Published: February 22, 2007 10:30 pm         

House approves stronger penalties for abuse of elderly

CHARLESTON, W.Va. — Stronger punishment for caregivers and custodians who neglect and abuse the elderly and the incapacitated in West Virginia — a state facing an aging population — is prescribed in a House bill passed Thursday without a dissenting vote.

In another House measure, thieves sneaking off with copper and other valuable metals from railroad property and other business concerns might be easier to track.

As passed, the measure requires extra documentation to be maintained by all purchasers in such transactions.

“The ultimate aim is to reduce the thief’s ability to market stolen materials and provide law enforcement officials and investigators adequate tools to track down stolen materials to a thief, once it’s discovered,” explained Judiciary Co-Chairman Bill Proudfoot, D-Randolph.

Under the bill, railroads are allowed to inspect purchased materials in a buyer’s possession, he pointed out.

“This is to help detect and identify stolen utilities from railroad property,” Proudfoot said.

Major increases in penalties are included for purchasers who knowingly violate the proposed law with fraudulent intent, including suspension of a business license for repeat offenses, he said.

Delegates approved a bill co-sponsored by Delegate Dave Perry, D-Fayette, to punish those who neglect and abuse the elderly and the incapacitated, or, as Judiciary Chair Carrie Webster, D-Kanawha, the lead sponsor, characterized them, “the truly vulnerable.”

The bill stipulates that neglect and abuse grows from a mere misdemeanor to a felony.

Inflicting physical pain, illness or an impairment that results in death would be considered second-degree murder, the bill says.

But such punishment wouldn’t apply to a caregiver, custodian or guardian who neglects or refuses or allows another person to fail or refuse to provide necessary medical care if it conflicts with the tenets of “a recognized religious denomination or order” in which the patient belongs.

Nor would it be applicable when the failure or refusal is in sync with a properly executed do-not-resuscitate form.

Perry attempted a year ago to get a similar bill passed in the House, saying at the time the elderly and the incapacitated were people who deserved the maximum protection the Legislature could extend under the law.

Under this proposed one, anyone convicted of its provisions could be imprisoned for three to 15 years.

However, the bill also provides that a patient who has agreed to spiritual treatment through prayer in line with “a recognized method of religious healing with a reasonable proven record of success” cannot be viewed as neglected.

“A method of religious healing shall be presumed to be a recognized method of religious healing if fees and expenses incurred in connection with the treatment are permitted to be deducted from taxable income as medical expenses pursuant to regulations or rules promulgated by the U.S. Internal Revenue Service,” the bill reads.

What’s more, the bill says any caregiver, guardian or custodian who procures another or attempts to sexually exploit the elderly and incapacitated is guilty of a felony, punishable by a five-to-15-year prison sentence.

Held over for one day by Majority Leader Joe DeLong, D-Hancock, was a bill clarifying that breastfeeding in public cannot be interpreted as an infraction of the indecency statute.



Mannix Porterfield writes for The Register-Herald in Beckley, W.Va.