Elder Law

Elder law encompasses a wide range of legal issues particularly concerning the “baby boomers”. Elder Law has a wide range of areas. The areas Ms. Maw is involved include: consumer fraud, elder abuse, contract litigation, age discrimination and nursing home litigation.

Consumer Fraud: In difficult economic times, consumer fraud is rampant, praying on everybody, but most prevalent on the elderly. A way to address this is to seek advice before donating funds or providing personal information to an unknown individual. If a fraud is perpetuated, civil litigation is an option.

Elder Abuse: Elder abuse has become more prevalent. It can involve abuse by one family member on another or by personnel in a facility abusing a patron. Ms. Maw is able to advocate on behalf of the patron.

Contract Litigation: Oftentimes the elderly enter into contracts with little or no understanding of the ramifications of their actions. Ms. Maw is experienced in handling contract disputes and litigation.

Employment Discrimination: Hard economic times have resulted in an increase in age discrimination suits. Age discrimination can occur to someone in their 50s as easily as in their 70s.

Nursing Home, Assisted Living and Other Facility Litigation: Today, usually both family members are working oftentimes necessitating placing parents or the elderly in a facility. Unfortunately, patrons of these facilities are at their most vulnerable and have difficulty or are unable to address negligence and abuse issues. For example, the failure of a facility to attend to a patient and/or properly supervise a patient, failing to call a physician when a patient’s medical problems first become apparent or worsen and instances of physical, sexual and mental abuse are perpetuated on a patient by facility staff and/or personnel who have been inadequately trained or supervised Facility administrators, whether part of assisted living centers, hospice care or Alzheimer’s or dementia units, have a clear obligation to understand and meet an individual’s needs. The patient’s medical prognosis or debilitating condition does not excuse negligence.