Is Abuse Nursing Homes Morally And Ethically Wrong?

Abuse is a big hazard in the nursing home setting for example a member of staff could be secretly treating the patient with disrespect by calling them names, not washing them, and hurting them physically. This could lead the patient feeling worthless, upset and angry which would affect the patient emotionally and physically and may cause them to stop eating.

Choosing a long-term care facility can be very difficult because of incidents of abuse and/or neglect reported against care facilities can be overwhelming. For example in “Ending Elder Abuse: A family guide”, Diane Sandell lists many elder abuse incidents from her files such as: neglect of decubitis ulcers led to infection, sepsis, gangrene, and death. Facility failed to provide necessary diabetic diet; improper insulin administration, insulin overdose; dehydration and death. Resident left alone in chair in shower room fell, became paralyzed from neck down. Many reports of pinching, rough handling, slapping, yelling, threats (2000). It is believed that abuse is most likely to occur if the caregiver not only finds the work difficult but also (1) works full time, (2) cares for young children, (3) is poor, (4) feels little affection for the older person, (5) finds the elderly person very difficult, and (6) gets no support or help from others (Macionis, 2005). Although there is no excuse for abusing elderly Americans, it is still very prominent in today’s society. Diane Sandell explains in Ending Elder Abuse, that her 91 year old mother was beaten by a long-term care facility employee in the middle of the night for reasons unknown. It is stated that her mother died 6 weeks after the incident, unable to recover mentally from the abuse (2000).

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

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).

When you hear the words, “Nursing Home”, what comes to mind? Sad, helpless, elderly individuals? The smell of urine? An overall, unpleasant place to reside in? Unfortunately, this generic description is accurate amongst majority of the nursing home facilities across the United States. More often than not, the elderly suffer from inhumane living conditions while residing in a nursing facility. Quite often we hear stories on the news about cases of elder abuse in the nursing home and we automatically think physical, mental, or emotional abuse from caregivers. However, the fact that these individuals are also living amongst unsanitary, inhumane conditions, and ran by a staff that includes

Everyday 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.

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

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.

As the healthcare system in this country has changed, so have traditional nursing homes. Families have the right to expect that their loved ones will be taken care of by professionals in a caring environment. Unfortunately, may people are being abused and neglected in nursing homes. It is very clear that abuse is a serious problem among nursing home patients, and something needs to be done to put a stop to it.

Are nursing homes abusing and neglecting the elderly? The elderly are abused and neglected in society today by caregivers in nursing homes. Elder abuse or neglect is a single or repeated action occurring within any relationship where there is an overlook of trust which causes injury or distress to an older person.

The issue of elder abuse is clearly an ethical concern. As a caregiver, the nurse has the responsibility to ensure that the environment of the patient is safe and supportive of health and wellness. In the case of an elderly patient who is too frail to engage in effective self-care, the demands upon the nurse increase as the nurse must

There have been problems within Long-Term Care and many of these abuses were turned over to the patients, there was hardly any direction on how to handle Long-Term Care. “Poor houses and Almshouses and developed in response to an impoverished, aging, and

The research was conducted in 2007, where the researcher sampled various departments at each facility at different times of the day. Questionnaires were given to about ten workers in each department. The respondents were asked whether they had performed or witnessed incidents of abuse in the past year. “The study indicated that 54% reported perpetrating one or more types of abuse against older patients in long-term facilities over the past year” (Factors that affect abuse).The study also found that the risk of physical neglect and total number of maltreatment incidents became higher as the ratio of staff and patients increased. The research determined that the acts do not involve personal motives or malicious intent, but come from institutional

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

“Abuse in nursing homes can take place in many shapes and forms including, but not limited to, verbal, physical, psychological, and abuse due to the use of restraints” (Fischer). These statements are not saying that every nursing home in the United States does not take care of its patients but it is saying that some of this truly does happen in the nursing homes throughout the United States. In Japan, on the other hand, most of the abuse comes from the children of the elderly. “In one case, a public servant quit his job to care for his mother in her 80s and adapted his home to meet her needs, including the installation of a lift. But without support from other family members, the strain took its toll on the man, who began abusing his mother, giving her water only once a day. The abuse on the mother only got worse when her son died, leaving the care to her daughter-in-law, who refused to let the woman take a bath, and escalated the abuse when the woman became too weak to walk. Then the daughter-in-law refused to feed the woman because she said it would help the mother pass on to her next life quicker” (Green).