Congress passed the Elder Justice Act as part of the Health Care Reform Bill

The Elder Justice Act of 2009 (S. 795) was introduced in the Senate several years ago by Orrin Hatch (R-UT), but the bill never passed until recently when it passed with the Health Care Reform Bill. The purpose of the act is to amend the Social Security Act to “prevent, detect, treat, intervene in, and prosecute” elder abuse and neglect. You can read the text of the Elder Justice Act at http://www.govtrack.us/congress/billtext.xpd?bill=s111-795.

The Elder Justice Act will coordinate at the federal level all efforts to stop elder abuse. Previously these efforts were at the state and local level. The Office of Elder Justice will be created at the Dept. of Health and Human Services and Justice in order to coordinate public and private and federal, state and local efforts relating to elder justice.
Now, there will be federal funding available for Adult Protective Services (which would add an additional 1,700 case workers), and for research grants to study elder abuse and find solutions for its prevention. The bill provides $700 million can be spent on combating elder abuse. By passing this bill, elder abuse is at the forefront of issues that must be addressed at the national level.
-A national data repository will be established so that information about elder abuse can be kept in one place so that it is easy to collect and access.
-By providing grants and funding for research, this bill will increase the research which is conducted on this topic.
-Also, funding will be provided for creating an improved forensic expertise in the area of detecting and proving elder abuse.
-Elder abuse victims will have somewhere to go with the creation of “safe havens,” which will provide shelter for seniors who are not safe at the place they live.
-More funding will be available for law enforcement to help in the prosecution of elder abuse cases.
-Funding will be available for training so that abuse can be prevented before it occurs.
-More funding will be available for criminal background checks of potential nursing home employees, for training of employees, for improving the general overall staffing at nursing homes.

Whether you agree with the Health Care Reform Bill or not, the Elder Justice Act is very important to help prevent and reduce the incidence of elder abuse. Its passage is a major step in protecting our elderly in nursing homes. We should all pay attention to how Congress is spending the $700 million designated for this issue.


The Elder Justice Coalition. The Elder Justice Act-S. 795. http://www.elderjusticecoalition.com/legislation.htm

What are the motivating factors for elder abuse committed by nursing home employees?

Brian Payne and Randy Gainey of Old Dominion University studied nursing home abuse from the perspective of a criminologist. They found that nursing home abuse occurs when 3 elements are present: an offender who is motivated, absence of capable guardian for the elder and a suitable target. The key to stopping elder abuse is finding a way to minimize or eliminate these 3 elements. For instance, in a nursing home, those patients who have cognitive disabilities are more likely to be abused because they are a suitable target. Also, since many nursing homes have inadequate staff which are poorly paid and poorly trained, the absence of a capable guardian is more common than people think.

Payne and Gainey consider the different motivating factors for the abuse. In some instances, there is abuse because a stressed out employee who is overworked reacts negatively and abusively to an elderly resident because of the situation. In other circumstances, there are “pathological tormentors” where there is no apparent reason for the provocation and there is a very severe response. These pathological offenders or serial abusers have a history of abuse—it is not a one time occurrence.
The reason why it is important to distinguish between the different types of motivating factors is to have laws and policies which actually prevent the abuse. In nursing homes, the residents must rely on laws and formal measures to stop the abuse, yet this study shows that stricter penalties and mandatory reporting laws are not really effective in reducing abuse and therefore cannot act as “capable guardians.” The reason stricter penalties and mandatory reporting don’t really work is because so much of the abuse is not reported and if it is, punishment is not likely.

Therefore, the more effective means of reducing nursing home abuse is to increase the staff to patient ratio so that employees are not overworked and stressed out. Alternatively, more managers should be hired to oversee and supervise the employees who work with the elderly. Another suggestion is to pair employees together as a team so that abuse does not go undetected. Also, better training and increased pay would help reduce the abuse caused by the stressed out employee. Additionally, better background checks, including criminal background checks, should be used to discover past abuse by potential employees.

By studying the precise causes and motivations for elder abuse, we can specifically target the causes and prevent the abuse. Rather than passing stricter laws and more laws about reporting abuse, it would be more effective to increase the staffing requirements and hours requirements for employees so that they are not overworked and over-stressed.


Payne, Brian and Randy Gainey. The Criminal Justice Response to Elder Abuse in Nursing Homes: A Routine Activities Perspective.