Study Shows Lack of Screening for Court-Appointed Elderly Guardians
CNN Health reports that the Government Accountability Office conducted an investigation and discovered over 45 incidents of elder abuse by legal guardians. According to the report, 20 of those incidents involved guardians stealing roughly $5.4 million from 158 people. Six of those cases involved court-appointed legal guardians that were not screened or monitored in any way. In one of those six cases, a convicted bank robber was appointed legal guardian over a wealthy, elderly individual with no family connections. The legal guardian reportedly stole over $600,000 when the elderly man began to develop Alzheimer’s disease.
An incident occurred in Arizona as well, this one involving a woman who was in appointed the legal guardian of her 80-year-old aunt. The report states that the woman previously declared bankruptcy twice and was arrested several times for writing bad checks. Court documents showed that the woman had mishandled over $150,000 of her aunts financial assets.
The report states that the Senate Special Committee on Aging will be considering legislation for improved training methods from court systems for legal guardians and personnel handling cases of guardianship. In addition, legislation will be created to reduce incidents of fraud from those who receive Social Security or veterans’ benefits from people in their care.
There have been other attempts at creating legislation for improved methods of screening of nursing home and assisted living center employees. However, as this study shows, nursing home and assisted living center abuse and neglect continue to rise. One factor that this study does not show is that in many cases, elder abuse or neglect often goes unreported. Residents often fear any consequences that may arise from reporting incidents of neglect or abuse. However, you cannot fear the consequences when your safety or health is at risk.
