Politics & Government
Rep. McCarty Testifies at Human Services Public Hearing
Proposes to shorten current seventy-two hour window required to report mistreatment of the elderly and to require notification of families.
ARTFORD – State Representative Kathleen McCarty (R-38) yesterday testified before the Human Services Committee in favor of a bill to protect the elderly.
Rep. McCarty proposed bill HB 5257 to further her goal of improving the delivery of quality health care services to our seniors. The bill seeks to amend the current statute that requires mistreatment, or suspicion of mistreatment, of the elderly to be reported to the Commissioner of Social Services within seventy-two hours.
“In either case, a seventy-two hour notification window is too lengthy of a time for mandated reporters to report an incident,” said Rep. McCarty. “With all of the technological resources at hand, this exceedingly prolonged reporting time could potentially be dangerous as it fails to protect the most vulnerable amongst the elderly by preventing the potential for immediate medical attention.”
Find out what's happening in Montvillefor free with the latest updates from Patch.
“My intent is to require immediate notification to family members of the condition of their loved ones. I would like to work with the Committee on this proposal to shorten reporting time and protect the elderly to a greater degree. The bill could, and should, furthermore be amended to include all mandated reporters identified in Public Act 13-250.”
Following yesterday’s public hearing at the Legislative Office Building in Hartford, the Committee will determine whether or not to advance the proposal through the legislative process.
Find out what's happening in Montvillefor free with the latest updates from Patch.
Rep. McCarty has also proposed bill HB 5235 to expand home-care services for elderly persons, bill HB 5270 to ensure the safety and security of nonverbal elderly citizens, and bill HB 5585 to allow more nonambulatory transportation options for the elderly.
If you would like to share questions, concerns or ideas in regards to these issues, Rep. McCarty encourages constituents to submit a written testimony or attend a public hearing. To do so, you may retrieve bill status information from the Connecticut General Assembly’s website, located at www.cga.ct.gov/. There, you will find current text, up-to-date actions on the bill, introducer, statement of purpose and co-sponsors. Public notice of a public hearing on a specific bill is 5 calendar days. The notice will provide you the bill number, the time and location of the hearing.
