ELDER ABUSE UNDER PENAL CODE § 368

Under Penal Code § 273d, any person who willfully inflicts upon a child any cruel or inhuman corporal punishment or an injury resulting in a traumatic condition is guilty of a felony.

A person who knows or reasonably should know that a person is an elder or dependent adult and who, under circumstances or conditions likely to produce great bodily harm or death, does any of the following:

• Willfully causes or permits any elder or dependent adult to suffer physical pain or mental suffering
• Willfully inflicts unjustifiable physical pain or mental suffering,
• Willfully causes or permits the person or health of the elder or dependent adult to be injured while in his or her care, or 
• Willfully causes or permits the elder or dependent adult to be placed in a situation in which his or her person or health is endangered

PUNISHMENTS FOR ELDER ABUSE  

Misdemeanor elder abuse is punishable by imprisonment in a county jail not exceeding one year, or by a fine not to exceed $6,000, or by both that fine and imprisonment.

Felony elder abuse is punishable by imprisonment in state prison for two, three, or four years.

DEFENSES TO ELDER ABUSE  

There are many defenses to elder abuse. For example, if an elder is injured by an accident.