Q: Bro did'nt answer docs calls over 6 months. Dad is elder under bro's care. Dad diagnosed with cancer. Is it neglect?
A person having the care of an elder takes the elder for blood work and fails to follow up on it and it is later learned that the doctor was attempting to call and inform the son about finding cancer in the blood. but the son did not return any of 5 messages left or return any phone calls whatsoever. The doctor has call records going back 6 months with each date being recorded. Not until I took over the elders care did we learn about the cancer. If it had been addressed 6 months sooner it may have been taken care of with less needed therapy. In California I believe elder neglect in part reflects that if a person acts outside of what a reasonable person would do in a given circumstance and places the elder in harm's way intentionally or not that person is guilty of elder neglect. Is this type of neglect rise to the level of being a criminal act? Thank You for your responses.
A: Your brother's failures certainly do sound like neglect and likely should be reported to Adult Protective Services. That said, there are a lot of questions that would need to be answered. Was the elder not able to receive any of the messages? Did the doctor ever send a letter? I would think that under these circumstances, there should have been more effort than 5 messages over a period of six months. Also, if the physician knew the patient wasn't able to personally respond and that your brother was not responding, I would think he should have reported the matter to APS.
Dale S. Gribow agrees with this answer
A:
like most questions it is factually based......that is if your brother neglected dad as you said he would arguably be guilty of elder neglect/abuse.
you can report this to local police to investigate.............and contact Adult Protective Services.
in addition there is a possible argument the doc should have done more and reported it too and sent something in writing.
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