The Elderly Are Not Children
So how come abuse laws treat them that way?
State and federal investigators are examining whether there was any impropriety in the case. Fitzgerald, saying he did nothing wrong, nonetheless recently resigned his job as state House majority whip, hours after a legislative ethics committee recommended stripping him of the post for violating a rule against accepting gifts from a constituent. But the case is not clear-cut. Just as the law recognized Guzelian's choice to live in alleys, it gave her the right to will her money to anyone she was capable of choosing, as long as there was no "undue influence" on her decision making.
The Guzelian case, complicated by questions of mental competency, self-determination and money, presents all the issues that the debate over elder abuse ought to have addressed in the past decade. The plaint of Donna Reulbach of the Massachusetts Executive Office of Elder Affairs about another case--one in which an 88-year-old woman accidentally set fire to her trash-cluttered apartment and died--also applies to the Guzelian affair. "We can't force people to take services," says Reulbach. That, of course, is the precise reason why protecting older Americans is different, and often far more difficult, than protecting children.
How a social issue grew 1979. Boston researchers do the first major study and declare that elder abuse is a problem. 1981. After widely publicized hearings, Rep. Claude Pepper's House committee releases "Elder Abuse: An Examination of a Hidden Problem," which claims 1 million older Americans are abused each year. Late 1980s. Forty-three states pass elder-abuse laws requiring the same kind of reporting system that is used in child-abuse cases. 1990. A distorted extrapolation of research findings prompts many activists to claim 2 million elders are abused annually.
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