J.E. Thornton and D.J. MacDougall. Law and Legal Services for an Aging Population. Vancouver: University of British Columbia, Committee on Gerontology, Faculty of Graduate Studies, 1990, pp. 180.

Abstract

Law and Legal Services for an Aging Population is a report in three parts. The first part deals with substantive law in areas such as access to legal services, discrimination on the basis of age, and protection of the elderly person. That first part contains a good review of some legal aspects of protection against elder abuse. Other aspects which are becoming very important such as powers of attorney in medical decisions are only touched in passing, while others such as housing accommodations and the rights of elderly persons in nursing homes are simply ignored. The second part presents the results of a survey carried in Greater Vancouver purporting to assess existing and future demands for legal services and obstacles thereto. The results are interesting mainly because so little research has been undertaken in this area. There is no conclusion and no specific recommendations result from this survey. The Third part presents a good annotated bibliography of legal cases and scholarship on selective law issues affecting elderly persons.