By US commission on Civil Rights
The Committee identified five dynamics in the state that increase the risk of abuse for elders:
- Widespread poverty and lack of affordable services available to elders and caregivers;
- Underreporting suspicion of abuse by caretakers, providers, and elders themselves;
- Structural weaknesses in the healthcare system that allow abuse to go undetected;
- Lack of enforcement of existing laws and regulations designed to protect elders; and
- Financial exploitation to prey upon elders and steal or appropriate financial and property resources.
Among the Committee’s recommendations to improve protections for elders:
- State and federal agencies need to bolster requirements for reporting and surveillance of cases;
- Creation of opportunities for mediation where there is a concern about an elder’s capacity to control finances;
- Increased transparency in process of determining the need for court-appointed individuals or agencies;
- Review of existing legislation and regulations to determine if sufficient to protect the rights of elders;
- Bolstering or enacting statutes that protect elders from financial exploitation;
- In cases of alleged financial exploitation, a presumption of undue influence should be established;
- Court costs, attorney’s fees, and double or triple damages should be available in cases of willful coercion;
- The maximum number of judgments related to elder financial abuse should be enforced and collected.
We invite you to view the report at: https://www.usccr.gov/pubs/2018/09-27-NM-Elder-Abuse.pdf.