Florida Senate bill would create ‘elder abuse fatality review teams’

Abuse of the elderly is a problem gaining increased visibility. And a bill filed Thursday in the Florida Senate looks to mitigate that.

Senate Bill 518, filed by Jacksonville Democrat Audrey Gibson, would create elder abuse fatality review teams to be supervised by the Department of Children and Families.

These teams would look at “fatal and near-fatal” incidents of elder abuse.

Members of the team could include people with a wide swath of life experience, ranging from police officers to funeral directors.

The teams could be established on levels ranging from local to state, and the goal would be to examine incidents of elder abuse, to prevent it by “intervening early” and “improving the response of the individual and the system.”