The Not-So-Golden Years: Power of Attorney, Elder Abuse, and Why Our Laws Are Failing a Vulnerable Population
![handle is hein.journals/stjohn82 and id is 293 raw text is: NOTES
THE NOT-SO-GOLDEN YEARS: POWER OF
ATTORNEY, ELDER ABUSE, AND WHY OUR
LAWS ARE FAILING A VULNERABLE
POPULATION
JANE A. BLACKt
Note to Retirees: Beware the Family'
INTRODUCTION
Abuse of the elderly is an escalating problem, due in part to
the rising number of elderly people.2 Like child abuse,
exploitation of the elderly is difficult to identify and prosecute.3
As a demographic, the elderly share characteristics that make
them particularly susceptible to abuse.4 The elder population, for
example, is largely plagued by impaired hearing and vision,
slowed motor and mental responses, decreased coordination,
t J.D. Candidate, 2008, St. John's University School of Law; B.A., 2004, The
George Washington University. This Note is written in loving memory of my great
uncle, Jacob Bookstein.
1 Jeff D. Opdyke, Intimate Betrayal: When the Elderly Are Robbed by Their
Family Members, WALL ST. J., Aug. 30, 2006, at D1.
2 See Boyce v. Fernandes, 77 F.3d 946, 948 (7th Cir. 1996); see also In re
Marshall, No. 500095, 2006 WL 2546192, at *5 (N.Y. Sup. Ct. Aug. 29, 2006) ([Elder
abuse] is a matter of increasingly public concern as the demographics promise a
greater percentage of older Americans in the next thirty years.); Jane Gross, New
Techniques Used to Fight Elder Abuse, PITTSBURGH POST-GAZETTE, Oct. 1, 2006, at
A7 (stating that the fastest growing segment of the American population are those
who are 85 years of age and older); Mary Laney, Many Steps Can Be Taken to Stop
Abuse of the Elderly, CHI. SUN-TIMEs, Aug. 21, 2006, at 35 (Through life-sustaining
medical procedures, new medicines and better health care, people are living longer
than ever before.).
3 See Boyce, 77 F.3d at 948; see also Laney, supra note 2 (reminding that, like
child abuse, elder abuse is committed against those least able to defend themselves
[and] is often a hidden probem).
4 Robert A. Polisky, Criminalizing Physical and Emotional Elder Abuse, 3
ELDER L.J. 377, 379 (1995).](ViewImageLocal?handle=hein.journals/stjohn82&div=11&collection=&method=preview&ext=.png&size=3)
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The Not-So-Golden Years: Power of Attorney, Elder Abuse, and Why Our Laws Are Failing a Vulnerable Population
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