Dr. Zhang is Assistant Clinical Professor, Psychiatry, University of California, San Francisco Weill Institute for Neurosciences, San Francisco. Dr. Morris is Assistant Professor of Clinical Psychiatry at University of California, San Francisco. Dr. McNiel is Professor of Clinical Psychology at University of California, San Francisco. Dr. Binder is Professor of Psychiatry, University of California, San Francisco.
J Am Acad Psychiatry Law. 2023 Jun;51(2):173-180. doi: 10.29158/JAAPL.220047-21. Epub 2023 Mar 16.
Elder financial abuse violates the dignity, mental integrity, and fundamental rights of older adults. Reports of elder financial exploitation climbed during the COVID-19 pandemic, as many older adults were targeted by perpetrators seeking to take advantage of their worries about health and finances, increased isolation, and relative lack of familiarity with the digital technologies prevalent in their everyday lives. This article examines trends in usage of electronic financial technologies by older adults and describes new technology-based mechanisms of elder financial exploitation. We review the conceptual approaches and instruments used in financial capacity assessments, as well as the limitations of their applicability to the growing cohort of older adults who have adopted modern digital technologies to manage finances. We discuss elder abuse statutes and the variations in legal definitions of protected older adults and the perpetrators who can be held accountable for elder financial exploitation. In addition, we explore new directions for elaborating current approaches to financial capacity assessments and elder protection to address the demands and perils of the technology-driven postpandemic era.
老年金融虐待侵犯了老年人的尊严、精神完整和基本权利。在 COVID-19 大流行期间，有关老年人金融剥削的报告有所增加，因为许多老年人成为了企图利用他们对健康和财务的担忧、增加的隔离以及相对缺乏对他们日常生活中普遍存在的数字技术的熟悉程度的犯罪者的目标。本文研究了老年人使用电子金融技术的趋势，并描述了基于新技术的老年金融剥削机制。我们回顾了财务能力评估中使用的概念方法和工具，以及它们在适用于越来越多采用现代数字技术来管理财务的老年人群体方面的局限性。我们讨论了老年虐待法规以及受保护的老年人和可追究老年金融剥削责任的犯罪者的法律定义中的差异。此外，我们探讨了制定当前财务能力评估和老年人保护方法的新方向，以应对技术驱动的后大流行时代的需求和危险。
