According to the National Council of Aging, “1 in 10 American senior citizens have experienced some form of elder abuse, and only 1 in 14 cases of abuse have been reported to authorities.” For many years, Florida has placed a systematic review in child abuse and domestic relation deaths, however, the vulnerable elderly population have not seen any comparable review for their cases. A review system in which elder abuse is put under a microscope will cause a reduction in elder abuse and will also lead to preventing what happened in previous cases from not happening again.

Fortunately, on July 1, 2020, Elder advocates were able to achieve a major breakthrough when Senate Bill 400, now known as Florida Statute 415.1103 – Elder Abuse Fatality Review Teams (EAFRT) became state law.  Florida Statute 415.1103 will allow “state attorneys to initiate an elder abuse fatality team in his or her judicial circuit to review deaths of elderly persons caused by, or related to, abuse or neglect.”

Most of the elder abuse fatality teams will be made up of representatives from entities or volunteers such as law enforcement agencies, adult protective services, elder law attorneys, etc. It will be completely voluntary, without compensation, and members will serve a term of two years. The state attorney will refer closed cases to the review team and reviews will be limited to the closed cases in which an elderly person’s death was caused by, or related to, abuse or neglect. Fortunately, it will not end there since this systematic review will lead to the Department of Elder Affairs having to submit an annual report to the Governor with a summary of the findings from the review teams.

The Elder Abuse Fatality Review Teams will not lead to reopening cases but will investigate on what went wrong in most elder abuse cases. This could bring potential changes in the law, rules, and policies in order to protect elder persons and to prevent elder abuse deaths from increasing in the state of Florida. With the passing of this Florida Statute, many families who have lost their elderly parents, friends, or relatives, and have had their closed cases reopened by this review team, will be able to finally gain closure so that this never happens to any other family again. If you or someone you know is the subject of a known or suspected abuse, neglect, exploitation, or self-neglect of the elderly or disabled, please call the abuse hotline 1-800-962-2873.