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Mandatory Reporting Of Suspected Elder Abuse And Neglect: A Practical And Ethical Evaluation Stephen G. Coughlan, Barbara Downe-Wamboldt, Robert G. Elgie, Joan Harbison, Pat Melanson, Marina Morrow

Dalhousie Law Journal

The Province of Nova Scotia, in keeping with a growing North American trend, has enacted the Adult Protection Act, a law which makes the reporting of elder abuse mandatory in certain instances. This article examines the practical and ethical justifications for such a law and discusses whether scarce public funding and resources might be better allocated in a different manner to combat this serious, but somewhat misconceived, problem. The authors conclude that the legislation may be inappropriate, since from a practical perspective it is unlikely to alter current behaviour and from an ethical perspective, it is unclear that all ethical …