LANSING – State Representatives Lisa Brown (D-West Bloomfield) and Vicki Barnett (D-Farmington Hills) today took a stand against elder abuse in Michigan by voting for the first wave of a package of bills that strengthens consumer protections for seniors and increases penalties for those who financially exploit them. The Elder Abuse Protection Plan is part of the lawmakers' ongoing effort to strengthen Michigan's faltering consumer protection laws. Brown and Barnett called for the Senate to pass the plan quickly.
"Passing this plan goes a long way toward providing our seniors with the protection they deserve," Brown said. "It's unacceptable that people who abuse and financially exploit our seniors can turn a profit from these despicable acts. Our plan not only cracks down on elder abuse – it also creates avenues for people to report this terrible crime and empowers them to shed light on tragedies that otherwise might have gone undetected."
The plan that began moving today addresses elder abuse by:
- Increasing penalties for cheating or defrauding seniors, including establishing felony charges and banning abusers from inheriting from the estate of their victim.
- Empowering concerned citizens to file criminal complaints to stop and prevent abuse cases in nursing homes and elsewhere.
- Strengthening consumer protections by requiring financial institutions to do more to disclose the rights of seniors and create new safeguards against fraud.
- Creating the "Mozelle Alert" – an alert to notify the public in cases of missing endangered seniors, similar to the Amber Alert. The alert is named in honor of Estella Mozelle Pierce, a senior who died after wandering from her Southwest Detroit home.
"Michigan's laws just aren't doing a good enough job protecting seniors from crooks and con artists," Barnett said. "It's absolutely heartbreaking to hear about unscrupulous caretakers stealing every last cent that someone had saved from a lifetime of work or leaving a relative alone and uncared for in their home. I'm glad to see that this plan received such strong bipartisan support, and I hope it receives quick action in the Senate."
Reports of elder abuse have increased 40 percent since 1998, according to the Michigan Department of Human Services. Michigan's Adult Protective Services received more than 16,300 reports of adult mistreatment in 2008. Based on estimates of how often abuse goes unreported, this suggests that more than 73,000 of Michigan's adults are abused every year, according to the National Center on Elder Abuse.
To report a suspected case of elder abuse, residents can call the state's 24-hour toll-free hotline at (800) 996-6228.