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Elder Abuse Case Study

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This brief essay examines two issues that affect the elderly directly: elder abuse and the need for end of life planning. The elderly need protection from abuse and should take steps to plan for their eventual demise. Elder Abuse in the United States Elder abuse is wide spread. Surprisingly, elder abuse was first described in research articles in the 1970s. Its severity and rates of occurrence continue to increase. Acierno et al. (2010) conducted a national telephone interview survey of randomly selected adults from several geographical areas who were at least 60 years old. Average age of respondents was 71.5 years. Most of the abused were women (39.8%). Over 68% were married or cohabitating. Most were white (87.5%). Eighty percent were unemployed or retired, 45.7% had low incomes and 62% had endured at least one traumatic event. Almost half needed some type of social services or daily living assistance. The data collected indicated the most prevalent abuses reported by the 5777 respondents over their lifetimes were: emotional mistreatment (21.7%), physical abuse (12%) and sexual mistreatment (7%). Within the previous year, potential neglect and financial mistreatment by family members each occurred about 5% …show more content…

They found medical personnel caring for older adults regularly encounter abuse victims. The researchers noted that poor physical health often leads to elder abuse. They concluded that since elder abuse victims generally are isolated and lack social support, even intermittent interactions with physicians provide opportunities to identify, assess, intervene or refer victims to appropriate social service agencies. They caution that elder abuse must use an inter professional approach to help resolve abusive situations. This could include social workers, protective services and law enforcement

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