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Essay on substance abuse among elderly
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Essay on substance abuse among elderly
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Agesim is the unfair treatment and/or discrimination on the basis on someone’s age. Thus, another example of ageism might be when caregivers abuse their patients merely because they are old and vulnerable. One of the most prominent causes of elder abuse is caregiver stress and frustration (Elder abuse, 2014). Additionally, there are also forms of abuse other than physical abuse, such as taking over the elder’s residence or taking advantage of them financially. Furthermore, substance abuse is often a contributing factor when it comes to elder abuse as well (Elder abuse, 2014). For instance, some caregivers may begin to steal money or abuse the elder financially to pay for their drug habit. Thus, financial abuse in elders may be more common among
Did you know that, according to the National Institute of Justice website, “There are few reliable national measures of elder abuse. This is partially because there is no uniform reporting system for elder abuse in the U.S.” ("Extent of Elder Abuse Victimization," 2015). It is sad that, in a country as developed as ours, we have no standard way of reporting elder abuse.
Elder abuse is causing emotional, physical or sexual harm, financial exploitation, or intentional or unintentional neglect to someone of greater age, whether it be from a family member or a stranger. Elder abuse has been a social issue for many years prior to any kind of legislation being made. Victims of elder abuse are often older adults ages 60 to 75 and the person abusing the elder is usually someone the victim knows, but could be a stranger in certain cases.
To begin, “Financial abuse towards the elderly is defined as the financial exploitation of seniors because of vulnerabilities related with age”. (Crimes-of-persuasion.com). It is unfortunate that this kind of abuse can be done by someone the elders know and trust – such as, family members, visitors, nurses, social workers, or doctors. From the same website, an explanation is given on how seniors may not report such a crime for a variety of reasons. Some may be either that they are simply unaware of the situation, afraid of revenge by the abuser, or ashamed that they cannot handle the abuse in their own home themselves. It has been proven, by the Mature Market Institute, a research organization, that four out five cases of elder abuse from a financial nature are not reported because of the motives that were previously stated. Is this ...
In recent years, the shameful subject of elder abuse has gained more awareness among community members. In particular, the complexity of elder financial abuse often makes manipulative dealings by fraudsters difficult to identify and separate from actual permissive transactions made by older victims. The result is that these cases are very rarely prosecuted and many other undetected cases continue to fall far below the radar of society. The consequences of financial exploitation of older adults are reaching far beyond the immediate distress of financial depletion. Victims may also experience declines in physical and mental health as well as the risk of a decrease in life expectancy (Kemp & Mosqueda, 2005). The purpose of the following studies is to address the issue of financial exploitation of elder adults through the means of intervention, prosecution, prevention, and correlation between different forms of abuse.
Of nursing home staff interviewed in 2004, nearly 40% admitted to committing at least one psychologically abusive act toward a resident and 10% admitted to physically abusing a resident in the preceding year.[1] Not only are nursing home residents at risk of being abused by their caretakers but they are also at risk of being restrained, which may lead to a form of abuse. With five percent of the elderly population, or one to two million instances of elder abuse occurring yearly there is no doubt that elder abuse deserves serious consideration.[2]
Elder Abuse is defined as any activity performed by an individual whereby these actions cause suffering of the older adult, intentionally or not (Touhy, Jett, Boscart & McCleary, 2012, p. 378). Unfortunately, the incidents of elder abuse continue to rise with the increasing number of people entering older adulthood. It is interesting to note that although elder abuse is highly under reported its occurrence increased three fold over a ten-year period (Friese & Collopy, 2010, p. 61). Certainly, it is a nurse’s duty to provide holistic care to his or her patients, which must include protection from abuse. Elder abuse can take on many forms including physical, emotional, sexual, neglect and financial. It is important to note that for the purposes of this paper, this writer will focus solely on financial abuse. When one considers the definition of financial abuse, it is deemed to be a misuse of another individual’s finances for ones own monetary gain. Thus, this type of abuse has become the most common and fastest growing form of all. As such, it is important for all nurses to understand financial abuse and who is at risk, how it presents, and what can be done to prevent it in order to protect the elderly.
There are profound effects of ageism that can be harmful to a patient’s overall health. Ageism can cause physicians to consistently treat older patients unequally compared to younger adults. Unequal treatment can be divided into the under-treatment of symptoms and the over-treatment of symptoms. The imbalance in how a physician would treat a geriatric patient is ageist because the older adult is not getting fair treatment in every case. Under-treatment and over-treatment are different; however, they are both equally as harmful to a patients health.
With respect to older women, the issue is that there is a serious lack in differentiating between elder abuse and domestic violence. The discrepancy causes confusion as to what agency to report either volunteered or mandated cases of abuse (Kilbane & Spira, 2010). Furthermore, it is because of reporting errors that victims of abuse may not receive the services that are congruent to the type of abuse (Kilbane & Spira, 2010) indicating, “…a lack of centralized reporting of cases….” (Kilbane & Spira, 2010, p. 165).
Many seniors around the world are being abused and harmed in some substantial way often by people who are directly responsible for their care (Robinson, 2016). Neglect of all forms causes harm to a patients overall well-being. Neglect happens in 60% of people and physical abuse happens to 15% of people (Franklin, 2013). There are three different types of neglect that can happen especially to the elderly. The three types of neglect are mental, emotional and physical neglect. Mental neglect, is basically ignoring or just not showing care or love for the patient. Emotional neglect is not only ignoring, but isolating the patient from others. Physical neglect which is causing physical injury to the body from rough handleing or non-supervision. Neglect is damaging not only to a body but also to the mind and over all
Elder abuse in nursing home is a social problem that has had more and more attention in these recent years. “Elder abuse is the most recent domestic violence issue to gain the attention of the public and the medical community.” (Elder Abuse: A Review) According to the Senate Special Committee, about 5 “million older Americans are abused and neglected every year.” Abuse for the elderly can be considered a social problem due to the people who are in denial of it actually occurring, for example, the caregivers and nurses who do not consider themselves to be actually performing the abuse. It is a problem because the elders are put into these nursing homes by loved ones and ones who
The article, Elderly health care: The line between care and killing, from the Hearld-Review, illustrates the many problems the courts have with elder abuse cases. The case involved the death of 91 year-old Maria “Concha” Lopez of Madera, California who was being cared for by her 26 year-old grandniece, Stephanie Hernandez. Ms. Hernandez called 911 when her Aunt stopped breathing and told the dispatcher that her aunt’s bones were too fragile for CPR, so the dispatcher gave instructions for basic mouth-to-mouth resuscitation. Arriving firefighters and paramedics were inundated with the odor of urine, feces, and rotting flesh emanating from piles of soiled diapers, used bandages and the patient. Ms. Lopez’s had dementia and would not go near doctors. She weighed about 35 pounds and had bedsores so deep that you could touch her bones and the metal rod in her hip. Ms. Hernandez was arrested and charged with murder for failure to give adequate care to her aunt. The trial took five weeks with the defense attorneys showing Ms. Hernandez as a loving niece whose efforts kept an old woman alive and the prosecutor showing autopsy photos and describing the woman’s condition as the result of severe criminal negligence. Ms. Hernandez’s mother worked in the fields and left her in the care of four great-aunts. Ms. Lopez watched her three sisters die in hospitals and made her family promise that she would not be taken to a hospital. The family expected Ms. Hernandez, who also had a small child, to take care of Ms. Lopez after she broke her hip. During the trial, the experts disagreed on whether the bed sores were caused by neglect or because her skin failed when she lost over half her body weight. The jury deliberated for two days and ev...
Elderly abuse should be a crime that is made into a law. Once someone create the act of abusing an elderly, they should be taken into custody to be taken to jail. Elderly abuse is crucial and people should understand they are human beings. Financial abuse is one of the worst abuses in assisted living facilities. Everythin...
Elder abuse is the mistreatment towards an elderly individual over the age of 60. According to
Elderly abuse is defined as “any deliberate action or lack of action that causes harm to an older adult.” (Brownridge 55) It may take the form of: physical, financial, neglect, or psychological abuse. (Maclean 7-23) Statistics show that abuse towards the elderly is a substantial problem: A 1989 survey of 2000 elderly persons from private house holds found that 4% of the people reported being abused. (Health Canada) This is the equivalent of 98,000 elderly people in Canada. Financial abuse was the highest with 60,000 elders being affected, and psychosocial abuse is second affecting 30,000 elders. These shocking statistics are, believe it or not, understated due to lack of research. Elderly Canadians will always be a component of our society, and due to new medical breakthroughs they will be an increasing sector of the population. More specific laws, stricter enforcement of existing laws, and strategies for increased research and awareness need to be implemented in order to combat the increasing problem of elderly abuse in Canadian society.
When these signs are noticed, alarm should be raised so that the necessary action should be taken against the abusers. If the caregivers try to portray some dominance over the elderly, it is necessary that the concerned people take the responsibility of making sure that the necessary action is taken against these caregivers. In the home setting, some adults are unwilling to even let visitors into their home as they fear people knowing what goes on behind the doors and windows of the houses. This is a clear sign that someone inside even though not an elderly is undergoing some form of mistreatment or abuse. Unusual cases of withdrawals from the elder’s account and the purchase of things that are not necessary are also good indicators that someone is being abused financially (Pillemer et al, 2016).