Senate Special Committee on Aging Hearing: “Ensuring Trust: Strengthening State Efforts to Overhaul the Guardianship Process and Protect Older Americans.”

Date: Wednesday, November 28, 2018  

Time: 02:30 PM  

Location: Senate Dirksen Office Building 562

Member Statements

1. Chairman Susan M. Collins R (ME)
   • Download Statement
2. Ranking Member Bob Casey D (PA)
   • Download Statement

Witnesses

1. Cate Boyko
   Senior Court Research Associate
   National Center for State Courts
   • Download Testimony
2. Bethany Hamm
   Acting Commissioner
   Maine Department of Health and Human Services
   • Download Testimony
3. Karen Buck
   Executive Director
   SeniorLAW Center
   • Download Testimony
4. Barbara Buckley
   Executive Director
   Legal Aid Center of Southern Nevada
   • Download Testimony

 Source:
“Ensuring Trust: Strengthening State Efforts to Overhaul the Guardianship Process and Protect Older Americans.”

READ the report from the hearing: Ensuring Trust: Strengthening State Efforts to Overhaul the Guardianship Process and Protect Older Americans

Relatives Of Elder Abuse Victims Give Powerful Testimony At Capitol Hearing

MINNEAPOLIS (WCCO) — Dozens of families demanded action at the State Capitol Wednesday after their loved ones were abused in Minnesota senior care facilities.

The Minnesota Senate hearing room was filled with families, many of them weeping openly. All of those who testified described in detail what happened to their loved ones.

Kent Edwards displayed his mother’s image, and her ashes. He described how hard it was to get anyone to listen to his complaints about nursing home abuse.

“She was taunted, abused, threatened to be burned to death, stripped down naked, mocked for her body,” he told lawmakers.

Others, like Irene McCormick, were forced by their senior care facilities to move out for making too much trouble.

“So I took her to an assisted living that was more homey, and while she was there, they dropped her and they broke her femur in half,” she said.

And some, like Lisa Papp-Richards, resorted to hidden cameras.

They were confiscated by the care facility, which she says retaliated against her mother.

“I can deal with a lot,” Papp-Richards said, “but this I need help with.”

The Minnesota Senate is now considering emergency legislation to overhaul how the state monitors abuse.

“Elder abuse can happen to anyone — a loved one, a neighbor — and as we age, it could happen to us,” said Cheryl Hennen, the Minnesota long-term care ombudsman.

The Senate Committee on Aging and Long Term Care is investigating how the State Health Department dropped the ball on thousands of abuse complaints.

The department announced this week that it is making major headway on a backlog of those cases, many of them left un-investigated for years.

Full Article & Source:
Relatives Of Elder Abuse Victims Give Powerful Testimony At Capitol Hearing

State government responds to complaints of elder abuse, neglect

(KMSP) - At a Senate hearing Wednesday, the head of the State Health Department apologized for a failure to protect vulnerable adults in nursing homes and assisted living centers. Now, officials are trying to get to the bottom of the neglect.

Since December, eight people from the Human Services Department have been working with Department of Health investigators to get through the back log. But, victim advocates and even lawmakers are still exasperated that elder abuse continues.

The heat from state senators has only intensified as families continue to tell stories of elder abuse and neglect.

"In my case, my father's body laid in his room for seven days without the facility doing a wellness check,” said Kristine Sunberg with Elder Voices Family Advocates.

As of Jan. 1, senators were told the state has a backlog to 826 pending abuse and neglect cases. Human Services Commissioner Emily Piper said the goal is to complete them by the end of the year, if not sooner.

“We know that as we get our arms around and get new information on the backlog and more specificity, we believe this date will be pushed up significantly," Piper said.

While the health department takes heat for poor oversight, Governor Dayton blamed providers.

"First and foremost, they are the ones to blame for these egregious abuses," he said Wednesday.

The governor's own task force on elder abuse intends to give him four recommendations on Friday: strengthen the rights of vulnerable adults in state statutes, enhance civil and criminal penalties, create more consumer protections and increase the licensing requirements for elder care providers.

“We believe in increasing the fines in a residential setting in cases of egregious injuries and death," said Mary Jo George with AARP.

All of this comes after the department of health was accused of not doing enough.

"If we he failed even a single vulnerable adult in this state, we owe them an apology, and I apologize," said Dan Pollock, acting MDH Commissioner.    
    
However, Senator Karin Housley questions whether too much damage has already been done.

"It was nice to hear an apology. Is it too late for some of those families? I think for some of them, yeah," she said.
 
The governor’s goal is to drive new legislation for the session that begins Feb. 20.

Full Article & Source:
State government responds to complaints of elder abuse, neglect