COMPREHENSIVE VULNERABLE ADULT ABUSE AND NEGLECT LEGISLATION

Why This Legislation is Important:

It is estimated that more than 500,000 persons aged 60 and over are abused and neglected in domestic settings according to the landmark National Elder Abuse Incidence Study conducted in 1996. Experts believe this figure may be low because surveillance is limited and the problem remains substantially hidden. The U.S. Senate Special Committee on Aging estimates that there may be as many as 5 million victims every year. These figures do not account for the abuse and neglect of younger, vulnerable adults.

In addition to abuse, Georgia law enforcement officials have expressed frustration in their inability to redress some serious cases of neglect of vulnerable adults of all ages under current Georgia law. Representative examples of the problems cited by law enforcement officials include:

•Development of maggots in a long term care recipient’s wound and ant bites covering another recipient, both due to the failure to control pests; and
•Development of gangrene by a care recipient with stasis ulcers on his feet, due to hiscaregiver’s failure to monitor and care properly for his wounds. His feet were amputated, and he subsequently died.

A number of groups interested in the protection of vulnerable adults have considered some of the gaps in current Georgia law. A comprehensive law is needed to provide protection, intervention and prosecution when abuse and neglect of vulnerable adults occurs. Such a comprehensive framework must be a state priority.

What Other State Are Doing:

All 50 states, including Georgia, have some form of vulnerable adult protection law. Legislatures across the country are considering bills concerning a variety of gaps identified in these statutes. South Carolina recently passed a law creating the Vulnerable Adult Fatalities Review Committee to provide additional protections. Other states including Mississippi, Virginia and California have introduced similar legislation. California’s more comprehensive statutes have been aggressively used by prosecutors in recent years against perpetrators who abuse, neglect and exploit vulnerable adults.

What This Legislation Would Do:

• Create a comprehensive statute for the protection of vulnerable adults and for intervention and prosecution when abuse, neglect and exploitation occur. This legislation is needed to protect our parents and grandparents, brothers and sisters, neighbors and friends when they find themselves in a vulnerable position because of illness, disability or other infirmity.

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