1 elder law task force: addressing the needs of pennsylvania’s aging population
TRANSCRIPT
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Elder Law Task Force: Addressing the Needs of
Pennsylvania’s Aging Population
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Elder Law Task Force Panel• President Judge George Zanic
Huntingdon County Court of Common Pleas
• John (“Jack”) Meck, Esq.Eckert Seamans/Chair, PA Supreme Court’s Orphans’ Procedural Rules Committee
• Cherstin HamelDirector, Office of Elder Justice in the Courts (OEJC)
• John N. Kennedy, Esq. Kennedy, PC Law Offices
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What Are the Problems That Created the Elder Law Task Force?
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ELDER ABUSE
Source: PA Older Adult Protective Services
Elder Abuse Statistics• Elder abuse accounts for injuries to more
than five million Americans annually
• Victims of elder abuse are three times more likely to end up in a hospital and four times more likely to end up in a nursing home than non-victims
• Elder abuse is deadly: Elders are three times more likely to die prematurely
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Why Was the Elder Law Task Force
Formed?
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Membership of the Elder Law Task Force
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Mission of the Elder Law Task Force
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Work of theElder Law Task Force
Issues Addressed by the Elder Abuse and Neglect Committee
• Financial abuse and exploitation of elders, including abuse of powers of attorney
• Training, information and collaborations on elder/financial abuse
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Issues Addressed by the Elder Abuse and Neglect Committee (continued)• Effective court practices to address
elder abuse and promote access to justice, including elder courts
• Mandatory minimum sentencing for certain types of elder abuse and crimes
• Improving access to civil legal aid for elders in areas of basic human needs
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Recommendations of Interest to Long-Term Care Providers
• Recommendation 33: Creation of a Statewide Elder Justice Roundtable
• Recommendation 37: Create a Pilot “Elder Court”
• Recommendation 100: The General Assembly should enact a statute consistent with § 116 of the Uniform Power of Attorney Act
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Recommendations of Interest to Long-Term Care Providers
(continued)
• Recommendation 104: The General Assembly should enact a statute requiring financial institutions to be mandatory reporters of suspected financial abuse or exploitation of elders
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Recommendations of Interest to Long-Term Care Providers
(continued)
• Recommendation 105: The General Assembly should statutorily require financial institutions to administer training programs to help identify, prevent, and report elder financial abuse
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Recommendations of Interest to Long-Term Care Providers
(continued)• Recommendation 109: The
Legislature should mandate the creation or continuation of Elder Abuse Task Forces in each county/judicial district to develop best practices, facilitate information sharing and enable and promote collaboration
•
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Recommendations of Interest to Long-Term Care Providers
(continued)• Recommendation 114: Information
on identifying elder abuse and neglect should be widely disseminated to the public through public forums, literature and online, and elder abuse task forces should relay this information
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Recommendations of Interest to Long-Term Care Providers
(continued)• Recommendation 117: The Attorney
General and PA State Police should make financial investigators available to assist local prosecutors and Area Agencies on Aging when complex cases of elder financial abuse are alleged
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Recommendations of Interest to Long-Term Care Providers
(continued)• Recommendation 122: Prosecutors
should utilize 42 Pa.C.S. § 9728(e) and (f) to ensure funds and assets are available to satisfy anticipated restitution orders, and educate district attorneys and judges about this mechanism for freezing assets
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Recommendations of Interest to Long-Term Care Providers
(continued)• Recommendation 123: Educational
efforts should be undertaken to ensure prosecutors are aware of Pa.R.Crim.P.500, and its implications for preserving testimony of elders in appropriate cases
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Recommendations of Interest to Long-Term Care Providers
(continued)• Recommendation 124: District
attorneys should consider requiring municipal police departments to obtain their approval before filing criminal charges in certain cases involving victims over age 60
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Issues Addressed by the Guardians and Counsel Committee
• Sources of guardians• Powers, duties and responsibilities of
guardians• Guardian’s scope of liability• Qualifications and screening of
guardians• Bonding of guardians
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Issues Addressed by the Guardians and Counsel Committee (continued)
• Retention of guardians• Right to appointed counsel• Role of counsel• Guardian and counsel fees• Guardianship education and training
for judges, court staff, guardians, attorneys and others
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Recommendations of Interest to Long-Term Care Providers
• Recommendation 6: The OEJC should develop training for judges and financial institutions on the use of emergency guardianships
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Recommendations of Interest to Long-Term Care Providers
(continued)
• Recommendation 43: Through amendment to the Orphans’ Court Procedural Rules, training should be mandated for all guardians, and include matters of liability and ethics
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Recommendations of Interest to Long-Term Care Providers
(continued)
• Recommendation 44: Through amendment to the Orphans’ Court Procedural Rules, all individual guardians, family and professional, should be required to undergo criminal background checks
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Recommendations of Interest to Long-Term Care Providers
(continued)
• Recommendation 46: The Orphans’ Court Procedural Rules should be amended to require that, in addition to not having any interest adverse to the alleged incapacitated person (AIP), the proposed guardian should have the willingness/ability to visit with the AIP on a regular basis and be available at all times to confer with the AIP’s physicians, nurses and other care providers
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Recommendations of Interest to Long-Term Care Providers
(continued)
• Recommendation 55: The Orphans’ Court Procedural Rules should be amended to require that the assets of the IP be used for the purpose of maintaining the best possible quality of life for the person
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Recommendations of Interest to Long-Term Care Providers
(continued)
• Recommendation 69: The Supreme Court should encourage local courts to develop interdisciplinary teams modeled after the existing Children’s Roundtable Initiative to advise and support guardians and the court
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Issues Addressed by the Guardianship Monitoring Committee• Preliminary assessment process-
Determining capacity
• Preliminary assessment process-Identifying abuse
• Reporting requirements and standardization of guardianship forms
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Issues Addressed by the Guardianship Monitoring Committee
(continued)
• Effective monitoring and enforcement of reporting requirements
• Data collection
• Removal, replacement and discharge of guardians
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Recommendations of Interest to Long-Term Care Providers
• Recommendation 18: Judges should hold periodic review hearings, either on a regular basis or at random, to monitor the status of the guardianship
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Annual Report submission is monitored
All annual reports are reviewed
Judge reviews the annual report
Clerk reviews the annual report
Recommendations of Interest to Long-Term Care Providers
(continued)
• Recommendation 20: Counties should adopt a volunteer monitoring program leveraging local/regional resources to assist the courts with their monitoring responsibilities
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Recommendations of Interest to Long-Term Care Providers
(continued)
• Recommendation 24: The Administrative Office of PA Courts’ judicial automation plan for an Orphans’ Court module should include guardianship monitoring tools
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Recommendations of Interest to Long-Term Care Providers
(continued)• Recommendation 65: The judge or
judge’s staff should be required, through amendment to the Orphans’ Court Procedural Rules, to review the content of all inventories and annual reports received by the court to identify areas requiring further scrutiny, additional documentation or a review hearing
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Recommendations of Interest to Long-Term Care Providers
(continued)
• Recommendation 84: The OEJC should develop a guide for guardians that includes information about the minimum standards of care for an incapacitated person (IP), and the expectations for and responsibilities of the guardian, including requiring the guardian to maintain in-person contact with the IP at a minimum of once per quarter or more often as appropriate
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Recommendations of Interest to Long-Term Care Providers
(continued)
• Recommendation 26: The Bill of Rights of an AIP should be provided to the AIP (and family members/concerned parties) at the time he or she is served with the petition, and the Bill of Rights of an IP should be provided to the IP (and family members/r concerned parties) at the time the IP is adjudicated incapacitated. The guardian should receive copies of both the Bills upon appointment
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Overarching Recommendations of the Elder Law Task Force
• Recommendation 1: Creation of an Office of Elder Justice in the Courts
• Recommendation 2: Creation of an Advisory Council on Elder Justice in the Courts
• Recommendations 5 and 32: Development of Guardianship and Elder Abuse Bench Books
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Overarching Recommendations of the Elder Law Task Force (continued)• Recommendation 129: Pennsylvanians
who believe an elder displays the warning signs of mistreatment should report such symptoms by calling either the Statewide Elder Abuse Hotline: 1-800-490-8505 or Office of Attorney General Elder Abuse Hotline: 1-866-623-2137
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Overarching Recommendations of the Elder Law Task Force (continued)
Recommendation 130: Everyone should learn the signs that indicate elder abuse, and take steps to prevent it
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Process for Implementation of the Elder Law Task Force’s
Recommendations
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What Has Been Accomplished Since the Elder Law Task Force’s
Report was Issued?
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How Long-Term Care Providers Can Assist
the Advisory Council on Elder Justice in the Courts
and OEJC
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