Article On “Invisible” Elder Abuse In Society

Taylor Lemick (J.D., University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign, 2015) recently published an article entitled, Society’s response to the “invisible” abuse of elders: understanding and addressing the financial abuse of society’s most vulnerable citizens, 23 Elder L.J. 151-189 (2015). Provided below is an abstract of the article:

Elder financial abuse is more common than elder physical abuse and neglect, but it goes largely unreported, and is ignored by the public. Illinois is in need of legislative changes to address this growing problem. Mandatory reporting laws requiring bank personnel to report abuses would significantly address the issue of financial elder abuse. This Note describes elder financial abuse and examines its role in the elder population. Further, this Note examines current Illinois mandatory reporting laws for elder abuse and neglect, along with other reporting laws across the nation. Specifically, this Note analyzes two recently proposed mandatory reporting bills and discusses the legal implications of reporting requirements for financial institutions. Finally, this Note recommends that new legislation be passed requiring banks and other related entities to act as mandatory reporters for financial elder abuse, either by specifically naming such institutions as mandatory reporters, or by generally requiring elder financial abuse to be reported.