Health Care Abuse

The aging population is at high risk of being taken advantage of and mistreated by a caregiver or family member. Elders are the most vulnerable group of people and are subject to elder abuse in their later years of life. The Administration of Aging refers to elder abuse as the knowing, intentional, or negligent act that causes harm or serious risk of harm to a vulnerable adult. Every year, hundreds of thousands of older adults are abused, neglected, and exploited. Unfortunately, a trusted caregiver or a loved one commits most of these heinous acts.

Elder mistreatment is a serious problem in America, yet it often overlooked. Elder abuse is defined as abuse in older adults that includes, but isn’t limited to physical, emotional, financial or sexual abuse. It is a single or repeated act or lack of appropriate action, occurring within any relationship where there is an expectation of trust, which causes harm. It is often misunderstood and dismissed as just a family matter when in fact, that is the least common source of cruelty amongst the elders. According to the National council of aging, 1 in 10 Americans aged 60 and older have experienced some form of abuse. Some estimates range as high as 5 million elders who are reportedly abused yearly.

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Elder abuse has been present in our society in the past times; however, it has been the hidden problem and under recognized by our community. It is really challenging for people to understand the severity of this problem unless one encountered it in one’s life. Society began to really acknowledge this issue because of the cases that have been reported. There are varieties of categories of elder abuse that are reportable to a healthcare provider; however, many cases are still left unreported and elder victims continue to suffer from mistreatment. The seniors that surround us have contributed to our community and to the great things that we now have. These people should be recognized and protected in all areas of life instead

There is a significant amount of reports on elderly abuse in America. An increasingly disproportionate amount of elderly people needs care and assistance to perform essential tasks like eating and drinking. However, families are not stepping up to help care for their elderly family members for different reasons. Some claim to be too busy with their own lives, others do not have the knowledge or skills needed to appropriately care their elderly family member or some simply do not aim to care for their elderly family members. Because of this many elderly people end up in elderly care facilities. These institutions are intended specifically to take care of people who cannot care for themselves or who cannot receive help from others while living

The health care system in the United States is in need of major reform. Even with major technological advances, the amount of citizens unable to acquire proper care is immense. “Between 2005 and 2006, the number of U.S.-born residents who were uninsured increased from 33 million to 34.4 million, and their uninsured rate increased from 12.8 percent in 2005 to 13.2 percent. The numbers of foreign-born who were uninsured rose from 11.8 million in 2005 to 12.6 million, and their rate was statistically unchanged at 33.8 percent in 2006” (U.S. Census Bureau, 2007). Although this is not the most startling statistic, according to the U.S. Census Bureau (2007), “The number of uninsured children increased from 8

Addressing medical fraud, abuse and waste are the part of improving the healthcare system. In order to prevent these issues in the health care system, patient involvement is most important, they should know their benefits and should always receive the benefit statements. Special monitoring should be conducted to detect the evidence of fraud, abuse and waste and strong punishment should be given to discourage others repeating the similar actions.

Imagine being the single parent of two children avoiding going to the doctor, despite your constant cough and horrendous headache, due of the fear of going into life ruining debt. This is a problem numerous people in the United States face as spending on health care increased to $3.2 trillion in 2015 which is about $9,980 per individual, (Vital Signs: Rise in National Health Expenditures Slows) which is considerably high in comparison to the United Kingdom’s $148.34 billion or $2,292 per person (Department of Health 's Settlement at the Spending Review 2015). The United States spends comparably more than most other first world countries when it comes to health care and this is a problem for its citizens who have come into an issue of being unable to afford the care they need to live. Countless Americans are aware of the fact that the cost of health is high, but not as many are informed as to why it costs so much or how to make it more affordable. Instead, they look at health care as an incurable illness and choose to offer up the explanation that the better quality of American hospitals and services or the sizable population of people to care for are to blame for the high cost, neither of which we have the power to change. However, the reasons for health care costs being astronomical in the United States are the improper use of medical services, extra administrative costs, and the high costs of the services and equipment themselves, which are causes that can be remedied.

An estimated 700,000 to 1.2 million elders in the United States (U.S.) annually suffer mistreatment at the hands of others or self; 450,000 new cases are identified each year (C, F. N. 2012). Though these numbers are alarmingly high, there really is not much elder abuse awareness. Available information tends to come from small, non-representative samples; agency and caregiver reports; and the criminal justice system (C, F.N. 2012). I actually think that people outside of family members tend to forget about elderly folks that are in these homes and put into such situations. Each year numerous numbers of older adults experience abuse, neglect, and exploitation by those who are expected to safeguard them and protect their interests.

Elder abuse also known as elder mistreatment has been around for many, many years but is now just coming to the forefront and being acknowledged by the society on a whole. intentional actions that cause harm or create a serious risk of harm, whether or not intended, to a vulnerable elder by a caregiver or other person who stands in a trust relationship to the elder or (b) failure by a caregiver to satisfy the elder’s basic needs or to protect the elder from harm” (p. 39).This abuse can take many forms and in different settings as well as many different type of persons including and especially family members and acquaintances. This type of abuse includes physical, sexual, emotional, neglect both by a caregiver or self-neglect, abandonment, psychological , exploitation financially as well materialistically including fraud (Clark, 2015, p.914). With an estimated doubling of the elderly population by 2025 to at least 1.5 to 2 million, increases in the number of elderly person in the nation also means there will be an increase in elder abuse (Aravanis, Adelman, Breckman, Fulmer, Holder, Lachs, & ... Sanders, 1993). A declaration according to, “ The World Health Organization is that elder abuse is a violation of an older adult’s fundamental rights to be safe and live free from violence.” It is estimated that some form of abuse be it physical, sexual, psychological, neglect, and or financial exploitation affects one in every ten older

In today’s society, healthcare cost has risen and has cause detriment to the single men, women, and families in the US. The price of healthcare is now unaffordable by the categorized average and poor US citizen. Over the years, the price of premiums, co-pays, renewals, deductibles, etc has risen exponentially. The citizens of the US fear going to hospitals due to the fact that many can’t afford healthcare, don’t have insurance, or fit in both categories. This in turn means that millions of people who are in need of healthcare and treatment are not being treated for their ailments. Some ailments are so serious that if not treated, the result for that citizen is death. March 23, 2010, President Barack Obama signed the Affordable Care Act.

Although there are agencies and policies to protect the elderly, elder abuse is prevalent in the United States due to ambiguity, underreporting, and underfunding. In 1994, the National Long Term Care Survey found that over 7 million family members provided 120 hours of care to elders. It is extremely demanding and hard to care for the elderly, which causes stress that can then lead to neglect and/or abuse. In some cases, it is a learned behavior resulting from the perpetrator being a victim of previous abuse (National Research Council 2003). Elderly abuse is found to affect one in ten Americans (Roberto 2016). In 2014, it was estimated that almost 10% of Americans aged 60 or older experienced abuse (O’Brien 2015). Of the few studies that have been conducted, less than 15 were funded by the National Institute on Aging (National Research Council 2003). Results from these studies have indicated that elder abuse is a prevailing social issue that needs attention, according to the National Center on Elder Abuse, for every one case known, there are 24 that are unknown. One of the biggest issues is the ambiguity of elder abuse. There is no solid definition of elder abuse, but it is known that it can be neglect, physical, mental, emotional, financial, and even sexual. Another problem is the complexity when it comes to the elderly, it is hard to distinguish accidents and illnesses from abuse (National Research Council 2003).

Each year, hundreds of thousands of adults over the ages of 60 are abused, neglected, or financial exploited. Elder abuse, including neglect and exploitation, is experienced by 1 out of every 10 people ages 60 and older who live at home. Most care takers that do abuse their patients say that their patients was not cooperating with

Traditionally, many think elder abuse can only happen in nursing home and hospital settings. Even though elder abuse can happen in institutional settings, it can also happen in community settings (Jirik & Sanders, 2014). Just being a caregiver is a factor for elder abuse (Kohn & Verhoeck-Oftedahl, 2011). That doesn’t mean that every caregiver for the elderly is going to abuse the person he/she is caring for. Whether occurring in institutional or community settings, elder abuse has other problems. One common problem with elder abuse is the belief behind ageing. “Elder abuse, unlike child abuse, has been trapped in a web of societal beliefs about the ageing process, the needs of elders, and debates about self-determination versus competency” (Jirik & Sanders, 2015, p. 479). This makes elder abuse hard to deal with. On top of societal beliefs comes the issue of whose role it is to deal with elder abuse. Historically, physicians and law enforcement have not regarded elder abuse as their responsibility, therefore, causing a struggle for professional support (Jirik & Sanders,

Elder abuse is a rarely talked about, yet growing, situation throughout the United States with many impactful health and public consequences. No matter a person’s race, culture, social class, religion, physical addition, or sexual orientation, abuse is a tragedy that can impact anyone even elder adults. Until the judicial system, health care professionals, family members, and other community members ban together to handle and help prevent this situation from occurring, elder abuse will continue to be unnoticed, with devastating consequences for older adults as well as their loved ones.