Abuse of the elderly is a common issue, but the aging adults are protected by a federal law known as the “Elder Justice Act”. According to Hillier and Barrow (2011), between 3 percent and 6 percent of people over the age of 65 report being abused. However, elderly abuse is usually not reported, because the abuser is typically a family member. So, the abuse adult will not report the abuse because they are afraid of making the abuser angrier or being isolated (Hillier & Barrow, 2011, p. 328). According to the department of health and human services “The “Elder Justice Act” is the first comprehensive federal legislation to address elder abuse, was signed into law by President Obama in March, 2010 as part of the health care reform act.”
According to National Center on Elderly Abuse, the law works by:
• Establishes
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• Authorizes grants for the training for APS, Ombudsman, federal and state surveyors of nursing facilities.
• Authorizes grants for forensic centers to develop expertise on elder abuse, neglect and exploitation.
• Enhances long-term care staffing, data exchange in facilities, mandatory reporting of crimes against residents in federally-funded facilities, promulgation of guidelines to assist researchers, and authorizes a study on a national nurse aide registry.
There are pros and cons of government involvement with the elderly abuse issue that can have effect in small and larger scales. The pros are that this issue is being acknowledged, more assistance available, and more funding is being contributed to help the elderly and families in need. The cons are that government assistance information is not always easy to find, more education needs to be done for caregivers, and asking for assistance to help with the elderly is sometimes viewed
Elderly abuse in nursing homes in America is an uprising issue. Elders make up a large portion of our population and they deserve the equality. This issue is very important because eventually this could affect you personally, or a loved one in your family. I stand for better environments in these nursing homes and find it terrible that elders get treated so poorly. The reason the number of reports on elder abuse has gone up so rapidly in the past decade is because the number of elders has drastically risen. There is an increase in the number of elders not only because Americans are living longer than ever before, but also because the next generation of senior citizens is larger than ever before. It has been predicted
Too often seniors refuse to report abuse, neglect, or crime against them out of fear of losing independence. It is a common misconception that being victimized will deem you unfit to live independently and will result in being placed in a facility of some sort. It is important that seniors feel they can turn to those around them with concerns and incidents that occur. In the event that a senior is not forthcoming with information there are a number of avenues that may involve reporting of suspected incidents. Hospitals, doctors, community service organizations, and long term care facilities can report suspected crimes to authorities or Department of Social Services in an effort to protect the individual. If a senior cannot properly protect themselves then health care professionals from all areas should have the ability to act on behalf of the individual to seek help but not dictate the overall outcome as a result. For example: simply finding that a person has been a victim of exploitation should not mean that a person be moved immediately into a facility forfeiting their right to care for themselves. All facilities acting to protect a senior should aim to preserve senior
You did a good job of explaining the elder justice act. Before reading your post, I did not know such thing even existed. The elder justice act was passed by president Obama on march 23, 2010, as part of the patient protection and affordable care act. The main goal of the law is to give resources to help protect, prevent and act upon any forms of elder abuse. The law requires the Department of Health and Human Services to overlook and manage all federal resources to protect the elderly. The law also requires the Department of Justice to help prevent elderly abuse through education, programs, and leadership. The law also allows that all care facilities employees receive a background check and any elderly abuse in long term care facilities be
Elderly abuse made its first appearance in national scene in the late 1970s. However, the proper efforts to help vulnerable elders began at least two decades before the 1070s. This is when protective
Nursing Home Administrator. (n.d.). Board of Nursing Home Administrators Web site. Retrieved April 21, 2016, from http://floridasnursinghomeadmin.gov/licensing/nursing-home-administrator/
The Ontario Network for the Prevention of Elder Abuse states that 10% of older adults are abused in some way; which is over 160,000 people in Ontario. Elderly abuse is categorized as the violence, mistreatment or neglect of an elderly person by caregivers, service providers, family, or even strangers (Canadian Government). A senior citizen can be abused physically, financially, psychologically, and rarely, sexually. The mistreatment is usually because of the influence a caregiver has over an older adult. The abuse on the elderly can happen in long term care facilities or in the home; it usually goes unnoticed and unreported (Elder Abuse and Neglect). The concern of abuse on the elderly population is a growing issue due to the increasing populace of older people and baby boomers; physical, financial, and emotional abuse are the most common forms. The problem needs to be taken more seriously, the types of abuse may vary, but regardless of the form, abuse among the elderly needs to end.
Congress passed he Elder Justice Act as part of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act to combat the cases of elder abuse in the United States (FindLaw, n.d.). The EJA was implemented by congress, and signed by President Obama on March 23, 2010 (FindLaw, n.d.). The Act was proposed due to the report by the U.S. Department of Justice (FindLaw, n.d.). Dong (2012) noted that the “The EJA will also be responsible for issuing human subjects protections guidelines to assist researchers and establishing elder abuse forensic centers” (p. 7). In addition, the Elder Justice Act seek to provide grants and incentives in regards to long-term care staffing and electronic medical records technology grants programs, and will gather and distribute
Elder abuse happens more often than we think. It comes in the forms of physical, sexual and emotional abuse, neglect, exploitation and abandonment. I will give you the Elder Justice Act facts on policies, demographics, and how it affects the population. Following the facts, will be the issues of the Elder Justice Act. After discussing the issues, there will be possible alternatives/solutions, recommendations and possible outcomes of the recommendations. Then there will be a detailed discussion about future implications and long term outlook.
This scholarly journal looks at elderly abuse in general. It talks about different ways one can notice that the senior is being abused and what to do about the abuse. It also describes different reasons why the abusers abuse the elderly. It says how elderly abuse can be very difficult to notice and it is also difficult to help the seniors. The article then describes the difficulties that seniors have when they are abused. It talks a little about senior homes and how the elderly are treated by the nurses. It also gives some specific examples of abuse and the role of the government in this situation. This article is very opinionated and the author expresses her views on the topic very clearly.
A current ethical issue is elder abuse. The World Health Organization (WHO, 2015) defines mistreatment of the elderly, as “any single or repeated act or lack of appropriate action, occurring in any relationship where there is an expectation of trust, which causes harm or discomfort to an older person.” A distinction of elder abuse compared to domestic violence, sexual assault or fraud is that “elder mistreatment implies that the recipient of the mistreatment is in a situation or condition in which the ability to protect oneself is limited in some way” (Touchy & Jett, 2012, p. 401). Elder abuse represents a serious social problem, which is only on the rise because of the longevity and increased dependence of some elders (Martins, Neto, Andradea, & Albuquerquea, 2014).
Significance of the Study Elder abuse is a national concern and with the increasing number of elderly individuals, it is essential that more research is conducted on elder abuse in nursing homes in hopes to improve the current laws, policies, and/or consequences received to put a stop to the amount of elder abuse or neglect in nursing homes. After all, a family sends their loved ones into a nursing home to be taken care of and cared for with dignity and respect they do not expect their loved one to encounter abuse or neglect while in the nursing home. As a result, this study is significant to the health care community and the aging population in order, to help combat cases of elder abuse or neglect found in nursing homes.
How could anyone abuse a family member? “In almost 90% of the elder abuse and neglect incidents with a known perpetrator, the perpetrator is a family member” (“Elder”). Older Americans across the nation are not getting the care they need. While nursing homes provide this service, their services need to be be required for seniors when they no longer can take care of themselves. Some families disagree.
Elders in the United States should not have to go through situations of abuse like the one Mildred Mortenson suffered. However, this type of situations happen more often than they should and sadly, there is not enough being done to prevent it. Elder abuse should be recognized as an increasing and very serious problem in our society. As elders grow more physically frail and begin to depend on others to meet their basic needs, they tend to become vulnerable to intentional abuse and neglect within their own home as well as assisted living facilities such as nursing homes. Unfortunately, it is not possible to know exactly how many elders are being abused across the Nation. Due to under-reporting, variations in the definition of elder abuse,
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
Abuse can happen to anyone, but elderly adults residing in nursing homes are more vulnerable and have a higher risk for abuse (Rasansky Law Firm, 2006, para. 1). Elders are among the fastest growing in the population, and because of this many more elderly