Legal Question in Criminal Law in South Carolina

First of all, I am sorry for your troubles. That must be hard for you. I want you to read my answer very slowly and I want you to read it at least twice. I do not want you to misunderstand anything or miss anything. This is too important.

I am not aware of any particular law that requires a health care company to report this kind of thing to the police. That doesn't mean there is such a law, its just that I am not aware of it. My guess is the reason they do not want to report it is because it would be bad publicity. Crimes of this nature often get put in the newspaper and that is not the sort of press that the facility would want. There might be some sort of an obligtation through the South Carolina Department of Licensing. You could alway try calling them. This particular facility is licensed and governed by them.

It is also possible that the facility has insurance of some sort and a claim could be put in to recover the money that your grandfather is out. Its not always easy information to get, but its possible. The good news in this respect is that if this person is arrested and convicted of this, then your grandfather, or a legal representative of your grandfather would have the right to request Restitution from the judge when she is convicted.

If her forging the check can truely be proven, then you or other appropriate person could always contact the licensing department and make a formal complaint. But before you do that and go through all of it, you may want to discuss it with the local facility. Don't do it in such a fashion where it sounds like you are bullying them. But simply discuss it with them and let them know that you are aware of your options.

As far as your mother is concerned, she is mistaken. It will not cost your grandfather nor the family any money whatsoever. If this is reported and the police investigate and proceed with an arrest, then they and the prosecutor will handle everything and any cost will be the responsibility of them, not you, and not your grandfather or family.

The last thing that you and your family needs to understand, is that if you do in fact report it, you do not want any retaliation to come back on your grandfather. I know that sounds very scarry, and the chances of that happening are very slim. But it is a valid consideration nevertheless. I do not know anything about this lady that forged the checks, or the facility or anything else about all of this other than what you have told me. Therefore, I am not recommending anything in any of this answer. I would need to know more before I came out and actually made a recommendation. All I am doing it giving you some of my thoughts and giving you something that you may want to think about and discuss with your family.

If this lady that did this was able to escape being held responsible for this, then it would be a shame if she turned around and did it to someone else. And if the impression was given to other employees of this facility that they could do things like this and the facility will not hold them responsible, then who knows. Maybe others would be tempted to do this to other elderly victims.

If your mother or anyone else in your family has any interest in what I have written out here, you may want to make this answer available to them so they could read the whole thing. If they are going to have an understanding of any of this, then they should have the whole understanding of everything.

Please think all of this over real good before acting on any of it. These sort of decisions should be well thought out.

I wish you, your grandfather and your family the best.

Robert Johnston Attorney

Location: Myrtle Beach (Horry County)

Email: [email protected]

Phone: 843-828-1137

Web Site: RobertJohnstonLaw.com

Areas of Practice: Crimina Defense & Personal Injury