The Need for a Stronger Definition: Recognizing Abandonment as a form of Elder Abuse Across the United States

• Published date: 01 July 2017
• Author: Stephanie M. Rzeszut
• Date: 01 July 2017
• DOI: http://doi.org/10.1111/fcre.12295

THE NEED FOR A STRONGER DEFINITION: RECOGNIZING

ABANDONMENT AS A FORM OF ELDER ABUSE ACROSS THE

UNITED STATES

Stephanie M. Rzeszut

Elder abuse is a growing public health problem in the United States and statistics show that each year, hundreds of thousands

of elders are abused in some manner. This Note discusses elder abuse while focusing specifically on the occurrence of elder

abandonment and how the majority of states do not recognize elder abandonment as a form of elder abuse in their statutes.

Moreover, this Note proposes a model statute to be adopted by every state in an effort for elder abandonment to become more

widely reported. Elder abandonment is an unfortunate phenomenon and those who contribute to elder abandonment should

face criminal liability similar to those abusers who engage in elder neglect or other types of elder abuse. Furthermore, this

Note emphasizes that there should be a greater focus on how caregivers can seek assistance in order to prevent elder abuse in

the United States.

Key Points for the Family Court Community:

Elder abuse is a large and growing problem in the United States and, given their extreme vulnerability, the elderly are

prime targets for abuse.

Elder abandonment refers to the desertion of an elderly person by an individual who has assumed responsibility for

providing care for an elder or by a person with physical custody of an elder.

Elder abandonment should be included in every state’s elder abuse statute.

Elder abandonment is a different form of abuse from elder neglect in that abusers who perform elder abandonment are

attempting to rid themselves of responsibility for an elder by deserting them, while elder neglect is withholding of

essential services to an elder.

Caregivers who abandon their elders should face criminal or civil liability depending on the level of intent and poten-

tial of bodily harm, or death, to the elder.

Keywords: Adult Protective Services; Caregiver; Domestic Abuse; Elder Abandonment; Elder Abuse; Elder Neglect; and

Granny Dumping.

I. INTRODUCTION

Susan

1

is a 78-year-old elderly woman who is suffering from dementia, among various other

health issues. Her husband died many years ago and she has two adult children. One of Susan’s chil-

dren, Mary, is a successful lawyer who lives in California with her husband and three children. Mary

rarely comes to visit her mother in New York. Susan’s only other child, Jo-Ann, is a teacher and lives

in New York with her husband and their two teenage children. Jo-Ann’s elderly mother needs con-

stant care and attention. Jo-Ann is forced to be her mother’s caregiver all on her own. Jo-Ann is

severely overwhelmed and exhausted from taking care of her elderly mother and every day it gets

harder as her finances begin to deplete.

One day, Jo-Ann becomes so frustrated and overwhelmed that she decides enough is

enough. She drives to a hospital a few miles away and abandons her elderly mother in the

emergency room without any identification or any way to contact Jo-Ann or other members of their

family. She decides the hospital is better equipped to care for her mother than she. The action of

Jo-Ann deserting her elderly mother at the hospital is known as elder abandonment, a form of elder

abuse.

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FAMILY COURT REVIEW, Vol. 55 No. 3, July 2017 444–457

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C2017 Association of Family and Conciliation Courts