Elder abuse: Central New York lawmakers propose bills to protect seniors

SYRACUSE, N.Y. - Seniors in New York would have more protections against financial and physical abuse under proposed legislation in Albany, according to lawmakers.

The proposed laws would allow banks to refuse transactions and prosecutors more easily to obtain medical records when elder abuse is suspected, according to Sens. David Valesky, D-Oneida, and Michael Nozzolio, R-Fayette, and other sponsors of the bills.

The proposals also would give prosecutors more tools to go after perpetrators, such as changes that would make it easier for older people to testify in criminal cases. And it would widen the definition of caregiver to allow for more people to be subject to the current law of endangering the welfare of a vulnerable elderly person.

The proposals wouldn't make elder abuse, per se, a crime. But they would enhance protections already in place to punish people who take advantage of seniors who sometimes become more vulnerable to abuse because of physical or mental conditions, according to the lawmakers.

The legislation would also require the state to stand up a centralized collection system of reports of elder abuse. Currently, incidents of financial, emotional or physical abuse of seniors are reported at various health, social services, law enforcement or other agencies throughout the state.

Using that array of reports, data shows 3 out of every 1,000 New York senior suffers some kind of elder abuse. But a study by Cornell University and others in 2011 found the incident rate much higher when including self-reported cases from seniors and information from agencies serving seniors.

That study estimated as many as 76 out of 1,000 seniors suffer physical, emotional or financial abuse in New York. The study also found that 90 percent elder abuse was caused by a family member.

The proposed legislation would also make it easier to prosecute contractors for partial work when payment in full is made. This change would include victims of any age.

Here's a summary of the bills:

S.6221 (Sen. David Valesky, D-Oneida) authorizes banks to refuse any transaction of moneys if the banking institution, social services official, or law enforcement agency
reasonably believes that financial exploitation of a vulnerable adult has
occurred or may occur.

S.2323-A (Sen. Jeff Klein, D-Bronx) requires the Office of Children and Family Services to define, identify and collect data related to the incidence of elder abuse possessed by state and local agencies. It also mandates the Office of Children and Family Services to establish an inter-agency reporting system that contains a uniform set of standards to collect and analyze information on the incidence of elder abuse.

S.7179 (Valesky) proposes to allow a prosecutor to obtain medical records, without a privilege waiver, with a subpoena, endorsed by the court, based upon a showing that the patient suffers from a mental disability, and that the patient has been a victim of a crime.

S.7177 (Sen. Patrick Gallivan, R-Elma) seeks to establish that an alleged abuser may not use the defense of obtained consent to take, withhold, or obtain property, where such consent was obtained from a person who the accused knew or had reason to know was mentally disabled.

S.7187 (Sen. Michael Nozzolio, R-Fayette) amends the penal law to explicitly state that in a prosecution for larceny by false promise, partial performance does not, by itself, prevent a reasonable jury from making such finding from all the facts and circumstances.

S.2951 (Valesky) expands the definition of "caregiver" under the penal law to include a person who voluntarily, or otherwise by operation of law, (such as an appointed guardian or power of attorney) assumes responsibility of an elderly person so that they would be tried under the "endangering the welfare of a vulnerable elderly person" law.

S.7188 (Nozzolio) would allow a caregiver to accompany a vulnerable elderly person who is testifying in front of a grand jury. The caregiver may only fulfill their function with the consent of the prosecutor.

S.7178 (Gallivan) allows the prosecution and defense attorneys to preserve the testimony of witnesses who are age 75 or older.

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Elder abuse: Central New York lawmakers propose bills to protect seniors