Senior Financial Exploitation

Staying Away from Financial Elder Abuse

Published on: July 7, 2022 | by Ettinger Law Firm

A 90-year-old woman is a recent victim of elder abuse. The financial scammers hacked into the woman’s account and removed $20,000. Frequently, financial abuse scammers present themselves as technical support or service representatives who offer to resolve issues connected to compromised email or bank accounts or even the renewal of software licenses.

In reality, people who are 60 years of age and older are routinely subject to targeting from financial scammers because elderly adults are more financially secure. Elderly adults also routinely experience difficulty with more and are more trusting than younger people. Scams of this nature are growing in number. The Internet Crime Complaint Center recently reported that fraud involving tech support is the third most common type of fraud involving elder adults.

Two years ago, the Internet Crime Complaint received almost 10,000 complaints involving tech scams targeting older adults who encountered over $116 million in losses. Elderly adults represented 66% of the total reports involving tech support fraud.

7 Limitations to Medicare

Published on: April 7, 2022 | by Ettinger Law Firm

With more people approaching the age of 65, a growing number of people are considering the potential benefits available from Medicare as well as other insurance options. Medicare A plays the critical role of paying for hospital stays as well as other services like skilled nursing facilities and hospice care. Meanwhile, Part B assists with physician visits and outpatient care.

If you’re close to enrolling in Medicare, you should consider what Medicare covers. By learning what Medicare covers now as well as what it doesn’t, you can begin thinking of alternate strategies to make sure that you receive all of the appropriate care that you need.

Prescriptions

Federal Agency Increases Visibility about Fines Faced by Nursing Homes

Published on: February 21, 2022 | by Ettinger Law Firm

The federal department tasked with overseeing nursing homes throughout the country recently announced it is revising its policy and will now publicly post details online about all fines received by care facilities regardless of payment status.

This new policy’s announcements occur during a period of increased criticism due to the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMMS) Care Compare website. The agency describes its website as existing to provide American citizens with details regarding matters of the level of care at nursing homes.

Changes to Nursing Home Fines

TERMINATING TREATMENT FOR INCOMPETENT PATIENTS

Published on: April 12, 2016 | by Ettinger Law Firm

TWO SCHOOLS OF THOUGHT

It is never an easy decision to make decisions for another person when it is the other person who has to live with the consequences of those decisions. That is doubly true when there is not any family relation or close ties that bind you. When you are deciding for a family member, say for example an aged parent or grandparent, at least you have the benefit of years worth of conversations and their larger thoughts on certain key matters of health and health decisions. You can look back and remember what they did or said in certain similar scenarios. What about those who do not have any such close relatives who decide for them? There is a class of professional guardians across the state and country who are professional in every sense of the term. They examine an issue and consider the best way to get the answer by asking further questions of the experts, such as doctors, therapists, social workers and so on. The hardest decision that any guardian has to make, regardless of whether or not they had the benefit of ties of affinity, is whether or not to terminate treatment for an incompetent patient. By what yardstick do they measure their decisions?

If a patient already expressed their clear desire in the past as to what they want to do, the decision that the guardian must make will be much easier. The 1972 New Jersey case of In Re Quinlan sums up the decision making in this case best. In Quinlan, a young woman was in a vegetative state from which she was not likely going to recover. Her father applied to the Court to be her guardian so he could have the life supporting medical apparatus removed. The trial Court denied this application, although the state Supreme Court found a Constitutional right to privacy in such decisions to remove oneself from life support that the state cannot intervene in. Since she could do it personally, her guardian could do the same in her absence. The legal protections that control a guardian’s decisions ensure that guardians do not make their decisions with improper motive.

Elder Financial Exploitation- A Fancy Term For Financial Abuse Of The Elderly

Published on: May 8, 2014 | by Ettinger Law Firm

Elder financial exploitation is a nuanced term for a growing problem–the financial abuse of the elderly.

Financial abuse of the elderly is a growing concern in today’s society. There are more senior citizens now than ever before and many of them are institutionalized or require help to get by in life. These dependent situations create an environment where the elderly can be taken advantage of financially.

What Is Financial Abuse?

The Mickey Rooney Example: Be Clear About Funeral & Burial Plans

Published on: April 16, 2014 | by Ettinger Law Firm

Legendary actor Mickey Rooney died earlier this month at the age of 93. Over the later course of his life, Rooney offered many important lessons related to elder law estate planning. For one thing, he was a vocal advocate against senior financial exploitation. In 2011 he testified before a U.S. Senate committee that was analyzing the various aspects of elder abuse. Rooney told the committee that he was emotionally and financially abused at the hand of his step-children (the biological children of his estranged wife).

At that hearing, Rooney echoed the thoughts of many New York seniors who were in the same situation, explaining, “For years I suffered silently. I didn’t want to tell anybody […] Even when I tried to speak up, I was told to shut up and be quiet.”

Fighting Continued After Death

Science of the Brain & Elder Financial Exploitation

Published on: April 15, 2014 | by Ettinger Law Firm

Advances in brain research are shedding new light on how our minds function. This includes understanding how we process decisions related to finances as well as how our decision-making changes as we age. Taken together, the new knowledge offers an important affirmation of the need to guard against senior financial exploitation and mismanagement.

The Science of Emotions

A Wall Street Journal story this week explained new neuroscientific findings that show a shift in mental activity as brains age. Specifically, older minds focus more than younger ones on blocking out negative emotions and experiences while maximizing positive emotions and interactions. This is referred to as “socioemotional selectivity.”

Push for More Funds to Combat New York City Elder Financial Abuse

Published on: March 26, 2014 | by Ettinger Law Firm

It is somewhat cliche to claim that a social problems is under-appreciated or misunderstood. But if any issue fits that bill, then it is senior financial exploitation. According to many reports of the problem, odds suggest that virtually all New Yorkers know someone who is affected by this problem–though the senior may never report the mistreatment. According to most estimates, every year a staggering $3 billion is lost by seniors who are exploited financially. This is not an isolated problem. If affects seniors of all income levels and in various living situations.

The New York City Council’s Committee on Aging chairperson explained recently that elder abuse is “a nearly silent epidemic due largely to underreporting and lack of public awareness.’

A Push for Protection

Plan Ahead to Minimize Risk of Guardianship Abuse

Published on: October 8, 2013 | by Ettinger Law Firm

An 87-year old New York man slowly began showing signs of Alzheimer’s. A widower, without many close family members, the senior befriended many people around him. For example, he often used the same cab driver, and he and the younger man grew to know one another. Eventually, the senior’s cognitive challenges placed him in real danger of harming himself or his interests. The details are a little fuzzy, but somehow the cab driver was appointed the man’s legal guardian by a court, providing him significant control over all of the senior’s affairs.

What the elderly man did not know, however, was that the cab driver had a checkered history. The driver was a convicted bank robber, and he quickly went back to his old ways after gaining control of the senior’s life. The guardian bought a new Humvee, spent time at strip clubs, and purchased a wide range of gifts for himself—all on the senior’s dime. Fortunately, the abuse was uncovered–the guardian is now in prison. However, the financial damage was already done and the senior lost nearly $640,000 that will never be returned.

Guardianship abuse is a common problem. Elder care planning is critical to avoid falling victim.

Unauthorized Charges: Financial Exploitation at the Dentist’s Office

Published on: September 4, 2013 | by Ettinger Law Firm

Advice is often given about checking a senior relative’s bank statements frequently to identify potential theft. Large cash withdrawals, donations to strange charities, and similar red flags should be pursued.

But sometimes elder financial exploitation is so bold, that victims–or their relatives–may not realize that they were mistreated.

For example, it is easy to overlook a large payment if it seems to be made for a reputable reason. Doctor’s payments may be quite large, but when skimming bank records, that payment may not immediately jump out as fraudulent. This creates an opening for exploitation.