The state of Illinois also passed the Elder Abuse and Neglect Act. This law mandates that certain persons—including social workers, law enforcement, and medical professionals—must report incidents of elder abuse and neglect. The law also protects those who report abuse from being the victims of any retaliatory action.
Further, the Act makes it unlawful for anyone to cause “any physical, mental or sexual injury to an eligible adult (that is, an individual 60 years or older), including exploitation of such adult's financial resources” (abuse). Further, the law makes it unlawful for those under a duty to care for an elderly person to fail to provide an “eligible adult with or willful withholding from an eligible adult the necessities of life including, but not limited to, food, clothing, shelter or health care” (neglect).