Senior Care Home Abuse Case Study

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

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

Imagine forty or seventy years from now, you’re in a beautiful home that you built for you and your family. Then your children and grandchildren try to convince you to go to a nursing home saying it’s better for you and you’d be taken care of better. It’s like a slap to the face, it hurts. Your own children that you’ve taken care of for years don’t want to take care of you back and would rather put you in a place full of strangers that can either help you or treat you badly like you are no longer important to take care of anymore. That’s exactly the feeling of many of the elders now put in nursing homes.

There are have been many cases of nursing home and elder abuse nation wide and all around the world. One case that occurred in Baltimore, Maryland that involved a man who worked in a long term care facility and hit one of his residents.(Lee, 2013) This resident was an 84 year old man. This man was only caught

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

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

With so many elderly people in nursing homes combined with the lack of nursing care available, abuse within nursing homes is more common than anyone would like to face. According to the CDC, as of 2014, there were only 15,600 nursing homes with the number of residents exceeding 1.4 million. They also report that for every case of elder abuse there are 23 cases that are not reported or that remain hidden from authorities. http://www.cdc.gov/violenceprevention/elderabuse/consequences.html

The social problem of elderly abuse is a growing issue around the world. Everyone agrees that no senior citizen should be abused or neglected, however people cannot agree on how much the government should be regulating senior living facilities. Before looking at the social and economic costs and benefits of creating stricter federal regulations to prevent elderly abuse, it is important to know the history and views of both sides of the debate on elderly abuse.

In 2012, the Canadian government established the Protecting Canada’s Seniors Act, which increased awareness on the issues facing the elderly population of 65 years and above (Sibbal & Holroyd-Leduc, 2012). This paper will examine three contemporary challenges facing the cohort, including elderly abuse, dementia, and polypharmacy, while preventative strategies and recommendations addressing these issues will be offered.

There is an average of 293,066 victims (age 12 or older) of rape and sexual assault each year. Also Elder abuse occurs in community settings, such as private homes, as well as institutional settings like nursing homes and other types of long term care facilities. 3.2 million Americans resided in nursing homes during 2008. There is numbers of reasons that evil people abuse a loved one or ill person. In society this type of behavior is not tolerate and people need to be aware of the problem.

With there being a negative stigma towards nursing homes I’m sure you are aware that there are problems that need to be solved within the whole industry. One of the main problems that arises is abuse and neglect in many nursing homes which I am sure you are aware of. So many smaller problems that happen in nursing homes effect resident negatively and in the bigger picture can result in abuse or neglect among the resident. With the statistics showing the numbers of abuse and neglect in the nursing homes I’m sure you can agree that this is a problem and we need to find a solution, as no one would want there loved one to be abused in a place where they are supposed to be cared for with love.

Abuse of the elderly occurs in the home and in institutional settings such as nursing homes. The home is the principal site of care for most older people. The abuser can be any person in a position of authority or family member. Perpetrators of abuse in the home are commonly adult children, spouses or paid care workers (Heath and Schofield 1999). Often long-term caregiving relationships can lead family members or staff to ‘burn out’ and abuse may be an unfortunate consequence (Mauk, 2006). In institutional care settings such as residential and nursing homes staff are often over worked, have

Elderly care is now one of the main priorities now because these older people 65 or older are 13% of this society. What can we do to keep them alive and live longer than ever? If the elders stay healthy with weight(obesity), food balance and the right care they will be fine. But what I am most concerned about is the abuse of the many elders in nursing homes.

First of all, many elderly persons are abandoned in home for the aged because of their health condition and they cannot sustain the need of the victim. Sometimes the dominant approach to elder mistreatment in the research literature has been apply to the family violence model. This has tended to underplay concern in residential centers( nursing home). As deficient on the requirement that patients rights, policies and procedures ensure that each patient admitted to the facility us free from mental and physical abuse and free from chemical and physical restraints except as authorized by the physician.

Legislators are attempting to curb the rise in abuse by introducing laws that stiffen penalties and give social workers more power. For example, on Aug. 11, 1994, the governor of New Jersey signed a law allowing social service investigators to obtain an emergency court order to enter homes where abuse is suspected (McGrath, 1994). They previously needed a police officer armed with a search warrant. The new law grants immunity from lawsuits to anyone reporting abuse. In some areas specially trained police officers have become part of investigative units to handle complaints of elderly abuse. More such investigators are needed. The solution, however, lies not only in criminal prosecution of abusers, but also in mental health and social services—counseling, daycare, nursing care, and volunteers in the home. “Until we commit ourselves to a zero-tolerance attitude concerning elder abuse—or, indeed, any abuse—it will continue unchecked and, by virtue of our silence, we will be guilty of helping it to remain,” said Gerald A. Larue, who proposed and ethical code for the treatment of the elderly (Larue, 1989).