Attorneys say a local case in which a man is charged with murdering his elderly father by abuse is charting new legal territory for Kansas.

Regardless of the outcome of the case, it seems the territory being explored is fraught with complex legal and personal questions.

The case currently in court involves the death of a man who suffered some level of dementia and was living with his son and his son’s wife. Although social workers had urged the son to place his father in a nursing home, he refused, for whatever reason, to do so. Eventually, the father died at Lawrence Memorial Hospital from pneumonia, which has been linked to deep, infected bed sores. In what apparently is a first for Kansas, the son now faces a charge of murder by neglect.

The whole story of what went on in this home and between the father and son isn’t known and may never be known outside the family. But at what point does the law step into such cases?

Certainly elderly people unable to care for themselves or handle their affairs deserve some legal protection. Ideally, everyone would think ahead and consider the possibility that they may someday be in that situation themselves. They then could legally assign someone they trust to handle their finances and health decisions and discuss with that person at length exactly what principles should guide the decisions made on their behalf.

There are certain similarities between cases of elder abuse and instances of child abuse, but they involve two very different sets of personal dynamics. Unlike children, the elderly have been responsible for themselves. As adults, they have the right to make their own decisions, even if they are bad decisions. If they make too many bad decisions, someone, often their children, may have to step in and help them. Then, someone else is making the decisions — for better or worse.

The potential scenarios are endless. Perhaps a parent has expressed a desire, or even extracted a promise from a child, not to be placed a nursing facility. The child then may go to great lengths to preserve that promise, even if it indirectly poses a danger to the parent. Perhaps a child lives too far away to adequately monitor a parent’s health or their relationship is estranged to the point that the child isn’t welcome to keep tabs on a parent. Could such a child be held legally responsible for a parent’s death by neglect?

There is no question that elderly people must be legally protected from people who would intentionally do them mental, physical or financial harm. Protection also should be extended to include cases in which elderly people, like children, must be removed from caretakers who love them but can’t care for them.

Drawing that line, however, will be difficult both for families and for the state officials who work with them. Is it abuse? Neglect? Good intentions gone awry? Those are some of the questions that will have to be answered as the state ventures into this uncharted legal territory.