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Essays on elderly abuse
Essays on elderly abuse
Elder abuse abstract sample
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Many of our elders are abused or neglected. Elder abuse is any knowing, intentional, or negligent act by a family member or other caregiver that causes harm or a serious risk of harm to an elderly person as defined by (Thobaben). In her article “How Many of the Elderly are Abused or Neglected?” Mari Jensen states that an estimated 1 million to 2 million elderly people are victims of abuse or neglect. This problem received the name of “granny bettering” when it first hit the news in 1978. However, there is a big absence of exploration into abuse of the elderly. Our elders are our past and we will all be affected by this abuse in one way or another. Neglect is when certain provisions such as food and clothing are withheld from people who …show more content…
The criminalization of elder abuse involves penalizing offenders for actively abusing offenders as well as for violating mandatory reporting laws. Mandatory reporting laws exist to encourage professionals to report suspected cases of elder abuse (Payne). According to Davis, over the preceding ten years most states have implemented mandatory reporting laws to report elderly abuse, but the definition of abuse varies from state to state. Most of the states are required to report physical (battery, sexual) neglect, mental, and exploitation. However, there is no legal requirement to do …show more content…
People who abuse the elderly are both male and female. In virtually 60% of the elderly abuse occurrences are caused by a family member. Most of these elders are lonely and have some sort of illness such as dementia or Alzheimer. There are many signs to elderly abuse. NCOA states, elders who have been abused have a 30% higher risk of death. Unfortunately not all elderly abuse is reported. When abuse is an issue an elderly person can be relocated and this takes him or her away from the abuser, however, this may be worse than the abuse, because the elder may not understand and may get depressed, act out, etc. We can be vigilant and report the abuse, but not many people take the time to do so. Once you report the abuse to adult protective services, they conduct an investigation, they also interview the elder. If the elder is afraid of further abuse, they may deny the claim and nothing will be done. The elder remains in the same situation. Best solution would be for APS to step in along with physicians and identification program where that identification is tagged by a physician and sent to APS once the elder has been diagnosed that needs assistance for everyday living. This way APS can visit the home and set up the courses required to care for the elder. These courses should involve how to care for the elder, how to treat them with respect, how to spend
According to Missouri's Department of Health and Senior Services, there are three things that elder abuse can be classified as. It can be classified as abuse, neglect, or likelihood of serious physical harm. While all of these classifications sounds quite similar, there are some subtle differences. The Missouri Department of Health and Senior Services defines abuse as " the infliction of physical, sexual, or emotional injury or harm including financial exploitation by any person, firm, or corporation" ("Protective Services For Adults," n.d., para. 4). Elder neglect is "the failure to provide services to an eligible adult by any person, firm, or corporation with a legal or contractual duty to do so, when such failure presents either an imminent danger to the health, safety, or welfare of the client or a substantial probability that death or serious physical harm would result"("Protective Services For Adults," n.d., para. 4). Abuse, neglect, as well as likelihood of serious physical harm are all reportable by law. ("Protective Services For Adults," n.d).
Some of these cases of abuse are done in elderly homes by family members. In the first section of the article, the authors discuss the definition of elder abuse. The authors began with the most common types of elder abuse, which are physical and neglect. Elder abuse is the intentional use of physical force that results in acute or chronic illness, bodily injury, physical pain, functional impairment, distress, or death (Choi NG & Mayer J. In summary, the rhetorical analysis essay discusses how elder abuse and neglect affect the victims physically, emotionally, and professionally.
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.
I have taken a training on mandatory reporting every year as it is required by the agencies I have worked for. As a result, I did not learn anything new from this particular training. However it serves as a reminder of my duty to report and the importance of such a duty in the work that we do. What I would like to see is a training on reporting for adults who are at risk, particularly the elderly and/or adults with a serious mental illness that have a guardian or live in assisted living. I do not know if the mandatory reporting laws extend to cover adults however I feel that if social workers suspect abuse, especially amongst at risk adults such as the elderly or seriously mentally ill, these suspicions should be reported to law enforcement and Adult Protective Services much in the same way as mandated for suspected abuse of
...how kindness to them. Unfortunately, many caregivers take advantage of the elderly by taking their money, by using violence and sexual interference, and by abusing clients emotionally. 96% of elder abuse cases are not reported. ( Medscape.com). The Ontario Network for the Prevention of Elder Abuse (ONPEA) is an organization dedicated to raising awareness about abuse and neglect of older abuse. (onpea.com). It stands to reason that there is a large problem still rampant in society where others are taken advantage of, or mistreated. Hopefully more documented information and raising awareness of the issue amongst society will allow more people to understand this as a problem and the abusers to be caught. These obvious abuse of rights are something that should be protected, luckily people become more aware of these circumstances that is happening on a regular basis.
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]
Though elderly abuse occurs in many nursing homes, it is preventable. It is the nursing aide 's responsibility to provide quality and comfortable care, free from abuse. Many people are not aware that there are several other types of abuse in addition to physical abuse and many are not aware of the signs. If abuse should occur, anyone who suspects or witnesses the abuse is responsible for reporting it. Knowing the types of abuse, being aware of the signs, and reporting incidents are all ways to prevent abuse in nursing homes.
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).
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
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 people 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.
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...
According to the Nation Council on Aging (NCOA), “approximately 1 in 10 Americans aged 60 and up have experienced some form of elder abuse. Some estimates range as high as 5 million elders who are abuse each year.” More specifically, a study based in New York estimated that 260,00 (1 in 13) older adults in the state of New York were victims of at least one form of elder abuse in the preceding year. The study revealed that major financial exploitation was self-reported at a rate of 41 per 1,000 surveyed, which was higher than self-reported rates o emotional, physical and sexual abuse or neglect. (NCEA, 2016). But, sadly with all of the issues of abuse only 1 in 14 cases of abuse get reported to authorities (NCOA, 2017). These situations of abuse are happening by both men and women, with 60% of the abuse performed by family members (NCOA, 2017). The population of elderly is increasing every year and with the elder being the most vulnerable we need to put an end to the incidences of abuse. Now that we have a better understanding of the prevalence and different forms of elder abuse that are present in our healthcare system, there is a question of why these things happen to elders specifically. Why are elderly patients subjected to these forms of
Sturdy, D. (2007) Indignity in care: are you responsible? Nurs Older People. 2007; 19(9): 9.
Federal and state laws require that mandatory reporting as a legal and ethical requirement for Healthcare professional and Registered nurses and have an affirmative duty to the specified agency. Nurses are the most listed in all mandatory reporting statutes. Such status includes; child abuse, child neglect, medical neglect of children and elderly and also elder abuse in the community or nursing homes and domestic violence. According to CAPTA, child abuse/neglect is defined as follows: "Any recent act or failure to act on the part of a parent or caretaker, which results in death, serious physical or emotional harm, sexual abuse, or exploitation, or an act or failure to act which presents an imminent risk of serious harm" (Muller 2015). In Maryland, Professionals required to report include: Health practitioners, Educators or human service workers, and Police officers Discuss the common ethical and legal implications of mandatory reporting for nurses regardless of the state in which a Registered Nurse practice.