Examples Of Elder Abuse In Nursing Home Care

Unfortunately, many residents in nursing homes today are being starved, dehydrated, over-medicated, and suffer painful sores. Often times they are isolated, ignored, and deprived from social contact and stimulation. Care givers are often overworked and grossly underpaid which often results in them showing rude and abusive behavior to the residents. “Studies have found that individuals in poor health are more likely to be abused than individuals who are in relatively good health. In addition, caregivers who are dependent on the elder financially are also more likely to perpetrate abuse” (De Benedictis, 2011). A simple request for such things as water or an escort to the bathroom may cause the care giver to respond in a rude and offensive way demonstrating inappropriate behavior. According to an article written by Bryan Robinson (2002), “Helen Love, a 75-year-old grandmother of three, looked into the video camera and told of being severely beaten by a nursing home caregiver who discovered she had soiled herself. He choked me and he went and broke my neck," said Love, who had to wear a metal halo in the videotaped deposition from July 1998. “He broke my wrist bones, in my hand. He put his hand over my mouth.” Two days later, Love died.

Elder abuse includes physical, emotional, and sexual abuse as well as neglect, exploitation and abandonment of our older generation (Falk, 2012). The people that cause these injuries include the elderly person’s own family and staff members of nursing homes, assisted living facilities, medical rehabilitation facilities and hospitals (NCOA, 2017). There is approximately 1 in 10 older adults that have experienced some type of elder abuse in the United States (NCOA, 2017). Within these staggering numbers, only 1

The Center for Disease Control and Prevention standardly defines elder abuse as “any abuse and neglect of persons age 60 or older by a caregiver or another person in a relationship involving an expectation of trust” (CDC, Elder Abuse). It is always thought that the elderly are treated with honor, dignity and respect but many of the elderly have been abused and neglected as much if not worse than the children we spoke of in our previous discussions. Who seriously could hurt these frail people, someone’s grandparents, possibly even your own; persons who because of the aging process have lost their ability to fight back and are being bullied or attacked by someone in a position of trust. It is estimated that 70% to 90% of the perpetrators of elderly

Is it worth putting your loved ones in a nursing home facility? According to Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, “Each year, hundreds of thousands of adults over the age of 60 are abused, neglected, or financially exploited.” Family members of an elderly person might assume that because they are paying such a large amount of money for assistance and a room in the facility, that they’re getting the best treatment and care for their relative. Although one might believe their loved ones would be better off in a nursing home, they might be putting them at a greater risk of abuse due to understaffing, lack of training within the staff, neglect, nurse burnout, and low wages. 2,150,000 cases

Physical abuse of the elderly occurs when a carer harms the individual or places them in danger. A carer may be a family member or someone who is responsible for taking caring of them. The carer may hit, slap, kick, push, burn, or force feed the elderly person and these are all considered to be signs of physical abuse. They may also give the wrong amount or even the wrong medicine to the elderly person. Physical abuse also includes sexual abuse; when someone has sexual contact with an individual without their consent.

Although it does not usually make news headlines and is rarely discussed, nursing home residents and the elderly experience abuse sometimes on a daily basis. Medical errors, physical abuse, or stealing from them could all be classified as abuse. All around the world today, a population that is not able to help itself is being harmed, whether it is physical or sexual abuse, exploitation, or not being properly supervised; the elderly and nursing home residents are being abused.

* Physical abuse. Physical abuse is causing pain injury or impairment to a venerable adult.

Do you have a loved one in a nursing home? Imagine if your grandma, grandpa, aunt, uncle, mom, dad or other loved one was being abused. How would this make you feel? Abuse does not necessarily mean physical abuse (hitting, scratching, pulling hair, etc.). Other types of abuse include sexual, neglect, exploitation, emotional, abandonment, and self-neglect.

Physical Abuse – Physical abuse is more common in nursing homes than anyone wants to admit. Shoving and restraining a patient can be a form of physical abuse. Hitting, pinching, slapping, kicking, and any other type of physical contact that harms the patient

The abuse can be physical, emotional or psychological, sexual, or financially and can be intentional or unintentional neglect from the caregiver (Elder Abuse and Neglect: In Search of Solutions. (n.d.). Retrieved January 26, 2016, from http://www.apa.org/pi/aging/resources/guides/elder-abuse.aspx). Physical abuse can range from shoving, severe beatings, and restraining them with ropes or chains (Elder Abuse and Neglect: In Search of Solutions. (n.d.). Retrieved January 26, 2016, from http://www.apa.org/pi/aging/resources/guides/elder-abuse.aspx). Physical abuse can also include the inappropriate use of medications and physical restraints and physical punishment of any kind (Elder Abuse and Neglect: In Search of Solutions. (n.d.). Retrieved January 26, 2016, from http://www.apa.org/pi/aging/resources/guides/elder-abuse.aspx). Verbal abuse can range from name calling, silent treatment, to intimidating and threatening the person (Elder Abuse and Neglect: In Search of Solutions. (n.d.). Retrieved January 26, 2016, from http://www.apa.org/pi/aging/resources/guides/elder-abuse.aspx). If the caregiver, whether family or not, acts in a manner that causes fear, mental anguish, emotional pain or distress, this behavior can be regarded as

Physical abuse is when someone deliberately hurts another person causing injuries such as cuts and bruises (HealthyPlace, 2015). Anyone can experience physical abuse at any time. Physical abuse on adults can include domestic violence, abuse on elderly in care homes or when being cared for in their homes by nurses or family members, people with a disabilities or mental illness, substances abusers. Physical abuse acts include: Hitting, slapping, assaulting, scratching, shoving, mistreatment of medication, restraint (Safeguardingdurhamadults.info, 2015).

Every day thousands of senior citizens and people with Alzheimer’s disease or dementia suffer from abuse by a caregiver. Most of the abuse is in the form of emotional or physical abuse, but there are also a number of different types of abuse including financial abuse. The abuse can either take place in a medical setting such as a nursing home or hospital, or it can also be done by the victim’s own family members. These senior citizens are mostly targeted due to the fact that they are mentally incapacitated; they do not have a very strong short term memory, and sometimes they do not have the ability to talk to another individual about how their caregiver has been abusing them.

Abuse of elderly is prevalent throughout contemporary America. Elder abuse is the mistreatment of people, as defined by The Joint Commission on Accreditation of Healthcare Organization, 60 years of age older (JCAHO 2002). “Examples ranged from outright physical assault of old people in modernized cultures that have been sadly acculturated to so-called traditional forms of family violence, to the systematic ostracisation of tribal elders by the community in some less developed countries as a form of scapegoating.” There are several types of abuse toward the elderly, but in this outlet, I will explore the details of the physical, mental/emotional, sexual, and financial abuse.

To better understand the scope of the problem, it is crucial that society knows what is considered as elder abuse and why it is important to resolve this issue. Elder abuse refers to any intentional or negligent act by a caregiver or any other person that causes harm or a risk of harm to a vulnerable adult. There are many forms in which an elder can be abused, “Elder Abuse and Neglect” Journal of Psychosocial Nursing & Mental Health Services distinguishes between the five most common types of elder abuse as well as their effects and/or common signs and symptoms for each. These types of abuse include physical abuse,

Elder Abuse is defined as any activity performed by an individual whereby these actions cause suffering of the older adult, intentionally or not (Touhy, Jett, Boscart & McCleary, 2012, p. 378). Unfortunately, the incidents of elder abuse continue to rise with the increasing number of people entering older adulthood. It is interesting to note that although elder abuse is highly under reported its occurrence increased three fold over a ten-year period (Friese & Collopy, 2010, p. 61). Certainly, it is a nurse’s duty to provide holistic care to his or her patients, which must include protection from abuse. Elder abuse can take on many forms including physical, emotional, sexual, neglect and financial. It is important to note that for the