ATTORNEY NEWSLETTER
Seniors at Risk of Financial and Physical Elder Abuse
Looking for Signs of Abuse
Act to Stop It
Elder abuse of various kinds can strike any senior, especially isolated ones or seniors confined to nursing homes or other care facilities. Dementia patients are at particular risk of financial and physical elder or dependent adult abuse. Authorities just the other day arrested a caregiver allegedly caught on a video beating a 93-year-old dementia patient with a belt.[1] Persons with cognitive impairment may also be defenseless against financial abuse. The Alameda County elder abuse attorneys at Evans Law Firm, Inc. know how horrible abuse of the elderly can be, whether theft or financial elder abuse or physical abuse involving sexual assault or rape or overmedication, neglect (causing bed sores, pressure wounds or infections), abandonment, or injuries sustained from unsupervised wandering/elopement. If you or someone you know is suffering elder abuse in Alameda County or elsewhere in California, call the elder abuse attorneys at Evans Law Firm today at 415-441-8669, and we can help.
Spotting Abuse
Physical Abuse
If your loved home is in a nursing home or still at home under the care of an in-home caregiver. Watch for signs of possible abuse or neglect:
- Bedsores/pressure ulcers or other poor skin conditions;
- Indication of sexual assault, rape, or battery;
- Bruises and scratch marks;
- Poor physical appearance or lack of cleanliness;
- Frequent infections;
- Falls;
- Injuries from wandering off unsupervised (known as elopement);
- Lack of equipment and supplies;
- Overmedication;
- Rapid weight loss;
- Dehydration;
- Abnormal or withdrawn behavior and unusual silence;
- Prolonged sleep or drowsiness;
- Agitation especially when certain caregivers are present or caregivers who do not want the patient to be alone with others;
- Reluctance to speak when staff is nearby;
- Unsanitary and unclean conditions, soiled bed linens and clothes;
- Fear of being touched.
Financial Elder Abuse:
Visit your senior loved one often and unexpectedly and look for signs of financial elder abuse such as:
- Unexpected changes in wills, trusts, or powers of attorney.
- Sale to the senior of an inappropriate annuity or life insurance policy.
- Changes in spending habits and cash withdrawals or different types of spending than the senior normally incurs.
- An unexplained increase in check cashing, transfers of money, ATM withdrawals, or credit card activity.
- Opening of a new bank or brokerage account (or multiple accounts) or changing banks and brokerage firms.
- Unpaid bills.
- Unusual increase in investment activity or change in investment style toward riskier or unregistered investments.
- A senior who is overly reluctant to discuss financial matters perhaps out of fear from retaliation from a caregiver or other abuser.
- Allowing a new “friend” or caregiver to make decisions on the elderly person’s behalf.
- A caregiver or other person screening the elder’s phone calls or going through their mail.
Never ever give a Power of Attorney to a caregiver. Keep valuables and bank information and checkbooks in a secure place. Respond quickly if you suspect any financial elder abuse. Notify the authorities and seek qualified financial elder abuse lawyers, such as the elder abuse lawyers at Evans Law Firm, to pursue all remedies available to California financial elder abuse victims including restitution (getting your money back), rescission (undoing an invalid contract), punitive damages, and recovery of attorneys’ fees and costs incurred in bringing a financial elder abuse action against wrongdoers.
Contact Us
If you or a loved one is or has been the victim of financial elder abuse or elder physical abuse or neglect in Alameda County or elsewhere in California, contact Ingrid M. Evans and the other nursing home abuse attorneys at the Evans Law Firm at (415) 441-8669, or by email at <a href=”mailto:info@evanslaw.com”>info@evanslaw.com</a>. We can help guide your case through a jury trial or toward an equitable settlement. We handle cases involving physical and financial elder abuse, qui tam and whistleblower law, nursing home abuse, whole life insurance and universal life insurance, and indexed, variable, and fixed annuities.
[1] Evans Law Firm, Inc. is not involved in the case in any way.
