The Sad Truth About Elderly Abuse

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Unlike the story above, most elder abusers are not strangers. As a result, elder abuse is largely hidden. According to the National Center on Elder Abuse Study, the best estimates show that between 1 and 2 million Americans age 65 or older have been injured, exploited, or otherwise mistreated by someone on whom they depended for care or protection.

Why Elder Abuse Is Everyone's Problem

Research indicates that at best one in five elder abuse situations are reported to authorities; for certain forms of abuse, reporting is much lower: According to the Ohio Elder Abuse Task Force Report, in Ohio during fiscal year , with just 60 percent of the 88 counties submitting incident data, there were 10, elder abuse reports to Adult Protective Services. Recognizing and Reporting Elder Abuse The baby boom and increased life expectancy have resulted in a current and projected increase in the number of elderly Americans.

Advances in medicine and laws protecting the needy populations have greatly increased American life spans. In previous generations extended family members could share the responsibility of caring for the aging. Unfortunately, changes in our society, such as increased mobility, strained economic times and smaller nuclear families have placed the strain and responsibility of caring for the elderly on a select few.

This may be one of several contributing factors as to why some individuals become abusive towards the elderly. Most states have enacted legislation that defines elder abuse. Under Ohio law, Elder Abuse includes neglect and exploitation as well. Elder abuse is not always easy to spot, but the key to identifying it is to look for a pattern of behavior, physical symptoms, or other events and telltale signs that, in combination, provide evidence of the abuse, neglect or exploitation of an elder.

The following are some risk factors to watch for:.

Reporting Elder Abuse in Ohio: In Ohio, county Departments of Job and Family Services are required to investigate reports of suspected abuse, neglect, and exploitation of adults age 60 and older. Twelve Regional Long-term Care Ombudsmen safeguard consumers of care services in their areas, advocating for quality care, investigating complaints and giving the consumers a voice.

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The following resources may also provide additional information on elder abuse, how to recognize it and how to avoid it:. Cleveland office Sheffield Village office Dublin office A Story of Elder Abuse Elaine had never married and lived alone in her home for most of her adult life. The following are some risk factors to watch for: Elders with memory problems such as dementia or who are physically dependent on others.

Elders with depression, loneliness, or lack of social support. Caregiver stress when the caregiver feels overwhelmed with the care of the elder. Caregiver has history of substance abuse or history of abusing others. Caregiver has high emotional or financial dependence on the elder.

The following resources may also provide additional information on elder abuse, how to recognize it and how to avoid it: Do you have a child with special needs? Are you an adult with a disability? The problem is also bigger than most people realize. It's seriously under-reported , but an estimated one in 10 older people experiences some kind of abuse every year.

The most common form of abuse is financial exploitation, what Richard Cordray, director of the federal Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, has called "the signature crime of the 21st century. Elder abuse experts say a key challenge is that abuse "flies under the radar. It gets excused "she bruises so easily" , rationalized "he was going to inherit that money soon anyway" or simply missed by good people in a position to help who didn't know what to look for, or how to intervene.

Perhaps it surprises you to see elder abuse included in this series on older adult health, but in fact they are closely related. We now know that elder abuse has devastating and far-reaching health consequences, and triples the risk of premature death, compared to a group of older adults with similar medical problems who do not experience abuse. Compared with their peers, victims of elder abuse are also three times more likely to be admitted to the hospital and four times more likely to be admitted to a nursing home.

There is no reason for anyone to be silent. If there is any good news here, it is that elder abuse has become a domain of increasing scientific scrutiny, with more research, education, and awareness in the past twenty years.

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In an arena like this, where health care, finances, the law, and social services intersect, knowledge is power, and empowerment is a big part of the solution. No victim of abuse is ever to blame for mistreatment, but it is true that some people are at increased risk.

As a group, women suffer disproportionately more from abuse, and may suffer more physical and psychological damage from it.

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The older people are, the higher their risk. Other at-risk groups include people who are socially isolated; people who need a lot of help with activities of daily living, such as bathing, dressing, or using the bathroom; people with disabilities; people who live with someone with mental illness or substance abuse issues; and people with mental impairments or dementia. The last group, those with cognitive problems, faces considerable risk that gets even greater if their disease causes them to "act out" with difficult behaviors.

While there is no excusing such behavior, and it demands the full available range of prevention and intervention, it is also worth reflecting on why it happens. The stresses of caregiving, particularly long-term caregiving for someone whose problems may be extremely demanding, can be overwhelming. While important new research reminds us that, for some, even dementia caregiving can be well managed and yield positive experiences, many people who find themselves thrust into the role are ill-equipped for it.

Many who never harm the person they are caring for find instead that it takes a terrible toll on their own physical and emotional health. Physical and emotional illnesses are more common , and these dedicated caregivers do not have time or energy to attend to their own health care needs. So why do some caregivers turn nasty or neglectful, while others never do? The problem is important enough that the National Center on Elder Abuse has a publication dedicated to the topic, Preventing Abuse by Family Caregivers.

Factors influencing the likelihood of abuse may include how well caregivers and the person receiving care got along in the past; how the caregivers perceive the job and the amount of support they feel they get from family, social networks, and the community; and whether the person receiving care has shown aggressive or difficult behaviors.

The same stresses, and others, come into play in another sad scenario, which is nursing home-based abuse. Sexual abuse, while one of the least common forms of elder abuse, is most often seen in nursing home settings. Another emerging and difficult problem is violence -- sexual, or verbal attacks by residents against other residents, says Mark Lachs, MD , a pioneer in the field of elder abuse research, medical director of the New York City Elder Abuse Center , and a board member of the American Federation for Aging Research. Yet every day, I see residents being physically or verbally aggressive with one another.

Caregiver stress can be a major factor here as well, as nursing homes take in ever-sicker patients , and must often care for them with fewer staff who have less education. Culture always makes a difference, and presents another layer of complexity and nuance for anyone seeking to help. In Chinese-American populations, for instance, psychological abuse, such as disrespect, cursing, and ignoring, is considered worse than physical abuse. There is some evidence that about a third of victims of elder abuse have experienced other types of abuse earlier in their lives, according to XinQi Dong, MD, MPH , a former Beeson Scholar and authority on elder abuse, who conducted the PINE study , the largest epidemiological study ever conducted of the health and wellbeing of Chinese older adults living in Western countries.

Risk Factors for Elder Abuse | Alegre Home Care

Chinese older adults have the highest suicide rate of any ethnic group in the United States. Dong has found that among Chinese older adults, elder abuse was associated with increased risk of suicide by abuse victims, due in part to a sense of shame and stigma. As one study participant described, "Sometimes when I feel bad about things I would rather swallow a pill and die as long as it is not too painful.

Clearly, this is an effort that cannot be left to health care professionals alone, but there is more that doctors, nurses and others can do.

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