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America's Seniors Hit By Explosion of Abuse
By Tom Mashberg and Maggie Mulvihill, Boston Herald
August 2, 2004
A 76-year-old is killed by her nephew in her Cambridge home.
A pair of drifters savagely beat and rob an elderly Malden couple.
A Chelsea attorney embezzles $350,000 from two elderly clients.
In Massachusetts and across the nation, people age 60 and older are being battered, fleeced and neglected at a skyrocketing rate, ''creating a dark side to growing old in America,'' experts say.
'' I have nightmares where I'm being chased by someone with a gun and I'm trying to get home,'' said Diana Vance, 76, of Longmeadow, recalling the vicious mugging she endured two years ago, allegedly at the hands of two men who followed her home.
'' I became panic stricken. Just walking away from my house, leaving that security base, was difficult for me,'' she said.
In 1984, Bay State statistics shows, four incidents of elder abuse were reported daily to the protective services agencies that respond to such cases. Twenty years later, that number has soared to 20 reports per day statewide.
The problem is so acute that some Bay State prosecutors are assigned full time to elder-abuse cases. But because more than two-thirds of the crimes are committed by relatives or loved ones, elders often refuse to press charges, sometimes dooming themselves to lives of poverty and terror.
''My nightmare scenario is discovering an elderly `house of horrors,' and I know it's out there,'' said Sandy Hovey, director of protective services for Ethos, a Boston agency that responds to elder-abuse reports. '' It's just a matter of time before it's uncovered.''
Several factors are fueling the rise in abuse, experts say:
An overall increase in the nation's elder population;
The fact that many elders are living with next-of-kin, creating stress that worsens when the elder requires a lot of care;
The fact that elders hold a large proportion of the nation's wealth in savings and home values, making them ripe targets.
In Massachusetts, 1.1 million of the 6.4 million residents are 60 or older, and the elder population here is growing at one of the fastest rates in the nation, officials say.
By 2010, there are expected to be 1.27 million Massachusetts residents age 60 or older. By 2020, that number will soar to 1.63 million - 24 percent of the population.
According to Massachusetts figures, reports of elder abuse to state agencies surpassed 6,950 in the reporting year that just ended June 30 - up from 6,700 last year, 6,000 five years ago and 1,529 in 1984.
The Office of Attorney General Tom Reilly, meanwhile, logged 8,394 complaints to its separate elder abuse hotline in 2003.
Beneath the statistics are flesh and blood victims like Mary Toomey, a 76-year-old Cambridge woman who was allegedly murdered by her nephew, Anthony DiBenedetto, last Nov. 26.
DiBenedetto, 47, was caught trying to seal Toomey's corpse in a green duffel bag after having slashed her throat, police said.
''She was such a nice lady,'' said Al Martins, her landlord. ''That guy just sucked the money from her. In the end she was sleeping on a rotten old mattress.''
Neighbors suspected DiBenedetto was beating Toomey, but she never pressed charges against her sole caregiver - an all-too-common phenomenon, advocates say. '' The vast majority of abuse cases occur in the home,'' said Gregory Giuliano, director of protective services for the Executive Office of Elder Affairs, putting the figure at 75 percent. '' And we know for a fact it is an under-reported crime.''
Often the elderly victim is too embarrassed or too frail to report abuse, Giuliano said. In some cases the victims put up with violence and theft because they fear if they complain, they will be abandoned or consigned to a nursing home.
Many elders refuse to press charges against their next-of-kin or sole companions or caregivers.
'' There is a level of shame or embarrassment that goes with these cases,'' said Suffolk District Attorney Daniel Conley, whose office has an active elder-abuse unit. ``Seniors don't want to report these crimes - they don't want to tell on their children.''
And in the case of elders with Alzheimer's disease, dementia or other disorders, the victim does not make a good witness at trial.
Nationally, as America's baby boomers enter their 60s, elder abuse is seen as the next great American crime wave.
There are 36 million Americans over age 65, census figures show, and that number is expected to double in the next 25 years.
Elderly above age 80 are expected to increase from 4 million to 6 million in the same period.
While no one has exact numbers, estimates put the number of known abuse cases at a half-million per year. Experts believe only a third of all cases are reported, suggesting that 1.5 million elders are abused annually.
''All trends and all indications are that it is rising at a scary rate,'' said Robert Blancato, president of the National Committee for the Prevention of Elder Abuse.
''You factor in the demographics and you're dealing with an explosion of abuse that is going to get worse.''
Statistics show 7 in 10 victims are women, and about 55 percent of the abusers are female.
For every case like the murder of Toomey or the mugging of Vance, there are dozens where the abuse is subtle and secretive or the result of bad household dynamics.
''The majority of cases are not heinous abuse,'' said Jennifer Davis Carey, state secretary of elder affairs.
''The bulk of what we see is a caregiver situation gone awry.''
Nonetheless, robbing and mistreating an elder parent or relative is a crime. Prosecutors want it known that they will be aggressive in trying to recover assets and bringing perpetrators to justice.
In Plymouth County, where an elder abuse unit has been in place since 1996, prosecutors are seeing more than 100 cases each year.
''Unfortunately seniors come from a different time and are more trusting than some of the younger people today,'' said Plymouth District Attorney Timothy Cruz.
Suffolk prosecutor Michael Uhlarik, who specializes in elder abuse cases, said: ''We need the court system to recognize that even a small theft from an elder or a simple assault and battery has a massive impact on their lives.''
Additional Information
Courtesy: http://www.preventelderabuse.org/help/incommunity.html
The following national help lines will help you find services in your community:
The Eldercare Locator (800-677-1116) directs callers to senior information and referral telephone lines in their communities. These programs direct callers to local programs and services, including home delivered meal programs, adult day care programs, support services, legal assistance, services for caregivers, and many others.
INFOLINK (800-FYI-CALL) directs callers to the closest, most appropriate services for victims of crime, including crisis intervention, assistance with the criminal justice process, counseling, and support groups.
The National Domestic Violence Hotline (800-799-SAFE [7233]) links callers to domestic violence shelters, other emergency shelters, legal advocacy and assistance programs, and social service programs.
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