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Our Town: Elder Abuse Is All-Too-Common Crime
By Jessica Lappin and Cyrus R. Vance Jr. June 16, 2011 Original available here At the Amsterdam Nursing Home in Harlem, elderly residents—away from their families and loved ones—look to nursing aides for care and support. Although Jose Ramos was entrusted with protecting the nursing home’s elders, he instead preyed on a helpless victim and violated her in unthinkable ways. Last month, Ramos, a certified nursing assistant at the Manhattan facility, was sentenced to seven years in state prison for sexually abusing a disabled and speech-impaired resident. In another case, a 98-year-old wheelchair-bound man suffering from Parkinson’s disease was exploited by Harry Abrams, with whom he shared an office. Abrams claimed the senior was like a father to him, but after the victim broke his hip and was admitted to a nursing home, Abrams illegally accessed the victim’s bank account information and stole $400,000. Abrams was sent to jail and had to provide full restitution to the victim. This week we observe Elder Abuse Awareness Day—a time for us to recognize the toll that elder abuse takes on hundreds of thousands of older New Yorkers. We cannot let our seniors suffer in silence. A recent New York study estimated that nearly a quarter million older New Yorkers are suffering from some form of abuse, and that financial exploitation is the most common. Elder financial abuse alone costs older Americans more than $2.6 billion a year, according to “Broken Trust: Elders, Family, and Finances,” a March 2009 study by the MetLife Mature Market Institute. But that is only a rough estimate. Despite this pervasiveness, elder abuse remains a hidden crime that often goes undetected, unrecognized and unreported. Cases involving high-profile victims such as Mickey Rooney and the late Brooke Astor brought the issue to our attention, but most abused seniors suffer in silence. Researchers estimate that for every known case of elder abuse, there are 24 more cases that go unreported. Because these sorts of cases so often go unreported, we ask anyone with information on elder abuse to call the DA’s Elder Abuse hotline: 212-335-8920. While prosecuting cases when they come to light is important, it is even more critical that we work to prevent these crimes from happening in the first place. This requires the help of both the public and private sectors. Often, by the time financial scams are detected and reported to law enforcement, the funds have been depleted and cannot be recovered. In these instances, prosecution can punish the wrongdoer, but no one can undo the damage that has been done. To address this issue, the Manhattan District Attorney’s Office has reached out to banks to help them develop systems and protocols to monitor seniors’ accounts and stop these criminal schemes before the funds are lost for good. Additionally, a number of city agencies, organizations and medical groups have formed the New York City Elder Abuse Network, which promotes advocacy, education and services to prevent and address elder mistreatment. Unfortunately, the current budget crisis mean that programs vital to protecting seniors are now on the chopping block. Case Management Services, a program that funds the front-line defense against elder abuse, is slated to be cut by 30 percent. This would mean the elimination of home visits and personal attention to seniors, which are essential for protecting abused elders. Even in the best of financial times, protecting against elder abuse is an enormous undertaking. The federal government recognized the urgency of this mission when President Obama signed the Elder Justice Act into law in March 2010. This legislation provided a comprehensive approach to combating elder abuse, neglect and exploitation at the federal level, and offered a powerful tool to protect seniors from abuse. But over a year after it was signed into law, the Act remains unfunded. Child abuse cases cause outrage and condemnation on a daily basis, and rightfully so. Now it is time that elder abuse is also recognized as a despicable crime that deserves our immediate attention. If you suspect elder abuse, please, do not let it go unreported. Our city’s grandmothers and grandfathers are depending on you. |
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