AT-RISK ADULT ABUSE REPORTING
C.R.S. § 26-3.1-102. Reporting requirements.
(1) (a) An immediate oral report of abuse should be made or caused to be made within twenty-four hours to the county department or during non-business hours to a local law enforcement agency responsible for investigating violations of state criminal laws protecting at-risk adults by any person specified in paragraph (b) of this subsection (1) who has observed the mistreatment or self-neglect of an at-risk adult or who has reasonable cause to believe that an at-risk adult has been mistreated or is self-neglected and is at imminent risk of mistreatment or self-neglect.
(b) The following persons are urged to make or initiate an initial oral report within twenty-four hours followed by a written report within forty-eight hours:
(I) Physicians, surgeons, physicians' assistants, or osteopaths, including physicians in training;
(II) Medical examiners or coroners;
(III) Registered nurses or licensed practical nurses;
(IV) Hospital and nursing home personnel engaged in the admission, care, or treatment of patients;
(V) Psychologists and other mental health professionals;
(VI) Social work practitioners;
(VII) Dentists;
(VIII) Law enforcement officials and personnel;
(IX) Court-appointed guardians and conservators;
(X) Fire protection personnel;
(XI) Pharmacists;
(XII) Community-centered board staff;
(XIII) Personnel of banks, savings and loan associations, credit unions, and other lending or financial institutions;
(XIV) State and local long-term care ombudsmen;
(XV) Any caretaker, staff member, or employee of or volunteer or consultant for any licensed care facility, agency, home, or governing board.
(c) In addition to those persons urged by this subsection (1) to report known or suspected mistreatment or self-neglect of an at-risk adult and circumstances or conditions which might reasonably result in mistreatment or self-neglect, any other person may report such known or suspected mistreatment or self-neglect and circumstances or conditions which might reasonably result in mistreatment or self-neglect of an at-risk adult to the local law enforcement agency or the county department. Upon receipt of such report, the receiving agency shall prepare a written report within forty-eight hours.
(2) Pursuant to subsection (1) of this section, the report shall include: The name and address of the at-risk adult; the name and address of the at-risk adult's caretaker, if any; the age, if known, of such at-risk adult; the nature and extent of such at-risk adult's injury, if any; the nature and extent of the condition that will reasonably result in mistreatment or self-neglect; and any other pertinent information.
(3) A copy of the report prepared by the county department in accordance with subsections (1) and (2) of this section shall be forwarded within twenty-four hours to the district attorney's office and the local law enforcement agency. A report prepared by the local law enforcement agency shall be forwarded within twenty-four hours to the county department and to the district attorney's office.
(4) No person, including a person specified in subsection (1) of this section, shall knowingly make a false report of mistreatment or self-neglect to a county department or local law enforcement agency. Any person who willfully violates the provisions of this subsection (4) commits a class 3 misdemeanor and shall be punished as provided in section 18-1.3-501, C.R.S., and liable for damages proximately caused thereby.
(5) Any person, except a perpetrator, complicitor, or coconspirator, who makes a report pursuant to this section shall be immune from any civil or criminal liability on account of such report, testimony, or participation in making such report, so long as such action was taken in good faith and not in reckless disregard of the truth or in violation of subsection (4) of this section.
(6) No person shall take any discriminatory, disciplinary, or retaliatory action against any person who, in good faith, makes a report of suspected mistreatment or neglect of an at-risk adult.
(7) (a) Except as provided in paragraph (b) of this subsection (7), reports of the mistreatment or self-neglect of an at-risk adult, including the name and address of any at-risk adult, member of said adult's family, or informant, or any other identifying information contained in such reports, shall be confidential, and shall not be public information.
(b) Disclosure of the name and address of an at-risk adult or member of said adult's family and other identifying information contained in a report shall be permitted only when authorized by a court for good cause. Such disclosure shall not be prohibited when a criminal complaint, information, or indictment based on the report is filed or when there is a death of a suspected at-risk adult from mistreatment or self-neglect and a law enforcement agency files a formal charge or a grand jury issues an indictment in connection with the death.
(c) Any person who violates any provision of this subsection (7) is guilty of a class 2 petty offense and, upon conviction thereof, shall be punished by a fine of not more than three hundred dollars.
Source: L. 91: Entire article R&RE, p. 1774, § 1, effective July 1. L. 2004: (4) amended, p. 275, § 1, effective July 1.
Editor's note: This section is similar to former ยง 26-3.1-104 as it existed prior to 1991.
ANNOTATION
Law reviews. For article, "Financial Abuse of Elderly Adults", see 23 Colo. Law. 1077 (1994). For article, "Protecting Clients From Abuse and Identity Theft", see 34 Colo. Law. 43 (October 2005).