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27 Geo. Mason L. Rev. 651 (2019-2020)
The Impact of Silver Alerts on an Older Adult's Right to Informational Privacy

handle is hein.journals/gmlr27 and id is 659 raw text is: The Impact of Silver Alerts on an Older Adult's Right to Informational Privacy Laura Ruppalt* Introduction Walter is a seventy-three-year-old widower living on his own. Though never diagnosed with dementia, Walter, like many of his peers, struggles with occasional memory loss and confusion. To help manage his daily routine, Cindy, a home health aide, visits Walter for several hours each day. Cindy helps Walter organize his medication, clean his home, and prepare his meals. Though Walter keeps a car, he drives infrequently and only on well-trod routes, typically to the local pharmacy and bank. One afternoon, Cindy arrives at Walter's home to find the house empty and Walter's car missing. Concerned, Cindy contacts the police. At Cindy's request, the police issue a Silver Alert, sharing Walter's name, photo, and vehicle information with local media outlets who broadcast the Alert on television and radio and post it on their websites. in addition to providing Walter's identifying information, the Alert indicates that Walter may suffer from dementia and is considered at risk. Identical information is issued to police personnel through the local law- enforcement notification system. Two hours after Cindy reported him missing, a police officer spots Walter's car parked by the side of a road, only five miles from his home. Walter is inside the car, physically unharmed, but clearly disoriented. Though he had left home that morning to drive to the pharmacy, a mere mile from his house, he became confused after taking a wrong turn, and circled the block several times before pulling over to the side of the road. Following his location, Walter is reunited with Cindy, and the Silver Alert is canceled. Walter and Cindy are not alone in their plight. Protecting the health and safety of older adults is a growing concern for twenty-first-century Americans. In the eighty years between 1934 and 2014, life expectancies at birth in the United States increased nearly eighteen years, with the average child born in 2014 expected to live to 78.9 years of age, even longer for * J.D. Candidate, May 2021, Antonin Scalia Law School at George Mason University.

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