Should Senior Citizens Be Locked Out of the Courtroom? Legislators Say NO!
In the current session of the New York Legislature law makers of both parties are working together to pass some common sense legislation that will help elderly crime victims. Because of their age, illnesses, or position in nursing homes, some members of the elderly population have difficulty performing many of the day-to-day tasks many of us take for granted. It is those vulnerabilities that no only make them targets for criminals, but also make it more difficult for them to seek justice against those who commit crimes against them.
Many of the eight proposed bills focus on the financial exploitation of the elderly, including taking credit card or social security information, contractors taking money for work and then not finishing a job and those who manipulate people who are not of sound mind to promise them financial gains.
The bills also create new protocols for the elderly to be involved in court cases. In one of the better suggestions, New York lawmakers have proposed to make it easier for the older adult to come to the court. This bill would allow a caregiver to join the elderly person at court and help them with simple things such as turning pages, or assisting with a hearing aid. Caregivers would not be permitted give answers for the elderly in the court room and they would be required to maintain the secrecy of the proceedings. The proposed legislation also would allow prosecutors to preserve the testimony of witnesses over the age of 75 because of the waiting periods that occur before trails commence.
These potential new laws were the result of a study conducted before this legislative session that revealed the extent to which elderly adults are subject to financial exploitation and criminal abuse.
Far too often legislators introduce bills under the guise of helping senior citizens when they know that the reality is just the opposite. For example, so-called “tort-reform” bills provide absolutely no benefit to nursing home residents at all. Instead, tort reform laws just make it easier for unscrupulous nursing home owners and operators to run nursing homes on “bare bones” budgets, leaving vulnerable nursing home residents to fend for themselves up to twenty-one hours per day. Then, when residents suffer abuse or neglect, they have very little ability to hold nursing homes accountable because of the tort reform measures implemented in their state. However, the bills proposed by these New York legislators actually do seem to take the needs of the elderly into account so, accordingly, hese legislators should be applauded for their effort.
Victims of nursing home abuse and neglect often never get the opportunity to testify against those who caused them injury because they either suffered serious injuries or died as a result. That is true across the county and right here in Maryland. Senior citizens not only deserve assistance from the court system when they have been wronged, they deserve better treatment in nursing homes before they are wronged.
Nursing Home Justice Associates is dedicated to helping nursing home residents and their loved ones right the wrongs of the nursing home industry that resulted in serious injuries or death to an elderly resident. If your loved one was neglected or abused at a Maryland nursing home, call one of our Maryland Nursing Home Neglect Attorneys at 410-825-ABUSE (2287) or visit our website at www.NursingHomeJustice.com for more information.