... | Elderly Abuse and Neglect When discussing abuse and neglect we often think of children first. That being said, children are not the only ones who will be abused and/or neglected. In fact, this happens to some elderly as well. While some elderly may be productive enough to care for themselves, others are not. The end result is a complete (or close to complete) dependency on someone else for their needs. In addition, just like with children, this dependency can lead to abuse and/or neglect. There has been an increase in the number of elderly that have been subjected to violence and mistreatment. This type of treatment is associated with the individual’s dependency on others; whether it be a relative, acquaintance and/or institution (Meadows, 2010). According to estimates “between 1 and 2 million Americans aged 65 years or older have been injured, exploited, or otherwise mistreated by someone on whom they depended for case or protection (National Research Council Panel to Review Risk and Prevalence of elder abuse and neglect, 2003)” (Meadows, 2010, p. 87). The type of abuse that elderly get subjected to is not only physical, it may also be emotional. Obviously, abuse may take on many different forms and may include: financial abuse, physical abuse, emotional abuse, and neglect. This abuse is not limited to certain circumstances it can happen in poor, middle-class or upper income...
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...of abuse against elderly Americans reach authorities every year, and millions of cases go unreported. Many elderly adults are abused in their homes, their relatives’ homes, and even in facilities that are responsible for their care. Elder abuse typically happens at the place that the senior lives. Their abusers are often adult children and other relatives such as grandchildren, spouses, or partners. However, nurses are sometimes abusers as well at institutions where long-term care is expected. When elders become less physically fit, they become subject to being bullied and attacked. When their sight and hearing isn’t as well as it once was, some people come along and take advantage of them. Elder abuse takes many different forms. Let’s discuss the most common types of abuse. Physical elder abuse is non-accidental use of force against an elderly person that results in physical injury. Not only does it include things like hitting but it also includes inappropriate use of drugs and restraints. Placing in a person under inappropriate confinement situations are also considered physical abuse to an elderly person. Emotional elder abuse happens when people speak to elderly persons in ways that cause emotional pain or distress. Humiliation and ridicule is one common form of verbal emotional abuse. Isolating an elderly person from friends, family, and activities that they are used to participating in, is a common form of nonverbal psychological elder abuse. Sexual abuse is another...
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...of abuse against elderly Americans reach authorities every year, and millions of cases go unreported. Many elderly adults are abused in their homes, their relatives’ homes, and even in facilities that are responsible for their care. Elder abuse typically happens at the place that the senior lives. Their abusers are often adult children and other relatives such as grandchildren, spouses, or partners. However, nurses are sometimes abusers as well at institutions where long-term care is expected. When elders become less physically fit, they become subject to being bullied and attacked. When their sight and hearing isn’t as well as it once was, some people come along and take advantage of them. Elder abuse takes many different forms. Let’s discuss the most common types of abuse. Physical elder abuse is non-accidental use of force against an elderly person that results in physical injury. Not only does it include things like hitting but it also includes inappropriate use of drugs and restraints. Placing in a person under inappropriate confinement situations are also considered physical abuse to an elderly person. Emotional elder abuse happens when people speak to elderly persons in ways that cause emotional pain or distress. Humiliation and ridicule is one common form of verbal emotional abuse. Isolating an elderly person from friends, family, and activities that they are used to participating in, is a common form of nonverbal psychological elder abuse. Sexual abuse is another...
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...Running head: Elderly Abuse 1 Elderly Abuse: A Growing Concern 30 March 2012 Elderly Abuse 2 English Composition 101 30 March 2012 The signs of elderly abuse, at least to some degree, have always existed. Only in the past few decades, has it been recognized as a major societal problem. Greater attention to elder abuse was followed by the new “discovery” of child abuse in the 1960s and spouse abuse in the 1970s. Today elderly abuse is widely characterized as both a pervasive problem and a growing concern (Dessin, 2000; Heisler, 2000; Moskowitz, 1998b). Out of the elderly population around 1 out 2 million people over the age of 65 have been injured, or mistreated by someone they depend on for care. Abuse and neglect can happen in any social class; it does not matter if you are upper middle, or lower class. The most common mistreatment and neglect occur in nursing homes. Studies have found 1 out 5 nursing homes are liable for serious life threatening care given to the elderly. Caregiver at these homes are known for emotional, and neglect. Elderly abuse remained on a constant rise so much they had to create policies to protect the elderly. In 1976, the Older American Act of 1965 was amended. The purpose of the bill was to provide assistance and develop better programs to help elderly. There was a study conducted in 1986 that found nursing homes were still giving inadequate care. Congress passed the Nursing...
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...Elderly Abuse and Neglect The Problem: • Elderly abuse is a single or repeated act of inflicting physical, emotional, psychological, sexual, or financial harm to an elderly. Neglect is the failure of a career to provide the necessities of life to a person for whom they are caring. • Types of elder abuse: Elderly abuse can take many forms, the main ones are: Physical abuse: which is the physical act of violence that commonly includes slapping, hitting, and striking with objects. Psychological abuse: which is defined as an act that is carried out against the elderly adult with the intention of causing emotional pain or injury, and it often accompanies physical abuse. Examples include threats, insults, and statements that humiliate the elderly. Exploitation: which is the most common form of abuse of the elderly, it includes acts of material or financial exploitation, exploitation is the most difficult type of elderly abuse to diagnose as the victim may not be aware of its occurrence or may not know how to seek help. Neglect: which is counted as a form of abuse and is often referred to as failure of a caregiver in meeting the needs of the dependent elderly person. This may be intentional or unintentional neglect. Intentional neglect: is to willfully withhold food or medications or medical care from the elder that needs it. Unintentional neglect could result from ignorance or from genuine inability to provide care. For example, the caregiver may be unable...
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...Canada. He talks about abuse from the staff and from the seniors. This article specifically refers to two examples in Canada of this abuse and it also states that about seventy percent of nursing homes are a dumping place for elderly who are “mentally unstable”. McKie states that it is difficult to know exactly what is going on in nursing homes because the staff are aware when a safety check is going to happen and can fix whatever is wrong before this time comes. The CBC crew is still attempting to get more information from nursing homes in Canada but at this time the information is being hidden from the public. This source will be extremely helpful in order to prove my hypothesis because my hypothesis states that the Canadian Government is not doing enough in senior homes. This article talks about the abuse in senior homes and this is one of the points that will be used in order to prove my hypothesis. It also specifically talks about Canadian senior homes and this is exactly what the focus of the hypothesis is. CBC News. (2000). Elderly abused in Quebec nursing homes. Retrieved May 1, 2009 from http://www.cbc.ca/canada/story/2000/03/08/elderly000308.html. This article reported by the CBC news looks at nursing homes specifically in Quebec from the year 1995 to 1999. The studies show that there is a “pattern of abuse” in Quebec nursing homes specifically from these years. Some problems that were talked about were the lack of nurses to care for the elderly, which meant some were...
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...Domestic Violence and Elderly Abuse Policy By; Shay B. Young May 28th 2012 CJA 464/ Criminal Justice Policy Analysis Ronald Stock Domestic Violence and Elderly Abuse Domestic and elderly abuse is two forms of violence that happens to individuals from birth aged children to elderly individuals. Domestic and elderly abuse is a major issue that is experienced all around the world. These two forms of abuse and violence have many similarities, often times the abuse that starts as a child leads to abuse during adulthood. This paper will be going over the two forms of abuse, factors, statistics, and later a policy that is in place for the reduction of the two forms of abuse. Domestic Violence Domestic violence is defined as a pattern of behavior to gain power or control over another individual in a relationship. The abuse can come in forms such as physical, sexual, emotional, or psychological actions or threats coming from the control partner to the other partner. Domestic violence happens to anyone of any race, age, sexual orientation, religion, or gender. Domestic violence affects all people throughout different backgrounds, social levels, and educational levels. Factors that perpetuate domestic violence As mentioned above there are different factors that play a role in a domestic violence setting. Culture factors may include but are not limited to gender, the role within the relationship, values, and acceptance of violence as a means to resolve...
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...The elderly population of the world are a vulnerably population to abuse. Most of the time elderly individuals rely on a caregiver or family member to help with their basic needs and without them, they would be hopeless to themselves. Conditions and circumstances that increase the likelihood of elderly abuse are poor physical and mental health of elderly person, elderly in hospitals, nursing homes, or long-term facilities, and lack of funds to pay for care (2) Those of poor physical and mental health are usually the individuals which are abused more (2). These individuals are unable to protect themselves and are high mistreated because the elderly individual cannot do anything to change the situation. In institutions, abuse of elderly can be...
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...When Your Elderly Loved One Has Been Abused: How To Put A Personal Injury Case Together Finding out your elderly loved one has been abused in some way, be it neglect or another form of harm, can be completely devastating. The facility or person you put faith in to take care of them caused them harm, rather than looking out for their well-being. You do have options available to you, but it may require a lot of work on your part. Get Your Loved One To A Safer Place Even if you have to make arrangements for your loved one to stay at your house for the time being, do whatever it takes to get them away from the source of abuse. If your loved one requires professional medical care, such as around-the-clock monitoring, contact the primary physician...
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...The elderly population is the generation most treated by healthcare professionals. It stands to reason that prescription drug abuse within the elderly presents a much higher risk than prescription drug abuse among younger generations. Ignoring this problem leads to a diminished quality of life and a less attentive healthcare system. Sadly, prescription drug abuse is a silent epidemic among the elderly population and it is a growing problem. With proper attention and diagnosis, there can be a reduction in injuries, such as hip fractures from falling, excessive hospitalizations, and even untimely death. Prescription drug abuse is overlooked by our healthcare professionals every day. Elderly patients are prescribed more medications than younger...
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...What is abuse? Abuse is a cruel way of harming someone. There are different types of abuse; Physical abuse, emotional abuse, and intellectual abuse. Abuse can happen to anyone from a child to an elderly woman. Even if you don't touch the person, words are also used as a way to abuse someone. Even though you don't think you're abusing someone you still might be. Physical abuse means touching someone and causing pain. You may have bruises, scratches, and burns. The possibility of even being physically hurt is scary. Death can sometimes occur. Other incidents were found where the weapons were used like a bat or belt. Tell somebody if you are getting harmed and most of the time someone will help you. Emotional abuse is when someone doesn't physically hurt you, but emotionally. It can cause depression and self-esteem. Once you have hit depression, it is hard to get better. Suicide is another side effect of depression; people might think people aren't missing them. Self-esteem and self-confidence are another side effect. They forget how to act in public and start to think that nothing is good and that if they die it would all be better. Another type of abuse is intellectual abuse....
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...Advocacy In my care support class we learnt a lot about advocating for a patient. Advocacy – a person who relays the wants/needs of an individual who for reasons cannot speak for themselves. Advocacy commences when a person represents the interests of another person. This requires complete loyalty of the person acting as an advocate, who represents the wishes, needs and interests of the patient as if it was your own needs, and what advocacy means: the one that pleads, defends or supports the cause or interest of the patient for whatever reason they cannot speak for themselves or on behalf of someone in their best interest, e.g. someone who has not got a voice/confidents or cannot be heard, e.g. children, elderly, dementia patients. There are different forms of advocacy: Self-advocacy: is the ability to speak up for yourself and the things that are very important to you, self-advocacy means you are able to ask for what you need and tell other people about your thoughts and feelings. Self-Advocacy means you know your rights and responsibilities, and you are able to make choices and decisions that affect your life. It is important to learn self-advocacy skills because it helps you decide what you want and what to expect. When you have good self-advocacy skills you can have more control and make the life decisions that are best for you. (advocacy.com) Legal advocacy: involves solicitors protecting their client’s rights and interests in a court of law. i.e. a person’s will or their...
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...Encouragement of the Heart within an Organization Every day in the United States, some 10,000 Americans turn 60. Accompanying this very real demographic change is a disturbing rise in the rate of elder abuse and neglect. Researchers suggest that one out of every 10 seniors is likely to be a victim of abuse or neglect. As it currently stands, only a small number of these cases of abuse and neglect will ever be reported, as seniors may be afraid they will lose their autonomy or access to friends and family if they were to report abuse. The Plough Foundation has focused on the wellbeing of our seniors for a number of years, and Coordinated Response to Elderly Abuse represents an important component of the Foundation’s broader Aging Initiative....
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...Elder Abuse Veronica Dalton SOC 120 Introduction to Ethics & Social Responsibility Dr. James Prentice May 26, 2012 Elder Abuse Elder abuse is a very serious issue in America today. The baby boomer generation has hit their elder years and drastically changed the numbers for this age group. Because the number has gone up so quickly we have limited people willing to take care of the elderly. The cost for care has gone up also, making more families opt to keep their loved ones at home instead of sending them to the nursing homes. The fear of elder abuse is higher now because of the cost rise in elder care. Nursing homes are being frowned upon because they do not have enough staff to properly take care of the patients they have. This presents a big problem for society because either choice, nursing homes or in home care can have a negative outcome for our elderly. Abuse is happening more often because we were not prepared in advance to take care of this jump in patients. This paper will look at this issue from a utilitarianism point of view as well as an emotivism point of view. From a utilitarianism point of view the best way to fix this problem would be for more people to pay attention to the elderly. Everyone working together to fix this issue would be the best route. Leaving it to only a few people is not going to work. Laws have been passed and yet we still have elder abuse going on. For the elderly that are being taken care of in their homes...
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...psychological, or social health” (de Chesney, 2012). There are many vulnerable populations and this paper will concentrate on the elderly. According to Walsh (2009), the Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), states the elderly are considered anyone 65 years old or older. With the increased lifespan of elderly, there have become new demographics of young old (65-74), old (75-84), and oldest old (85 & over), and the frail old (anyone over 65 with physical or cognitive disabilities). The US census bureau estimated in 2011, the population of elderly persons 65 and over living in the U.S. to be 311,501,917. Between 2000 and 2010, the population 65 and over grew at a faster rate than any other population in the United States, 15.1% compared to 9.7% of the rest of the US population. Thirteen percent of the population is elderly; 55.2% are married, 32% live with family members, 51.7% are female, 48.3% are male, 60% are white, 17% are black, 18% are Hispanic, and 5% are other races. Education wise, 10.9% have less than a 9th grade , 10.3% have attended between 9th and 12th grade but did not receive a diploma, 36.4% are high school graduates, 20.6% have some college, and 22.5% have Bachelor’s degree or greater. It is estimated that elderly between the ages of 65-84 are doubling as the baby boomers age, with 85 and over being the fastest growing group due to elderly people living longer (US Census Bureau, 2012). As one ages, there are often cognitive changes and physical disabilities...
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