Assisted Suicide and Elder Abuse Crisis in California

It is incredible that anyone would seriously contemplate legalizing assisted suicide in California, given the elder abuse statistics. In 2003, the California Attorney General’s Bureau of Medi-Cal Fraud and Elder Abuse (BMFEA) and Crime and Violence Prevention Center (CVPC) issued a 50-page booklet, entitled A Citizen’s Guide to Preventing and Reporting Elder Abuse. Check out these shameful numbers:

- There are approximately 225,000 cases of elder abuse in California each year.
- Two-thirds (2/3) of abusers are family members.
- For every case of elder abuse reported, five cases go unreported.
- Elder abuse in California is “of crisis proportion,” and “the problem threatens to grow worse as the ‘graying’ of the Baby Boom generation results in unprecedented demographic shifts.”
- Elder abuse victims are often unwilling to get help because they fear retaliation from their abusers.
- Many victims remain silent to protect abusive family members from legal action and/or prosecution.
- Isolation is “an insidious tool” of abuse used by many family members or caregivers.

But don’t expect the media or assisted suicide boosters in the California Legislature to care. When it comes to the issue of assisted suicide, real world context in which lethal prescriptions would be issued doesn’t matter. All that counts is belief in “choice.”

HT: Kathi Hamlon