Gatekeepers are people who come into contact with elders and other vulnerable adults through their jobs and everyday activities. They are crucial eyes and ears in our community, a vital means of finding those most at risk of abuse.

Dispatches from the Field 

Train the Trainer - Seniors

FDA Warns Public of Continued Extortion Scam by FDA Impersonators 
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration is warning the public about criminals posing as FDA special agents and other law enforcement personnel as part of an international extortion scam.
 
The criminals call the victims who in most cases previously purchased drugs over the Internet or via "telepharmacies," and who identify themselves as FDA special agents or other law enforcement officials. The criminals inform the victims that purchasing drugs over the Internet or the telephone is illegal, and law enforcement action will be pursued unless a fine or fee ranging from $100 to $250,000 is paid.  Anyone receiving a telephone call from a person purporting to be an FDA or other law enforcement official who is seeking money to settle a law enforcement action for the purchase of drugs over the Internet should refuse the demand and call the FDA's Office of Criminal Investigations Metro Washington Field Office at (800) 521-5783 to report the crime.  Read the Article 

 

Spotlight

 

Bruce Kelly of Investment News reported that a Beverly Hills financial services firm and two of its brokers have been ordered to pay 95-year old David Wolfson over $1.5 million, of which $960,000 represents damages for elder abuse.  Mr. Wolfson had a 20-year relationship with the discount brokerage firm that attempted to sell him a reverse mortgage, which was his last remaining asset.  Reverse mortgages are discussed elsewhere in this issue.
 
Institute on Aging contacted Steve Riess, Esq., who had this comment:
 
FINRA (Financial Industry Regulatory Authority) is a private industry regulatory organization; that is, it is a nongovernmental organization funded by the securities industry but which also serves a quasi-public regulatory function under Securities and Exchange regulations. It is extremely pro-industry. One of FINRA's functions is to provide private arbitration services. Major brokerages require all customers to sign account agreements in order to use their services. These agreements contain mandatory arbitration clauses that divert to arbitration any claims against the firm or its representatives. The arbitration is then conducted by FINRA. Under its rules, the arbitrators are not required to apply state law (and because the special protections afforded by state law are not required, some advocates have successfully avoided arbitration on public policy arguments).  In any event, in the case described in the article, it appears that the arbitration panel awarded in favor of the individual (in and of itself somewhat unusual!) and also trebled damages. Proving elder financial abuse under California law does not in and of itself result in treble damages. Rather, a separate statute (CC §3345) permits the court to treble damages under circumstances that might, but do not necessarily, include elder financial abuse. Essentially, damages may be trebled when the law otherwise authorizes the imposition of a discretionary fine or civil penalty and when especially egregious circumstances are present. (The application of CC §3345 is currently being considered by the California Supreme Court.)

 

Benson Nadell , The SFLTC Ombudsman Coordinator, Family Service Agency of San Francisco comments on the report California's Elder Abuse Investigators: Ombudsman Shackled by Conflicting Laws and Duties prepared for the California Senate Rules Committee (November 3^rd, 2009).

 

Benson Nadell , The SFLTC Ombudsman Coordinator, Family Service Agency of San Francisco reads the Hill Report:

 

In the wake of the total elimination of State funding to the Local Ombudsman Programs, The Subcommittee on Aging and Long term care requested that a report be made to look at the role of Ombudsmen in abuse investigations. The methodology behind the report was for the authors to interview key persons at different levels about the effectiveness of the Local Programs in functioning as abuse investigators. A few days after the Governor line-item vetoed all State General Fund dollars to the Long Term Care Ombudsman Programs, he signed AB 2100 which would require the Local LTCO Programs to disclose cases to the Local District Attorney. This contradictory message to the Ombudsmen is really at the heart of this Report. The Report captures key vulnerabilities of the Local Ombudsman Programs in carrying out the Federal and State mandated duties. Some of the findings are as follows:

 

s drawn from years of frustration with licensing agencies in not conducting investigations which are not reflected in the regulations. There are many issues not addressed in the Report, which include:

There is wide (although not unanimous) agreement among Local Ombudsman Programs on the following points: 

Elder Justice Act

What is the Elder Justice Act?

(Information taken from the Elder Justice Coalition website.) 

• educate the public and to provide information on the prevention of elder abuse and best practices in addressing the problem to interested entities throughout the country
• fund research entities throughout the country to better develop our knowledge base on the issue
• include the area of "at risk" elders, providing a focus on the development of forensic capacity in the area of elder abuse, and increasing the capacity of prosecutors throughout the country to bring elder abuse charges

The EAP has put together a list of resources that we find valuable when working on issues of elder abuse. While this is not an exhaustive list, we hope you will find it useful.  To view these resources visit:

 

http://www.ioaging.org/professionals/gatekeeper

If you have resources that you would like to see added to this list, please email tguinn@ioaging.org