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Analysis Of The Elder Justice Act

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Congress passed he Elder Justice Act as part of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act to combat the cases of elder abuse in the United States (FindLaw, n.d.). The EJA was implemented by congress, and signed by President Obama on March 23, 2010 (FindLaw, n.d.). The Act was proposed due to the report by the U.S. Department of Justice (FindLaw, n.d.). Dong (2012) noted that the “The EJA will also be responsible for issuing human subjects protections guidelines to assist researchers and establishing elder abuse forensic centers” (p. 7). In addition, the Elder Justice Act seek to provide grants and incentives in regards to long-term care staffing and electronic medical records technology grants programs, and will gather and distribute …show more content…

Elder Justice Act has made it possible and easy to detect signs of elder abuse by creating programs to assist and aid older victims of abuse, and prosecute abusers. California has passed laws making elder abuse a civil liability, and violation of the laws will subject the perpetrator to criminal liability (Stimmel Law, n.d.). According to California Advocates For Nursing Home Reform (CANHR) (2017), criminal elder abuse “occurs where any person who knows that a person is an elder and willfully causes or permits that elder to suffer, or inflicts unjustifiable physical pain or mental suffering on the elder. It also covers situations where a person willfully causes or permits an elder to be placed in a situation in which elder’s health is endangered” (para, 1). While civil elder abuse refers to intend physical abuse, isolation, abduction, abandonment, financial abuse, or any type of elder mistreatment resulting in physical harm, pain or mental suffering of an older adult (CANHR, 2017). The State of California Department of Justice is composed of three programs designed to prosecute elder abuse. First, is the Violent Crime Unit, this unit investigates and prosecutes physical elder abuse committed by individual employees against patients in elder care facilities (The State of California Department of Justice, n.d.). Second, the Facilities Enforcement Team, the team investigates and prosecutes

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