Gov. Rick Perry on Wednesday ordered an immediate review and reorganization of a state program designed to protect and help the elderly after a judge's scathing report on elder neglect.

El Paso County Probate Judge Max Higgs presented Perry with details of cases where Adult Protective Services was slow to get involved with cases of neglect, and instances of elderly residents being bitten by rodents and living in garbage-filled homes with no utility service.

Terry Hammond, an attorney who has represented some of the elderly, said he believes there are at least a hundred such cases in El Paso and many more statewide.

"If they are not killing our senior citizens, they are certainly letting them die in misery and squalor and danger," Higgs said Wednesday.

Perry said in a statement that "the cases documented in Judge Higgs' report are disturbing, particularly because they involve the neglect and mistreatment of some of our most vulnerable Texans - the elderly and those with disabilities. Our state cannot and will not tolerate such treatment."

Perry ordered the Health and Human Services Commission to determine the extent of problems. He also ordered agency Commissioner Albert Hawkins to oversee appropriate disciplinary action if any staff member was involved in mistreatment, abuse or neglect cases.

Perry ordered new training guidelines and minimum qualifications for caseworkers, new guidelines for working with law enforcement agencies to investigate cases of elder abuse and neglect, and coordination of APS efforts with the medical community and others.

Perry said he wants a report by Nov. 1.

Higgs' report was given to the governor last week.

At a hearing Wednesday, Higgs said he believed the problem with the state program was "mediocre" management that relies on "outmoded" philosophies. The hearing was on a case where the state program declined to assume guardianship over a woman who eventually died after repeated trips to the hospital.

Family and Protective Services Commissioner Thomas Chapmond agreed training is "woefully inadequate in case after case after case."

"They have never gotten training on (financial) exploitation," Hammond said. "They have to develop a truly investigative capability. That's why I have referred to this as state sanctioned abuse and neglect and exploitation."
Adult Protective Services aims to protect older adults and people with disabilities from abuse, neglect and exploitation. The program is overseen by the Department of Family and Protective Services, which is part of the Health and Human Services Commission.