Play Live Radio
Next Up:
0:00
0:00
0:00 0:00
Available On Air Stations

Elder Abuse Review Teams Bill Heads To Senate

an elderly person's wrist
Hal Yeager
/
The Florida Channel
Elderly hand holding bed sheet (Kaiser Health News - Hal Yeager)

The Senate Appropriations Committee on Thursday backed a bill that would establish in law elder-abuse fatality review teams. 

The proposal (SB 400), sponsored by Senate Minority Leader Audrey Gibson, D-Jacksonville, would allow the teams --- comprised of representatives of law-enforcement agencies, medical examiner’s offices, area agencies on aging and the state Agency for Health Care Administration, among others --- to be established in each judicial circuit to review deaths of seniors.

Gibson’s bill is now ready to go to the full Senate. The House of Representatives is advancing a similar measure (HB 253), with the House Oversight, Transparency & Public Management Subcommittee approving the bill unanimously on Wednesday. Florida has the highest percentage of senior residents in the nation.