Suspicious deaths and allegations of mistreatment in senior care facilities can routinely go unreported to law enforcement and prosecutors, a breakdown that allows abusive or neglectful caregivers to escape punishment and continue to work around seniors, reports the Atlanta Journal-Constitution. There’s no public record that police were notified in 40 percent of physical and sexual abuse allegations detailed in inspection reports by the Georgia Department of Community Health. Neglect was even less likely to be reported. Spot checks of law enforcement agencies showed that cases of neglect described in state reports, such as residents being left in filthy conditions or denied medical attention, were often unreported, even though intentional neglect of the elderly is a crime.
The newspaper reviewed dozens of cases across the state of residents with bruises and bloody accidents that the homes simply could not explain. All cases were serious enough to catch the attention of state inspectors. Georgia’s elder abuse system rarely got the chance to decide if these acts rose to the level of crimes because police were not called and prosecutors weren’t notified. That worries those who spend their days trying to protect older Georgians from abuse and neglect at senior care facilities. DeKalb County is considered one of the most aggressive counties in taking cases of elder abuse and neglect. Yet the prosecutor who oversees elder abuse cases there couldn’t recall ever receiving a referral from the state. The Journal-Constitution showed DeKalb Deputy Chief Assistant District Attorney Jeanne Canavan 11 cases where facilities in the county were cited by state regulators for allegations involving harm to seniors. “Some of these cases should have been criminally investigated,” Canavan said. “I’m not saying they would have resulted in charges. I would have liked to have gotten them when they were fresh.”