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For Immediate Release
February 10, 2003

For Further Information:
Pamela Ingham
212-308-1414
Scott Kramer
212-308-1414
www.americangeriatrics.org

Washington -- The American Geriatrics Society (AGS) gave its strong support today to passage of the Elder Justice Act, calling it "essential" to protecting the growing numbers of abused elder people.

The legislation co-sponsored by Senator John Breaux, D-La., former chairman and now ranking minority member of the U.S. Senate Special Committee on Aging and Committee member Sen. Orrin Hatch, R-Utah, includes financing of research in geriatric forensics. The research is essential to make abuse syndromes more recognizable and to disseminate the research to those who come into contact with the victims - police, emergency personnel, and health care providers.

In support of the legislation Dr. Carmel Bitondo Dyer, Associate Professor of Medicine at Baylor College of Medicine and Director of Geriatrics at Harris County Hospital District in Houston, described case after case of elderly people living in decaying housing, victimized by poor medical care or maltreated by relatives.

"An elderly woman was admitted to our hospital with mental confusion, bruises and with a piece of fractured bone sticking out of her leg. The bone was dry," she noted, "not a recent fracture...we were suspicious of abuse and called the police, but actually there are no medical forensic studies to demonstrate the difference between bruises, lacerations and fractures caused by a fall versus a beating. There are no studies to guide physicians and prosecutors about sores caused by illness versus caregiver neglect."

Dr. Dyer noted that the Elder Justice proposal calls for medical forensics research, the development of screening tools and forensics. The suggested cross training of geriatricians and forensic pathologists will permit better chart analysis as well as autopsy data.

In another case Dr. Dyer described a patient suffering from dementia who had been severely beaten. The assailant was a man fifty years her junior who had taken advantage of her condition, moved into her house, and then stolen her money. The attack came after he became drunk and got angry with the woman.

"This legislation directly addresses these situations because it is so comprehensive," noted Dr. Dyer, "it looks at community and institutional abuse. It provides research and identifies legal, medical and social interventions." Dr. Dyer noted that in many cases there is no choice but to institutionalize patients who are victims of abuse because there are no facilities in the community to take care of them. "Many women's shelters won't take older women because they fear they won't be able to meet their medical needs, " she noted.

AGS President Jerry Johnson, MD, also endorsed the proposal agreeing that the bill would decrease elder abuse through "better coordinated systems and increased resources for quality patient care." Dr. Johnson noted that there are between 500,000 and five million seniors who are abused every year. It is believed that some 84 percent of the cases are never reported. "We're at a stage not unlike consumer safety when no one knew the numbers of injuries caused by defective products until reporting was centralized and there was systematic research. We need the same kind of scientific attention paid to this increasingly difficult problem."

The legislation would:

• Create new offices in the Justice and Health and Human Services departments that would help conduct the background checks, coordinate government programs, issue reports and aid in training law enforcement.
• Require long-term care facilities to immediately report suspected crimes to law enforcement, with fines for noncompliance ranging up to $100,000.
• Mandate criminal background checks for all staff members in long-term care facilities.
• Make facilities receiving federal payments give a 45-day notice to regulators before shutting down and abandoning residents.
• Seek training of bank personnel to recognize when something is amiss in an elderly person's account.
• Create a federal information center on elder abuse, with a Web site to educate the public.