The decision that you make to place a loved one in a nursing home can be a complicated one, and it probably required a lot of research and asking of questions on your part to determine that right facility. Unfortunately, elder neglect and abuse in nursing homes across the United States is not regularly reported by health care workers, according to a recent government watchdog report. 

It is a federal requirement for those health care workers who become aware of elder abuse to report it as soon as possible, but the US Department of Health and Human Services and the Office of the Inspector General found that many nursing homes across the country did not report elder abuse in about one of five potential cases.

It is expected that the elder population will increase significantly by 2050, reaching a total of 84 million people. Sadly, in 2008 a report found that one out of every 10 elderly individuals reported some form of neglect in the previous year.

Another form of elder abuse is known as financial abuse. Financial abuse can occur when someone attempts to take advantage of an elderly person by trying to update their will or making other edits to their existing estate planning documents. This can often come up in the context of an estate planning lawsuit or dispute after the fact. Being involved with your loved one’s life can help you identify situations in which he or she could be accidentally exposed to elder abuse or neglect.

Getting the support of an experienced attorney to create documents, to protect your loved one in advance can help to minimize the chances of this financial and elder abuse.

Make sure you have documents set up to allow your trusted family members or loved ones to make decisions on your behalf- an estate planning attorney can help you put together power of attorney documents. These can help reduce the chances of elder financial abuse.