Multnomah County District Attorney Mike Schmidt announced on April 24, 2023, that a 52-year-old woman was sentenced to 29 months in prison after stealing money from her mother, who was in a nursing home. The woman and her mother had entered into a springing power of attorney (POA) agreement in January 2012 before her mother became ill.
A jury found the woman guilty of two counts of aggravated theft in the first degree where the victim was 65 or older at the time of the crime and two counts of criminal mistreatment in the first degree relating to an elder abuse case. The jury found that, in 2020, the woman had stolen over $400,000 from her mother, who was suffering from dementia and no longer able to care for her affairs.
By February of 2021, the woman had spent $325,000 of the stolen money, and there was no evidence that she used the money for her mother as required by a POA. In addition, in November 2020, she checked her mother into a nursing home and claimed that her mother had enough money to privately pay for her end-of-life care. Less than two months later, she informed the facility manager that her mother was “out of money.” However, on that same day the POA had purchased a $24,500 vehicle. Her mother had $5.64 left in her savings account shortly after arriving at the facility.
Even though the woman had no prior criminal history, the prison sentence is mandatory because of elder abuse.
Compliance Perspective
Issue
Financial abuse takes many different forms. Someone with a legal obligation to handle a resident’s finances may fail to use the funds for necessities like food, clothing, shelter, and healthcare, putting the resident at risk of harm. People with legal obligations to handle finances include fiduciaries such as agents under power of attorney, trustees, guardians, conservators, Social Security representative payees, and Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) fiduciaries. If family or other individuals step in to manage a resident’s finances, some may try to take money or assets for themselves, which can seriously impact the resident’s finances and may result in an inability to pay their nursing home or assisted living community bills. A facility is required to report any allegations of misappropriation or exploitation of a resident’s funds or personal property to the State Agency and to appropriate local authorities.
Discussion Points
- Review your policies on misappropriation of residents’ belongings or funds. Also review your policies and procedures for working with residents’ financial caregivers. Ensure that your policies are reviewed at least annually and updated when new information becomes available.
- Train all staff about abuse, neglect, and exploitation of residents, including misappropriation of personal belongings or funds. Also train appropriate staff to monitor payments to the nursing home or assisted living community, as unpaid bills may be a result of financial abuse of the resident. Document that the training occurred, and place the signed document in each employee’s education file.
- Audit to ensure that residents’ bills are being paid, and that resident financial caregiver documentation is on file, such as copies of a power of attorney instrument, Social Security representative payee authorization, or a guardianship court order. Staff should be aware of compliance and ethics concerns and understand their responsibility to report any violations to their supervisor, the compliance and ethics officer, or via the anonymous hotline.
*This news alert has been prepared by Med-Net Concepts, LLC for informational purposes only and is not intended to provide legal advice.*
