Abuse of Dependent Adult By Caregiver: Visiting Nurse Finds Elderly Person Alone, Helpless.
Legal Eagle Eye Newsletter for the Nursing Profession
Request a complimentary copy of our current issue.
Quick Summary: Dependent adult abuse can be deprivation of the minimum food, shelter, clothing, supervision, physical or mental health care or other care necessary to maintain a dependent adult’s life or health.
A court order is appropriate to permit a victim of dependent adult abuse who lacks the capacity to consent to the receipt of protective services to be taken to a hospital for evaluation or to a nursing home.
SUPREME COURT OF IOWA, 1998.
The ninety-six-year old woman with organic brain syndrome and numerous medical problems had been living with her grandson who was considered her caretaker. The two of them subsisted on her Social Security check.
A visiting nurse on two occasions found the woman alone, helpless and in serious need of attention.
The Supreme Court of Iowa ruled the nurse acted properly by reporting the situation to the human services department, so that an emergency court order could be obtained to take the woman to a hospital and then to a nursing home. A guardian ad litem was appointed by the court to represent the woman’s interests. The court ruled the woman was a victim of dependent adult abuse by her grandson-caretaker who had apparently abandoned her. In the Interest of E.Z., Dependent Adult, 585 N.W. 2d 214 (Iowa, 1998).