WEST BLOOMFIELD – Oakland County lawmakers today unveiled legislation to combat the reprehensible practice of elder abuse in Michigan by strengthening consumer protections for seniors and increasing penalties for those who financially exploit them. The legislation is part of their ongoing effort to strengthen Michigan's faltering consumer protection laws.
"The plan we are announcing today cracks down on those who exploit our seniors for financial gain, or abuse and neglect them when they need our help the most," said State Representative Lisa Brown (D-West Bloomfield). "Elders who have spent their whole lives providing for their loved ones should have additional protections from those looking to deceive them for their own personal gain."
Elder abuse can include abandonment and neglect, financial exploitation, and emotional, physical or sexual abuse. According to the National Center on Elder Abuse (NCEA), the crime is vastly underreported. The plan seeks to address elder abuse by:
- Increasing penalties for cheating or defrauding seniors, including establishing felony charges and banning abusers from inheriting the estate of their victim.
- Empowering concerned citizens to file criminal complaints to stop and prevent abuse cases in nursing homes and elsewhere.
- Strengthening consumer protections by requiring financial institutions to do more to disclose the rights of seniors and create new safeguards against fraud.
- Creating the "Mozelle Alert" – an alert mechanism to notify the public in cases of missing endangered seniors, similar to the Amber Alert. The alert is named in honor of Estella Mozelle Pierce, a senior who died after wandering from her Southwest Detroit home.
"It's completely unacceptable that people who take advantage of our seniors can stand to inherit money and property from them," said State Representative Tim Melton (D-Pontiac) "No one who abuses the elderly should be able to profit from it.This plan stops these ruthless individuals from inheriting their victims' estates and creates stronger penalties for those who exploit seniors."
Reports of elder abuse have increased 40 percent since 1998, according to the Michigan Department of Human Services. Michigan's Adult Protective Services received more than 16,300 reports of adult mistreatment in 2008. Based on estimates of how often abuse goes unreported, this suggests that more than 73,000 of Michigan's adults are abused every year, according to the NCEA.
A 2006 study conducted by the NCEA found that women are more likely than men to suffer from elder abuse or neglect,
with two out of three elder abuse victims being women. The study also found that 54 percent of elder abuse cases involve
members of the victim's family and that one out of every four cases involves financial exploitation.
"The statistics on elder abuse are staggering and yet annually, thousands of cases aren't even reported," said State Representative Vincent Gregory (D-Southfield). "This plan not only strengthens the penalties for those who abuse the elderly, it creates avenues to report and prosecute more cases of elder abuse. We need to give the authorities the appropriate tools to bring these predators to justice and extend the proper protections our loved ones deserve."
An Ottawa County tragedy demonstrates the need for stronger laws against elder abuse. Carol Maneke was recently sentenced to just four months in jail for leaving her 87-year-old father, Max Canfield, in squalid living conditions in a Tallmadge Township duplex. Maneke lived in the adjacent half of the duplex and was her father's legal guardian.
After Canfield's granddaughter became concerned about his welfare in 2006, police and social workers found the decorated World War II veteran lying on a soiled mattress and surrounded by adult diapers, trash, and animal feces. They had to tape and seal their pant legs before entering the roach-infested duplex. Canfield died in a hospital from malnutrition a week after being rescued from the home.
Under the Elder Abuse Protection Plan, Maneke could have been subject to a much longer sentence than the one she received.
"Michigan's current laws don't go far enough to protect our seniors from abuse," said State Representative Marie Donigan (D-Royal Oak). "Our plan increases the penalties for exploiting our seniors and clearly demonstrates that we will not allow them to be abused or taken advantage of. Those who have spent their entire lives providing for us deserve the strongest possible protections."
To report a suspected case of elder abuse, residents can contact the state's 24-hour hotline by calling
(800) 99NOABUSE (996-6228).