you add the number of unreported of elder abuse it could be staggering," said John Kelleher of the EAU. "Many times, perpetrators use a position of trust as caretakers and then they fail to give care,” he added. “That results in extreme abuse and neglect."
Sugar Vogel with the Las Vegas Senior Citizens Law Project trumpets EAU’s creation. “Those of us who have been working with seniors, seem to have been waiting forever for some type of enforcement," she said. “Many don't think elder abuse or exploitation is even against the law. But it's a crime to abuse your parents and people need to go to jail."
A recent editorial in the Miami Herald discusses a very important point. Many nursing homes in Florida require their patients to sign agreements that require arbitration over disputes rather than lawsuits.
There are many problems with this, chief among them being that many arbitration results are to be kept confidential, which isn't necessarily the best thing if the nursing home in question has a history of abuse or poor treatment.
For read the editorial, follow the link below.
http://www.miamiherald.com/692/story/573697.html
If you follow the link both in the title of this post and below the text, you will find a search page that helps you find a nursing home near your geographical area in Florida.
That is certainly convenient. But what we think is important is that the site allows you to check if the Florida Nursing Home Watch List.
The Nursing Home Watch List will tell you if the nursing home that you are considering for your loved ones is operating under "conditional" status, which means that the home have been officially warned or reprimanded by state inspectors. It will also tell you whether or not the home you are considering is operating under "bankruptcy," which means exactly what you think it means.
Following this link should be your first step.
http://ahcaxnet.fdhc.state.fl.us/nhcguide/FacilitySearch.aspx
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