Wrongful Death Lawsuit Highlights Rampant Elderly Abuse In The U.S.

The death of a disabled, elderly man last summer has raised serious questions about the care given to disabled individuals all over the country. And a trial that is expected as a result of this death could have nation-wide implications. Mike Papantonio is joined by attorney Troy Rafferty to talk about this case and the impacts that it could have.

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*This transcript was generated by a third-party transcription software company, so please excuse any typos.

The death of a disabled elderly man last summer has raised serious questions about the caregiving to disabled individuals all over the country and a trial that's expected as a result of this death could have nationwide implications. Joining me to talk about this case and the impacts that it has is Troy Rafferty. First of all, Troy, it's a case you're handling, it's a case that, this case has grabbed national attention. And I think because we're seeing more and more news reports about elderly abuse, we're not just talking about nursing home issues, we're talking about elderly abuse. What's the difference here?

Well, elderly abuse, and not just elderly abuse, but also abuse of the disabled. The, you know, the developmentally disabled, that's become rampant. Major sections of our most vulnerable populations we're finding all over the country systemic abuse and all sorts of different types of abuse.

Well, I think what's important is when people think of elderly abuse, these are things that come to mind. Physical, emotional, psychological, sexual, financial, financial exploitation. So what we're seeing now is finally America's coming to terms with, we've got a baby boomer generation that's moving through. And so we're seeing these things that are resulting all over the country. We get calls all the time, emotional abuse, for example, threatening, yelling, ignoring, isolating, not bathing, taking elderly who really can't take care of these kinds of problems. Neglect, withholding food, withholding medication, withholding access to Medicare, medical treatment. So I think what's important about it is right now, I think we're at a time finally where people are starting to understand it's because you got the baby boomers moving through.

Right.

And so that's a big event.

It's a huge event. And I think one of the things that people don't realize is how rampant it is throughout the country. We know, for example, not just the elderly, not just the disabled, but also teens. I mean, we've been seeing those, instances of that all over the country. But in this.

What we're seeing here though, Troy, to me, really concerns me from the standpoint of we've had government asleep on it. Anytime you talk about elderly abuse, everybody thinks okay, they think of the nursing home. That's it. That's where the analysis stops. Talk about this case right here.

Yeah. This isn't a nursing home case. So this is a case of a gentleman who was, has been developmentally disabled since age one. He can't speak, he's non-verbal and he can't get in and out of a seatbelt. And this company, this transport company, left him in the bus for eight hours in 101 degree heat until he died, 66 years old. And they were responsible for him. They had the obligation to do it. And they just, you know, so many times in these elderly abuse cases, they just get forgotten. They're forgotten because they're like, well, you know, they were old.

Yeah. Well, this man couldn't speak.

He couldn't speak.

He was disabled to the point where he couldn't take his seatbelt off, couldn't ask for help. I think the important thing to me though, as I look at this, you have these non-governmental entities. You have private sectors coming in and saying, let us take care of it. The same way they're taking care of the prison industry, the same way that they're moving into every aspect of our life. They're now seeing the timing and the timing is, as I say, you've got a generation moving through.