New law toughens penalties for abuse of elders, disabled By Michael Kunzelman / News Staff Writer Wednesday, January 12, 2005
BOSTON -- Abusing the elderly or disabled will be punishable by tougher criminal and civil penalties under legislation Gov. Mitt Romney signed into law yesterday.
The new law makes it a felony, with a maximum sentence of three years in prison, to assault a senior citizen or disabled person.
Before Romney signed the law, two years in jail was the maximum sentence for abusing a resident of a nursing home. The measure, which Attorney General Thomas Reilly's office drafted, also allows for nursing home supervisors to be held liable of civil actions if they "recklessly permit" an employee to abuse, mistreat or neglect a patient.
Before, civil cases could only be brought against nursing home employees who were deemed directly responsible for abusing a patient. The law also raises the maximum awards in these civil cases from $2,500 to $50,000.
"There are cowards in our society who prey on our elderly and disabled citizens because they think they are easy targets," Romney said in a prepared statement. "This new law gives prosecutors the tools they need to do their job and punishes those who victimize our most vulnerable citizens."
Last year, according to Romney, authorities investigated more than 3,100 reports of abuse, neglect or exploitation involving the elderly or disabled, including allegations that a former nursing assistant abused patients at a Franklin nursing home.
Bernadette Stackpole, 53, of Bellingham pleaded not guilty Dec. 20 in Norfolk Superior Court to charges she physically and sexually abused four patients, including a 105-year-old woman, at the Franklin Skilled Nursing and Rehabilitation Center. The nursing home fired Stackpole in May 2004 after the allegations came to light.
In a press release last month, Reilly's office had cited the Stackpole case in calling for the Legislature to pass tougher penalties for elder abuse.
"Not only does this new law increase criminal penalties for cases of abuse against the elderly," Reilly said in a written statement, "but it will also help us more effectively prosecute nursing home supervisors who allow a pattern of abuse and neglect to occur in their homes."
State Rep. Lida Harkins, D-Needham, and former state Sen. Linda Melconian, D-Springfield, co-sponsored the bill that Romney signed into law.
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