DES MOINES, Iowa — Elder abuse, which ranges from physical to financial, is hard to prosecute. But now, a number of organizations are getting together to bring about change in the law and create a new one to add more protection for elder Iowans.
Under the new proposal, if someone hits an elder, they could face serious or simple misdemeanor charges. The proposal outlines a serious misdemeanor charge would apply if the person who hit the elderly caused bodily injury or mental illness.
"We're trying to get this law over the finish line and fix this gap in our state laws," AARP Iowa Advocacy Manager Anthony Carroll said.
Carroll noted now is a better time than any because during the pandemic, the current dependent abuse laws allowed more elderly people to slip through the cracks.
"From July to December of 2021 found there were 5,800 cases reported [to Iowa Department of Human Services] but a majority of those cases were rejected," he said. "And of those number of cases reported, [it] was up about 37 percent. Just from the beginning of the year."
"There has to be an older adult or an adult, there has to be a crime and then that person has to be dependent on that caregiver for that to be accepted by the department of human services," said Crystal Doig, an elder rights specialist at Aging Resources of Central Iowa.
Doig said the problem arises if a person lives in an assisted living facility or if an older person was scammed financially. It is then harder for that older person to fall under being dependent on the person who abused them.
Barbara Edmondson is a staff attorney at Iowa Legal AId who operates the elderly hotline, and said multiple times a week she gets a call about an abused older person.
Investigating cases for the elderly can be long and tricky, but the hard one is financial abuse.
"While older people do have the right to choose how they spend their money or give to someone, it could be more difficult to prove the improper influence the threats or coercion or pressure," Edmondson said.
SF522 is currently in the Iowa Senate Judiciary Committee.
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