NHAAG Backs Elder Justice Proposal
By Bee Becker

The current Elder Justice Proposal of 2002, sponsored by Senator John Breaux, may be one of the most important pieces of legislation overdue for decades.   The first hearings in Congress were in 1979, yet no action has been taken.

There have been no cohesive, appropriate responses to the majority of crimes that occur in nursing homes.  For the most part, these atrocities have been treated as "regulatory" offenses.  I believe this is inhumane.  It violates the constitutional and civil rights of the elderly and disabled by denying them protection to which they are entitled. 

This is the first significant, comprehensive legislation that addresses the issue of elder abuse, neglect and exploitation and restoring protection for the elderly through the justice system instead of the "regulatory" system, which has failed too often.

Some of the provisions of the Elder Justice Proposal include:

• Creating federal leadership and resources to assist families, communities and states in the fight against elder abuse, neglect and exploitation

• Implementing successful strategies for preventing and combating elder abuse, neglect, and exploitation

• Providing training to combat elder abuse, neglect and exploitation 

• Increasing security, collaboration, and consumer information in long-term care

• Evaluating state laws and practices

This bill increases funding for elderly protection.  Currently, the government spends 93 percent of the money earmarked for abuse therapy and services on children and seven percent on victims of domestic violence. Only .8 percent of the federal funds addressing abuse goes to the elderly.

The legislation seeks to enhance law enforcement response, provide technical, investigative and victim assistance support for federal cases involving elder justice.  Efforts to enhance the role of community policing in protecting at-risk elders will be supported.  This helps the industry because it costs nothing to pick up a phone and call law enforcement.

With the proposed security measures such as immediate reporting to law enforcement of crimes and national criminal background checks for all employees and contractors, this gives nursing homes an economical alternative.  A nursing home can run criminal checks on 100 employees for about $5,000--far less than what they spend on advertising, campaign contributions, attorneys, etc.  It would be more economical for them to rid themselves of the criminals within their own walls who inevitably cost them fines and lawsuits. 

As a member of the family of an Indiana nursing home homicide victim, I am all too aware that there is little or no protection under the law for victims of crimes in institutions.  I testified before the U.S. Senate Special Committee on Aging, March 4, 2002, about these concerns.

This bill comes very close to dealing with the heart of the issues I have worked on in the past two years.  I have fought for mandatory national criminal background checks and severe penalties and charges for failure to do so; mandatory abuse reporting to law enforcement, not state officials or others, who have no investigative skills or authority nor police powers; severe penalties/charges for failure to report abuse and neglect; training and demand response for any crimes of the elderly/disabled, no matter what setting they live in; and criminal prosecution for those responsible for crimes, whether individual or corporate. 

This effort comes too late for some of us who have been in this fight for years.  Our loved ones have long been gone.  However, it is not too late for those who continue to live in the deplorable conditions of nursing homes today and for future residents. 

Send a message of support regarding Senator John Breaux's Elder Justice Proposal of 2002 to all your elected officials as soon as possible.  In addition, forward the address of this site to everyone you know.  Print it and disseminate liberally.  Give a copy to everyone of all political persuasions.  This is not a partisan issue.  It is a national human rights issue.

For your convenience, you can use the following 6-step procedure to send an e-mail message to your elected officials:

 

Step 1:	Go to: http://mygov.governmentguide.com/mygov/index.html
Step 2:	Enter your own zip code.
Step 3:	When the following* appears, you can write to ALL your elected officials at the same time OR individually:  *Write Your Elected Officials  Write to ALL of your representatives with one click or just go to the individual pages linked below.
Step 4:	I had an idea that we should all use the same subject line to focus the messages on the same issue:   Elder Abuse: Restore Constitutional/Civil Rights To Victims (it fits in the box).
Step 5:	Compose your message.  If you are a victim/family of victim, state something such as "family of NH rape victim, daughter of victim of death due to dehydration, etc. ", keeping it short and focused.  The most significant points I personally want to emphasize are mandatory reporting of abuse, reporting to law enforcement officials, not institutional staff or state officials or others (none of whom are trained in criminal investigations and we know that 99% of the time that doesn't work), national criminal background checks for care givers and stiff deterrents for not reporting or not conducting criminal background checks.
Step 6:	You must select a topic from the box, in this case "health."

If possible, send a copy to the Aging Committee at: mailbox@aging.senate.gov