Late last July, the Michigan Attorney General’s Office announced charges against a 23-year-old Clinton Township woman as part of a statewide listening tour and crackdown on elder abuse.
She later pleaded no contest to the charges and was fined and placed on probation six months.
At that time, it was the ninth case of elder abuse brought by the attorney general’s office that year.
Since then, the attorney general’s office has been pushing for a package of 18 bills to strengthen Michigan laws against elder abuse.
“It’s a huge problem,” said Scott Teter, who is chief of the financial crimes division for Michigan Attorney General Dana Nessel and leads and state’s Elder Abuse Task Force.
Every Day Occurrence
Abuse
happens every day and takes many forms but vulnerable older Americans
are among the easiest targets for this kind of misconduct, especially
those who are women, have disabilities and rely on others for care.
Seniors are very trusting, too.
Dennis Burgio of Macomb lost his entire savings because a close friend took advantage of their relationship.
"He
was like the son I never had," Burgio said, in a news release from the
state's Attorney General's Office. Last March, Burgio joined Michigan
Attorney General Dana Nessel, several Supreme Court justices and state
legislators in announcing the formation of the Michigan Elder Abuse Task
Force.
"I trusted him unconditionally," Burgio said, of his friend. "We loved him."
As a result, Burgio was forced to postpone his retirement for at least five years.
"I
am fortunate," he said. "By the grace of God I can continue to work to
rebuild some of my savings. It is more difficult because my wife has
health issues. However, our family is supportive and able to help us."
According
to Nessel, more than 73,000 older adults in Michigan are victims of
elder abuse annually, although that number has increased since 2019, to
nearly 100,000.
"They experience physical
abuse, financial exploitation, emotional abuse, or neglect. The symptoms
and treatment of abuse against our most senior population are complex
and demand a concerted effort by this state to tackle what is an often
unrecognized and unreported social problem," Nessel said.
"That's
why we have brought together dozens of different organizations to work
collectively and collaboratively to tackle the challenge," she added.
Defining Elder Abuse
Elder
abuse is a general term referring to several types of harm inflicted on
older or vulnerable adults who are unable to protect themselves due to a
mental or physical impairment or advanced age.
Perpetrators
can include children, other family members, spouses, caregivers, and
staff at nursing homes, assisted living, and other facilities.
Types
of elder abuse include: physical abuse, sexual abuse, emotional abuse,
confinement, passive neglect, willful deprivation and financial
exploitation.
"Each year, approximately 1
in 10 Americans, age 65 and over experience some form of elder abuse.
Some estimates range as high as 5 million elders who are abused each
year," according to the National Council on Aging (NCA). "One study
estimated that only 1 in 14 cases of abuse are reported to authorities."
A
snapshot of numbers compiled by county by Adult Protective Services, a
part of the Michigan Health and Human Services Department, shows those
reported.
For Fiscal 2019, Adult Protective
Services received 49,483 referrals across Michigan of which 9,319 cases
were investigated. The agency found 739 cases of physical abuse, 680
cases of emotional abuse, 2,496 cases of neglect, and 1,301 cases of
financial exploitation.
In Oakland County,
Adult Protective Services counted 661 cases of abuse including 54 cases
of physical abuse, 39 cases of emotional abuse, 268 cases of neglect,
and 96 cases of financial exploitation.
In
Macomb County, Adult Protective Services counted 519 cases of abuse of
all kinds, including 54 cases of physical abuse, 33 cases of emotional
abuse, 131 cases of neglect, and 72 cases of financial exploitation.
Proactive Approach
Elder abuse is a problem that is likely to grow with America's increasingly aging nation.
The
United States Census Bureau expects the nation's elderly population to
grow from 43.1 million to 85.7 million in 2050, much to the credit of
Baby Boomers, who began turning 65 in 2011.
Most states recognize the problem but only some are reacting to it.
Fortunately,
Michigan is ranked among the top five states working to strengthen
elder abuse protections, both in the Legislature and through an attorney
general push for enforcement when incidents are discovered.
Its ranking came from a study by WalletHub.com, which compared the 50 states and the District of Columbia across 16 key metrics related to elder abuse.
The
data set ranged from share of elder-abuse, gross-neglect and
exploitation complaints to presence of working groups and financial
elder-abuse laws. Each metric was scored on a 100-point scale, with 100
representing the best protection against elder abuse. Each state's
weighted average across all metrics was then used to determine an
overall score and the rank-order for states.
The
top states were: Massachusetts (score of 59.91), followed by Wisconsin
(58.38), Rhode Island (56.15), Michigan (55.37) and Iowa (54.34).
New
Jersey (28.05) was ranked among the states having the worst protection
against elder abuse followed by South Carolina (29.35), California
(29.92), Montana (32.46) and Nevada (35.86).
Other elder-abuse protection ranks for Michigan, one being the best and 25 being average:
• 8th - Elder-abuse, gross-neglect and exploitation complaints
• 14th - Total expenditures on elder-abuse prevention
• 18th - Nursing-homes quality
• 3rd - Total expenditures on legal-assistance development
• 1st - Financial elderly-abuse laws
Elder Laws
The
rankings do not surprise attorney Patrick Simasko of Simasko Law, and
professor of business law at Oakland University, and elder law at Cooley
Law School.
He has spent more than 20
years helping older Michiganders plan for their future, receive the
financial and medical benefits available to them and represent their
interests in court.
"It's not just our laws
but the whole awareness of it, and how they are educating our police
departments and adult protective services," Simasko said.
Michigan's
task force has more than 30 different organizations including law
enforcement, state agencies, the Michigan House, Senate and
Congressional delegation, and advocacy groups committed to stopping
elder abuse.
Since its launch, Michigan's
attorney general has filed nine elder abuse cases in several counties,
including Oakland and Macomb, and created the first-ever statewide
incident report for vulnerable adult abuse.
The
Vulnerable Adult Incident Report will help law enforcement officers,
and prosecutors identify report and prosecute instances of elder and
vulnerable adult abuse.
Four members of the
task force and Michigan's legislature including Republican chairs of
the House and Senate Judiciary Committees, Sen. Peter Lucido and Rep.
Graham Filler along with Democratic legislators Paul Wojno and Rep.
Brian Elder have also identified laws that need to be strengthened or
introduced.
Among the laws in a package
awaiting approval is House Bill 5131, which is expected to be a real
game changer, in its ability to protect the financial assets of seniors
and vulnerable adults. If passed, it will allow broker-dealers and
investment advisors to report suspected cases of financial exploitation.
"If
their client is being financially exploited, they absolutely should be
allowed to report it," said Simasko, who has represented many family
members who have reported exploitation of a senior, by another relative
or caregiver.
FYI
Full Article & Source:
Michigan among top states with best elder-abuse protections
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