ATTORNEY NEWSLETTER
Recent Arrest Of Facility Caregiver For Financial Elder Abuse
Unauthorized Debit Card Use Alleged
Protecting Older Loved Ones From Financial Elder Abuse
Seniors in assisted care or skilled nursing facilities/nursing homes also are at risk of financial elder abuse by dishonest staff members similar to those risks seniors living at home face from dishonest in-home caregivers. Theft of cash and jewelry from a senior’s home by a dishonest caregiver or from a senior’s nursing home room by a dishonest staff member are clear examples. All such nursing home financial elder abuse is against the law and grounds for civil liability. See Penal Code § 368 (crime of financial elder abuse) and Cal. Welf. & Inst. Code § 15610.30 (definition of financial elder abuse). California law broadly defines what constitutes financial elder abuse:
(a) “Financial abuse” of an elder or dependent adult occurs when a person or entity does any of the following:
(1) Takes, secretes, appropriates, obtains, or retains real or personal property of an elder or dependent adult for a wrongful use or with intent to defraud, or both.
(2) Assists in taking, secreting, appropriating, obtaining, or retaining real or personal property of an elder or dependent adult for a wrongful use or with intent to defraud, or both.
(3) Takes, secretes, appropriates, obtains, or retains, or assists in taking, secreting, appropriating, obtaining, or retaining, real or personal property of an elder or dependent adult by undue influence, as defined in Section 15610.70.
Cal. Welf. & Inst. Code § 15610.30.
Evans Law Firm. Inc. represents victims and their families suffering any form of financial elder abuse including nursing home financial elder abuse. We pursue all persons responsible, including the owners, administrators and staff directly responsible or as supervisors with a duty to protect residents from any kind of abuse. Call us today at (415)441-8669 if any senior loved one has suffered any kind of financial elder abuse or nursing home abuse in Santa Clara County or the San Francisco Bay Area.
Nursing Home Caregiver Arrested[1]
According to reports by a State law enforcement agency, an unlicensed caregiver at a senior assisted care facility used a resident’s debit card to order food deliveries and attempted to cash a check at the senior’s bank. The agency’s report claims that when the resident’s bank noticed the signature on the check didn’t match the one on file, the caregiver fled, leaving her own driver’s license at the bank. According to the report, the bank notified the resident that someone had attempted to cash a forged check. When the resident looked at her account, she noticed more than $500 in food deliveries she had not ordered. The caregiver did not respond to calls or return to the facility. The facility no longer employs the caregiver, according to the report.
How To Protect Nursing Home Residents From Financial Elder Abuse
Regular monitoring of an older loved one’s bank accounts, IRAs, cash, valuables, and credit card statements is the front line for protecting the senior from financial abuse. Never ever allow the senior to give a caregiver or a nursing home administrator a Power of Attorney or authorize them to sign checks. Make sure checks, important papers, account numbers and Social Security numbers are not accessible to caregivers. Run a check through the California Department of Health to see if any citations have ever issued to the nursing home for any manner of abuse. Redirect the senior’s mail to your own address so nursing home staff or strangers do not have access to the resident’s mail. Keep an eye on where their Social Security and pension money is directly deposited; sometimes abusers try to re-route those deposits to their own accounts.
Contact Us
If you suspect any financial elder abuse of an older loved one in Santa Clara County or the San Francisco Bay Area call Ingrid M. Evans and the other financial elder abuse attorneys at Evans Law Firm, Inc. today. Ingrid and our other attorneys can be reached at (415) 441-8669, or email us at <a href=”mailto:info@evanslaw.com”>info@evanslaw.com</a>. We handle all types of elder abuse cases throughout California.
[1] Evans Law Firm, Inc. was not involved in the reported case in any way.
