Elderly Abuse And Neglect

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

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.

This essay will examine elder abuse and its role in our society. The definition of elder abuse and the different types of elder abuse will be examined. Additionally, literature that highlight legislative changes to current elder abuse laws and the origins of those laws will be examined. The paper will also discuss national reports of elder abuse statistics and the current status of elder abuse. Finally, recommendations based upon the information researched will be provided as a guide for the future.

While writing this essay, I have analyzed the strengths and limitations of the policies for the elderly. When I read different articles for writing this essay, I understood that elder abuse in Canada is not considered as a common issue rather ageism is considered as structural violence (Banerjee, Daly, Armstrong, Szebehely, Armstrong & Lafrance, 2012). Also, I understood that the very old with limited or no functional capacity, the poor and women are more vulnerable to ageism and this issue remains as unrecognized and untouched (Donovan & Regehr, 2010)

A nurse’s moral obligations are undoubtedly “to do good or to implement actions that benefit individuals and their support people.” (Kozier & Erb, p.95, 2017). The noble concept of beneficence requires that nurses must provide an adequate standard of care, whilst effectively working within the best interests of the patient. It is evident from the troubling abuse case of Corey Lucas that he has outright neglected the ethical principles necessary for a nurse to possess while practicing. The lack of beneficence within his care makes him ultimately unfit to practice, and this is best reflected in his violence towards Mr. Hausler.

(1) There are several interesting issues that the documentary addresses. One of them being the suggestion that our understanding of elder abuse lies decades behind that of child abuse. Edwin Walker states that, "in the field of elder abuse, neglect, and exploitation, we are 40 years behind that of Child Protective Services" (Npt, 2017). Also, elder abuse is underreported. Apparently, it is estimated that one in ten adults over the age of 60 is a victim and that “there are over five million elder abuse victims in the U.S, which is more than the combined total of child abuse victims and domestic violence victims” (2017). But of course, there is no way to be 100 percent sure of the actual numbers of older adults being abused. Furthermore,

Elder Abuse is often a silent crime that involves the mistreatment or exploitation of an elderly person. This is a very important issue for the State of Florida to be concerned with since the state is very popular for retirement age people due to good weather and low taxes . As the elderly population grows in the Sunshine State, so does this incident rate for elder abuse cases. Elder abuse can manifest itself in many ways such as physical abuse, hitting, beating, pushing or really anything that will hurt or harm a person. Mental abuse such as, verbal attacks, isolation from other loved ones, threats to their well being. Financial abuse such as, spending funds without permission or having them sign their assets over without full comprehension

with ropes or chains. When a caregiver or other person uses enough force to cause unnecessary pain or injury, even if the reason is to help the older person, the behavior can be regarded as abusive. Physical abuse can include hitting, beating, pushing, shoving, kicking, pinching, burning and biting. It also includes the inappropriate use of medications and physical restraints and physical punishment of any kind.

Harbison, J., etc. (2012). Understanding “Elder Abuse and Neglect”: A critique of assumptions underpinning responses to the mistreatment and neglect of older people. Journal of elder abuse & neglect, 24(2), 88-103.

It is challenging to define elder abuse, as so many forms exist and the extent is not so visible in many cases; also, the consequences and the medical bills of the physical abuse is very expensive. Elder abuse does not only come in the form of emotional or physical violence but also from neglect and failure to care for the elderly.

Physical abuse – use of intentional force that cause pain, injury or impairement in the elderly. It includes but not limited to violence such as beating, striking, slapping, pushing, kicking and pinching. It also includes inappropriate use of drugs and restraints.

No one wants to believe that their loved one is being abused in a nursing home, but it is more common than you may think. Of course, there are different forms of abuse, but one common form of abuse is that of neglect. This is a problem found in many nursing homes and it can become serious that your loved one's health is in danger. The following are three signs that your loved one is being neglected.

According to Roberto (2016), approximately 4.3 million older adults suffer from at least one form of elder abuse each year. Elder abuse and neglect, “includes any knowing, intentional, or negligent act by a caregiver or other person that harms or causes risk of harm to a vulnerable adult” (Moore & Browne, 2016, p. 1). This horrible crime continues to be prevalent in the world, and occurs not only in assisted living facilities such as nursing homes, but even occurs within the elders’ own home. Often times when people begin to get old and sick and can no longer take care of themselves, their family members offer to take care of them. However, this can eventually become a huge burden to the family,

Though the United States does not have the actual official statistics of the prevalence of elderly people abused, non-profit organizations estimate it to be about 4 million annually. The difficulty in listing the actual type of abuse is brought about by the diversity of abuse (Henderson, Hanson & Reynolds, 2003). Elderly abuse is classified into seven main groups. These include physical abuse that involves using force to injure or threaten an elderly people physically (Torrey, 2014). Another type of abuse is emotional abuse which involves the use of offensive language, isolation or neglecting an elderly person. This results in mental distress and other mentally related disorders (Wright & National Film Board of Canada, 1990). Sexual abuse is a form abuse that involves getting into sexual contact with an elderly person without his or her consent. Exploitation is the use of the elder’s person money without their authority. Abandonment is deserting the elderly individual into helpless and vulnerable conditions (Henderson, Hanson & Reynolds, 2003). Lastly, self-neglect is a condition where an elderly individual lacks the knowledge to deal with the condition they are exposed in by the caregivers. All these forms of abuse are present in different nursing homes in America. Though, there are numerous factors that deter whether an individual is abused or not. For

It is down founding that cognitive people who are capable to making the right choices in a proper manner can take advantage of elderly individuals. These elderly individuals have gone through hardship to protect their own children and their own children to be verbally and physically abusive to them it is sad. It is crazy family members are capable of elderly abuse because they are unable to protect themselves. This type of abuse kill their moral and desire to live. Elder abuse doesn’t just affect the individuals’ safety but it cause mental illness. I think financial and material exploitation in elderly is one thing that happens more often than society would like to accept. Also, people feeling like their elderly mother or father is a burden