In House Bill 2205 (HB 2205), the Oregon Legislature expanded the list of those professions whose members are required to report suspected elder abuse. Governor Kitzhaber signed HB 2205 into law on June 11, 2013. Under ORS 124.050, an elderly person is defined as anyone 65 years of age or older and abuse includes, but is not limited to, neglect, physical injury and financial exploitation.
Attorneys will be required to take mandatory abuse reporting continuing legal education classes (CLEs), that will cover elder abuse. Presently, attorneys are mandatory child abuse reporters and are required to take CLEs covering that mandatory reporting obligation. An attorney is not, however, required to breach a client confidence in order to meet this reporting requirement, nor is an attorney required to report if disclosure of this information will be detrimental to his or her client.
The expanded mandatory reporting obligations take effect on January 1, 2015. The bill can be found at the following link: http://www.leg.state.or.us/13reg/measpdf/hb2200.dir/hb2205.en.pdf
