Posted: Tuesday, February 5, 2008 12:00 am
A bill proposing creation of an online database listing the names of caregivers who abuse disabled people made it out of committee Monday. We'll be eager to see how far it gets and how much good it does.
This well-intentioned bit of legislation is largely an embarrassed response to an Oregonian report that found one in five of the 4,200 Oregonians who are in adult care have been abused since 2000. The report also noted that 14 have died as a direct result of caregiver neglect or abuse.
Certainly identifying those people who have substantiated job histories of abusing those in their care, according to investigations through the Department of Human Services, sounds like something that should have been available all along to those who hire, fire or have loved ones in residential care.
But is a new law needed to make this a reality, or is this a bid to assure the public that indeed the Legislature cares about those in the state's care, despite all evidence to the contrary?
In a recent meeting with the Gazette-Times editorial board, Rep. Sara Gelser, a chief sponsor of the bill, assured us that only significant charges of abuse - not complaints about a tone of voice or cold food - would be brought before such investigators.
Further, she said the online list of caregiver names would not be an official registry in the way that Oregon law enforcement offiicals maintain an online sex offender registry. It also would not be a "do not hire" list, Gelser insists; it would merely be information that care providers and their families can use.
Please. Can anyone expect the manager of a care facility to assume the liability of knowingly hiring someone whose name is on such a list? Woe to the manager who hires such person and could be accused of negligence.
But we wonder whether this list would do more than serve as an inadequate patch over the legal loophole that makes it hard to prove abuse when the victim is unable to testify. That is just one the whole adult foster care system needs - and one the Legislature would do well to address.
Licensing caregivers, providing additional training and supervision, protecting the most vulnerable in-house patients with video surveillance and more money for adult foster care really are what's needed.
A new list? We see no reason to legislate what public records have always made available. After all, the state already shares the names of nurses and teachers who have been disciplined for ethical or legal lapses.
We can understand Gelser's frustration. She has a long and impressive resume of social work. She knows the system's flaws.
But we suspect that this little list will not accomplish what a serious infusion of concern, cash and accountability would. The list should be just the first item on a larger, comprehensive remedy. If more is to follow, let's proceed.