Nursing Home Abuse Prosecutions Being Dismissed in California
August 30th, 2010
California Watch has reported that under Attorney General Jerry Brown, elder abuse cases in California are being increasingly dismissed. In addition, surprise nursing home abuse and nursing home neglect inspections have decreased.
Former Attorney General Bill Lockyer made prosecuting elder abuse a special priority during his time in office. However, under Brown civil and criminal elder abuse prosecutions have fallen by approximately one-third. Surprise inspections, know for their effectiveness in combating elder abuse, have also dropped from 92 investigations in 2006 to only 19 last year.
Elder abuse training for state ombudsmen, police, and district attorneys has also been reduced. Four day training events every two years used to be the norm, but one has not been held in three years with no plans in sight for one in the future.
"One of our concerns is that if these cases aren't prosecuted, it resets the tolerance for abusive behavior," said Leslie Morrison, director of the investigations unit at Disability Rights California. "The perpetrators are able to slip through cracks and victimize other people."
Brown's lieutenants chalk up the reduced elder abuse prosecutions to previous prosecutions deterring nursing home abuse and neglect.
"Everybody here cares very much about treatment of elders," said Mark Geiger, who heads the Bureau of Medi-Cal Fraud & Elder Abuse.
