Elder Abuse
With old age often comes infirmity and dependence making the elderly vulnerable to mistreatment and abuse. Elder abuse tends to take place where a senior person lives as many elderly are not very mobile in their communities. In the home abusers are often adult children, other family members such as grandchildren, or spouse/partner of the elder. Elder abuse can also occur in institutional settings, especially long-term care facilities.
Abuse of elders takes many different forms, some involving intimidation or threats against the elderly, some involving neglect, and others involving financial exploitation.
Physical abuse
Physical elder abuse is intentional use of force against an elderly person that results in physical pain, injury, or impairment. Such abuse includes not only physical assaults such as hitting, but also the inappropriate use of drugs, restraints, or confinement.
Emotional abuse
In emotional or psychological abuse, people speak to or treat elderly persons in ways that cause emotional pain or distress.
Verbal forms of emotional elder abuse include
Sexual abuse of elders is physical contact with an elderly person without the elder’s consent. Such contact can involve physical sex acts, but activities such as showing a senior pornographic material, forcing the person to watch sex acts, or forcing him or her to undress are also considered sexual mistreatment acts.
Neglect or abandonment by caregivers
Elder neglect, failure to fulfill a caretaking obligation, constitutes more than half of all reported cases of elder abuse. It can be intentional or unintentional, based on factors such as ignorance or denial that an elderly charge needs as much care as he or she does.
Financial exploitation
This involves unauthorized use of an elderly person’s funds or property, either by a caregiver or an outside scam artist.
An unscrupulous caregiver might
Carried out by unethical doctors, nurses, hospital personnel, and other professional care providers, examples of healthcare fraud and abuse regarding elders include
Abuse of elders takes many different forms, some involving intimidation or threats against the elderly, some involving neglect, and others involving financial exploitation.
Physical abuse
Physical elder abuse is intentional use of force against an elderly person that results in physical pain, injury, or impairment. Such abuse includes not only physical assaults such as hitting, but also the inappropriate use of drugs, restraints, or confinement.
Emotional abuse
In emotional or psychological abuse, people speak to or treat elderly persons in ways that cause emotional pain or distress.
Verbal forms of emotional elder abuse include
- Intimidation through yelling or threats
- Humiliation and ridicule
- Habitual blaming or scapegoating
- Ignoring the elderly person
- Isolating an elder from friends or activities
- Terrorizing or menacing the elderly person
Sexual abuse of elders is physical contact with an elderly person without the elder’s consent. Such contact can involve physical sex acts, but activities such as showing a senior pornographic material, forcing the person to watch sex acts, or forcing him or her to undress are also considered sexual mistreatment acts.
Neglect or abandonment by caregivers
Elder neglect, failure to fulfill a caretaking obligation, constitutes more than half of all reported cases of elder abuse. It can be intentional or unintentional, based on factors such as ignorance or denial that an elderly charge needs as much care as he or she does.
Financial exploitation
This involves unauthorized use of an elderly person’s funds or property, either by a caregiver or an outside scam artist.
An unscrupulous caregiver might
- Misuse an elder’s personal checks, credit cards, or accounts
- Steal cash, income checks, or household goods
- Forge the elder’s signature
- Engage in identity theft
- Announcements of a “prize” that the elderly person has won but must pay money to claim
- Phony charities
- Investment fraud
Carried out by unethical doctors, nurses, hospital personnel, and other professional care providers, examples of healthcare fraud and abuse regarding elders include
- Not providing healthcare, but charging for it
- Overcharging or double-billing for medical care or services
- Getting kickbacks for referrals to other providers or for prescribing certain drugs
- Overmedicating or undermedicating
- Recommending fraudulent remedies for illnesses or other medical conditions
The above information was compiled in part from the helpguide.org webpage.