The Rights of Older Persons, Second Edition: A Basic Guide to the Legal Rights of Older Persons under Current Law (ACLU Handbook)

The three broad areas of concern are the right to an adequate income, the right to health care, and freedom from restraints on life, liberty, and property.

The handbook deals with the right of older people to receive the benefits promised by law: Social Security, Supplemental Security Income, Medicare, and others. It covers major laws affecting older people as well as court decisions and rules issued by the government agencies responsible for administering these laws. Because agencies such as the Social Security Administration and state health and welfare bureaucracies play a large role in the lives of the elderly, Brown and the Legal Counsel describe these units and show how to avoid pitfalls in dealing with them.

Robert N. Brown is Professor of Law at the University of Detroit School of Law and Director of its Health Law Center. The members of Legal Counsel for the Elderly represent older persons on a regular basis.