A Guide for Elders: Planning That Protects You and Your Assets, Chapter 10

WHAT IF I AM, OR KNOW, A VICTIM OF ELDER ABUSE?



WHAT IS ELDER ABUSE?

The term “elder abuse” is not easy to define, but researchers have categorized a number of different categories of mistreatment of older persons:
  Passive neglect: Elders are left alone, isolated, or forgotten. 
  Active neglect: Elders are deprived of items or the means necessary for daily living, such as food, medicine, assistance in going to the bathroom, or companionship. 
  Verbal or emotional abuse: Elders are insulted, frightened, humiliated, intimidated, threatened, or treated as children. 
  Physical abuse: Elders are hit, slapped, sexually molested, burned, or physically restrained. 
  Financial exploitation: Elders are caused a substantial monetary or property loss, or there is gain to another at the expense of the elder, without the elder’s consent, and such consent may not be a consequence of misrepresentation, undue influence, coercion or threat of force. 

According to Massachusetts law, elder abuse applies to persons 60 years of age or older.

Consider the following scenario:
Clara, age 86, lives in her own home at 7 Goldplate Place, Networth, which is a very expensive residence in the “high rent” section of town. Her late husband was a physician, and left her well off when he died nearly 20 years ago. Clara’s health is rather good, but she is often confused, and cannot answer simple questions about her finances. She has a niece, Polly, who has visited her regularly for over 30 years.

Polly has reported that Clara’s son, Uriah, who was estranged from both parents until about a year ago, showed up “out of the blue” last year much to his mother’s delight. Polly was pleased at first when Uriah moved into his mother’s house, and things seemed to going very well. After about six months, however, Polly, who visited at least three times a week, became concerned about some matters.

She reports that, on one occasion recently as she was approaching Clara’s house, she heard Uriah “screaming” at his mother. When she rang the bell, Uriah answered, was rather sullen, and Clara, who seemed upset, would not discuss what had happened. Polly did not feel that it was her place to inquire. On another visit, Polly brought in Clara’s mail, and noticed four different bills that appeared to be related to bank credit cards, all addressed to Uriah, who is unemployed. Lately, Clara has complained to Polly that Uriah will not show his mother her own bank account records, and is concerned that Uriah is insisting that she transfer title to her residence to him “in case anything happens” to her. Clara has been unwilling to do that, but she told Polly that last week Uriah brought an attorney to her home and she signed some papers “just so Uriah wouldn’t make a fuss when we had a visitor.” The last straw was on Monday when Polly was in the WillieSutton Bank, and a teller took her aside and said, “Polly, I don’t know if I am supposed to tell you this, but you should do something about your Aunt Clara. Her son is robbing her, depleting her accounts, and she’s letting him do it. Get a conservatorship or something before it’s too late.” 


WHAT CAN BE DONE TO HELP A VICTIM OF ELDER ABUSE?

The Executive Office of Elder Affairs is the state agency to contact for Protective Services in Massachusetts. The EOEA coordinates a network of Aging Services Access Points (formerly called home care corporations) throughout the state, which can help you find the program in your area. EOEA’s Hot Line is 1 (800) 922-2275. In cases of suspected or alleged abuse of elders 60 years of age or older, the protective services personnel are mandated, once a report is made, to investigate and provide services when necessary.

In Clara’s case, the local protective services worker can investigate the facts to determine whether Uriah is, indeed, stealing his mother’s money. If she consents to receiving the services, the protective services worker can try to find out what the situation is: whether Uriah is a thief, or Polly is worried about her inheritance, or the bank teller is annoyed because Uriah is putting his mother’s money, in her name, in investments other than bank accounts that may be yielding a higher income.

If Uriah is up to no good, the protective services worker can initiate action to protect Clara, by:
 • filing a court action under Massachusetts General Laws Chapter 209A (see Chapter 9) if there is evidence that Uriah is abusive. 
 • filing a court action in the Probate Court, to protect Clara, even up to the point of including the appointment of a Conservator to preserve her assets from further losses. 


HOW CAN I TELL IF SOMEONE IS BEING ABUSED?

There are warning signs of physical/emotional abuse and of neglect:
Abuse:
• unexplained bruises or lacerations
• frequent falls
• fear expressed by an elder person of his or her caretaker
• emotional withdrawal
• nonresponsiveness 
Neglect:
• poor personal hygiene
• bedsores
• weight loss or malnutrition
• lethargy
• changes in mental status 


MUST AN ELDER ACCEPT PROTECTIVE SERVICES?

The very difficult cases are the ones in which the victim is unwilling to end the cycle of financial exploitation or abuse, and the wrongdoer continues his or her shameful conduct. Where the victim is competent, protective services agencies are reluctant, if not forbidden, to provide services without the victim's consent. Thus, if Clara’s son is guilty, but she forbids any action against her him, the protective services workers’ hands may be tied. Only if Clara consents, or can be shown to be incompetent, can the protective services worker do what needs to be done to protect her and her estate.

The Executive Office of Elder Affairs embraces the following theory of adult protection, and so instructs the protective services worker:
 • When interests compete, the adult client is the only person you are charged to serve; not the community concerned about safety, the landlords concerned about property, citizens concerned about crime or mortality, families concerned about their own health and finances. 
 • When interests compete, the adult client is in charge of decision-making until she or he delegates responsibility voluntarily to another or the court grants responsibility to another. 
 • Freedom is more important than safety; that is, the person can choose to live in harm, or even self-destructively, provided she or he is competent to choose, does not harm others, and commits no crimes. 
 • In the ideal case, protection of adults seeks to achieve simultaneously and in order of importance: 1) freedom, 2) safety, 3) least disruption of life-style, and 4) least restrictive care alternative. 

The answer to the question, “Must an elder accept protective services?,” then, is “No, an elder need not accept such services.” Our society puts great value on the autonomy of the individual, whether the subject is health care proxy documents or alleged abuse. Help is there, but you must ask for it. And help cannot be forced on you unless you are deemed incompetent.

WHERE CAN I GET FURTHER INFORMATION? 
You should contact the Protective Services worker in your area. You can get the telephone number from the Executive Office of Elder Affairs at 1 (800) 922-2275. 


Back to start of Chapter 10
Back to Table of Contents of A Guide for Elders
On to Chapter 11