Dependent Adult Abuse Law and Legal Definition
Dependent adult abuse refers to physical abuse (including sexual), financial abuse, neglect, abandonment, isolation, abduction, treatment that causes physical harm, pain or mental suffering, and withholding of things or services by a care custodian of a dependent adult. Dependent adult is a person of eighteen years of age or older who is unable to protect the person's own interests or unable to adequately perform or obtain services necessary to meet essential human needs, as a result of a physical or mental condition which requires assistance from another.
The following is a state law that provides a statutory framework regarding dependent adult abuse:
The Code establishes four categories of dependent adult abuse. One category of dependent adult abuse includes assault of a dependent adult. Other categories of dependent adult abuse include acts of sexual abuse, exploitation of dependent adults for personal or pecuniary profit without the consent of the dependent adult, and deprivation of food, shelter, clothing, or other care necessary to maintain the dependent adult's life or health. [Iowa Code § 235B.2].
