Dealing with the growing dilemma of elder abuse
May 17, 2009
Gregg Platt of Roseville is elderly but by no means feeble. With tree trunks for arms, the grip of a butcher and the build of a lineman, one might assume he played football or bounced the unruly out of bars, but a victim of assault?
"I was attacked," said Platt, who was one of the guest speakers at the fourth annual Crime Victims Rights Week seminar hosted by the Macomb County Department of Senior Citizen Services and Macomb County Prosecutor's Office. "I'm a crime victim. I'm here to share my story ... to tell people what to do and what not to do."
Last October, a man walking by Platt's apartment started yelling and screaming into a cell phone. Platt told the man to take it down the road. The man's response to Platt's reply was, "You can't tell me what to do you old fart. I'll kick your a--," to which Platt answered, "No you won't."
What followed was a vicious attack that will haunt Platt forever. While his size enabled him to pin his attacker down until police could arrive, the confrontation not only cost Platt $45,000 in medical expenses, months of physical therapy, and the duress of filing charges and going to court, but almost his life.
In this case, the attacker was a stranger. Many cases involve family members. According to a report by Newschannel 3, a 911 call led police to a house in Muskegon and to what they described as a horrific scene. "After wrestling through piles of garbage and debris inside the house, police found an 85-year-old woman who hadn't moved from the couch in weeks, and was covered in her own feces and urine."
One neighbor told reporters he saw two firefighters and two EMTs come out of the house and vomit. Muskegon Police Chief Tony Kleibecker said, "I've been in my career around a couple of things like this. For me, this is the worst where someone was actually still alive."
Also present inside the house was the woman's 50-year-old son and live-in caretaker. "He'd given her some food, he'd given her some water, but from his statements, he said 'she'd been on the couch for three weeks, had not moved from that spot in over three weeks,' " Kleibecker said.
"Nobody should have been left in those conditions, nobody," said Kleibecker at the time. "I wouldn't leave an animal in those conditions, let alone a human being, let alone your mom."
Despite her ordeal, the woman is expected to survive. Her son was arrested and charged with elder abuse.
"In 2004, Adult Protective Services received a total of 565,747 reports of elder abuse, and investigated 461,135 reports. Of that number, APS substantiated 191,908 reports of elder abuse for victims of all ages, representing a 16 percent increase from the 2000 survey. Of the alleged perpetrators, 33 percent were adult children, 22 percent were other family members, 16 percent were strangers, and 11 percent were spouses/intimate partners," according to a report by the National Center for Victims of Crime.
During the crime victim seminar, senior citizens were made aware of the abuse that can occur as a result of authorized use of funds or property, as in scams and legal proceedings.
Abridged
One neighbor told reporters he saw two firefighters and two EMTs come out of the house and vomit. Muskegon Police Chief Tony Kleibecker said, "I've been in my career around a couple of things like this. For me, this is the worst where someone was actually still alive."
Also present inside the house was the woman's 50-year-old son and live-in caretaker. "He'd given her some food, he'd given her some water, but from his statements, he said 'she'd been on the couch for three weeks, had not moved from that spot in over three weeks,' " Kleibecker said.
"Nobody should have been left in those conditions, nobody," said Kleibecker at the time. "I wouldn't leave an animal in those conditions, let alone a human being, let alone your mom."
Despite her ordeal, the woman is expected to survive. Her son was arrested and charged with elder abuse.
"In 2004, Adult Protective Services received a total of 565,747 reports of elder abuse, and investigated 461,135 reports. Of that number, APS substantiated 191,908 reports of elder abuse for victims of all ages, representing a 16 percent increase from the 2000 survey. Of the alleged perpetrators, 33 percent were adult children, 22 percent were other family members, 16 percent were strangers, and 11 percent were spouses/intimate partners," according to a report by the National Center for Victims of Crime.
During the crime victim seminar, senior citizens were made aware of the abuse that can occur as a result of authorized use of funds or property, as in scams and legal proceedings.
Abridged
SOURCE: Royal Oak Daily Tribune - MI,USA
------------------------------------------------------
Search Right Col/Labels for More Posts/Resources
No comments:
Post a Comment