Signs Of Elder Abuse

Elder abuse is the most common type of abuse that gets looked over. People normally do not suspect or even think an elderly person may be getting abused, but this is a serious topic in nursing homes and hospitals. Every health care professional needs to learn the warning signs and symptoms of elder abuse to prevent this from happening.

The Center for Disease Control and Prevention standardly defines elder abuse as “any abuse and neglect of persons age 60 or older by a caregiver or another person in a relationship involving an expectation of trust” (CDC, Elder Abuse). It is always thought that the elderly are treated with honor, dignity and respect but many of the elderly have been abused and neglected as much if not worse than the children we spoke of in our previous discussions. Who seriously could hurt these frail people, someone’s grandparents, possibly even your own; persons who because of the aging process have lost their ability to fight back and are being bullied or attacked by someone in a position of trust. It is estimated that 70% to 90% of the perpetrators of elderly

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

Elder abuse is a serious problem and almost 14.1 percent of noninstutionalized older adults in the United States have experience it in the past year (govtrack.us, 2016). The elder abuse is any kind of mistreatment that causes harm or loss to an older adults and it is not only limited to physical and psychological abuse, but also include sexual and financial abuse, and neglect (National Committee for the Prevention of Elder Abuse, 2008). In addition, the National Committee for the Prevention of Elder Abuse (2008) mentioned that older adults as a result of abuse can lose their independence, homes, life savings, health, dignity, and security. Most importantly, the older adults who have been abused are 300% at higher risk of death than non-abused older adults (N National Center on Elder Abuse, 2016).

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 abuse is a growing problem that can be a challenge to address. Physical, emotional, and financial abuse is associated with increased mortality rates, especially in those that are alone. The National center on Elder Abuse (as cited in Hoover & Polson, 2014) defines elder abuse as “intentional or neglectful acts by a caregiver or ‘trusted’ individual that lead to or may lead to, harm of a vulnerable elder”. Mistreatment of older adults will incline as the number of adults that need caregivers increase. The elder adult that is the most susceptible to abuse is most likely frail, defenseless, and cognitively impaired. Amidst all other problems, the older adult has encountered at least one type of abuse in their later years. Many cases of older adult abuse are not reported and the abuse continues until mortality.

Elder Abuse is one of the single most important issues affecting the elder population in

Elder abuse can be defined as the infliction of injury by a caregiver in an unreasonable manner; may involve intimidation, confinement or punishment that results in mental anguish/mental illness, physical pain/harm. Physical abuse includes striking an elder with objects, slapping him/her, pushing him/her and hitting him/her. Use of physical restraints and chemical

In general, elder abuse refers to any knowing, intentional or negligent act by a caregiver or any other person that causes harm or risk of harm to a vulnerable adult. All fifty states have laws of some form that prohibit elder abuse. Sadly, we do not know exactly how many elderly suffer from neglect and abuse. Although, statistics show female elders are abused at a higher rate than males. The elderly person may be hesitant to report the abuse because of lack of physical ability to report or fear or retaliation. Most of the time, the abusers are family members. Family members who use a lot drugs or alcohol, have a mental illness, and who feel burdened by their caregiving responsibilities are more likely to be abusive. About 5.1 million Americans over the age of 65 have

When the condition of the state continues to breed poverty, ignorance and lack of access to quality education create circumstances that can contribute to future situations for elderly abuse. Elderly abuse tends not to be present in wealthy communities, here is why; they can afford end of life care so as not to be a burden to the caregiver, and having had access to wealth for medical and increase diets needs which leads to better heath. The National Center on Elder Abuse says there is a risk of 300% for death of elders who experience abuse compared to those who have not been abused (28). There is no range limit as to how far different types of abuse, neglect and abandonment will reach for the elderly people. In addition, long term care and nursing homes

Elder abuse isn’t an easy topic to talk about—but it happens too often to continue to turn a blind eye too. According to the National Council of Aging (2016), also known as the NCOA, one in every ten Americans, over the age of 60, have experienced some form of elder abuse, with only one in every fourteen cases being reported to authorities. NCOA (2016) defines elder abuse and neglect as “intentional actions that cause harm or creates serious risk of harm to a vulnerable elder by a caregiver or another person in a trusted relationship” with the individual. This includes failure, of the caregiver, to satisfy the basic needs or to protect in the individual from harm along with physical abuse, emotional abuse, sexual abuse, and financial exploitation.

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 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

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.

It is a worldwide problem. Elder abuse is happening everywhere now, in your state, your city, even on your street. Population ageing is an inevitable phenomenon due to the rising life expectancy and declining birth rates in Canada. Unfortunately, the overall rate of police-reported violence against elderly had increased by twenty per cent from 1998 to 2005 according to Statistics Canada. In addition, adult children were the largest perpetrators of elder abuse including, Neglect and Physical, Emotional, Financial and Sexual Abuse. Although it is a serious uprising social problem in Canada, elder abuse is always concealed from the community and ignored by the societies. Until us as a society raises social awareness of elder abuse and work together to prevent this problem, elder abuse will continue unabated, with destructive and damaging consequences for seniors.