Penalties For Attacks On Seniors Toughened By Senate

Following through on their promise to toughen the laws for those convicted of attacking senior citizens, the state senate in Albany last week passed a bill increasing the penalties for assaulting seniors.

However, to become a law, the legislation must also be passed by the Assembly and signed by Governor Eliot Spitzer.

While Spitzer has already indicated he would sign such a bill, Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver, has some reservations about passing the senate's bill, which Silver says will not achieve its stated goal.

This means the senate and Assembly will have to try to negotiate a bill satisfactory to both houses ensuring that those who beat up seniors will face tougher sentences and more time in jail.

The senate effort to impose stronger sentences for assaults on people over 60 years of age was in response to the beatings of Rose Morat, a 101-year-old Jamaica Estates resident, and Solange Elizee, 85, of Jamaica on March 4. Police believe the same person committed both crimes. The suspect is still being sought.

Under current law, if the suspect is caught and found guilty of the assaults, they will be guilty of only a misdemeanor and face about a year in jail for each crime.

Under the bill passed by the state senate, assaults on persons over the age of 70 would be considered a violent felony (class D or E) and anyone convicted of such a crime would be subject to a 7-year jail term with no possibility of parole.

The senate bill also makes assaulting someone 60 or older who suffers from a disease or infirmity associated with advanced age a class D or E felony.

Queens' two local senators, Frank Padavan (R- C, Bellerose) and Serphin Maltese (R- C, Middle Village) co-sponsored and voted for the bill that passed.

Padavan stated, "It sickens me that anyone would want to assault someone who physically can't fight back." Maltese stated: "When a 101- year-old woman gets mugged and assaulted it's an outrageous and potentially life-threatening crime that clearly calls out for more severe penalties." LONG-TERM CARE INSURERS UNDER SCRUTINY: Many long-term care insurers who must pay for a client who needs long-term nursing home care are denying the claims of thousands of elderly patients and not fulfilling their contracts, Congressmember Anthony Weiner charged last week.

Weiner (D- Queens/Brooklyn) is calling for congressional hearings into these allegations which force seniors to endure what he termed "significant bureaucratic hurdles" in the processing of their claims.

Weiner added: "Individuals who take out long-term care policies pay into insurance companies for years and expect that they will be covered when they turn frail. But some insurance companies appear to be using every trick in the book to avoid honoring their end of the deal, adding red tape and bureaucratic delays with the intention of denying payment past a policyholder's death."

Weiner wants the Congressional Energy & Commerce Subcommittee on Health, of which he is a member, to look into the charges. The lawmaker also said, "When insurers fail to live up to their obligations, taxpayers are forced to pick up the tab, through public health programs like Medicare and Medicaid."