Article: Elder abuse

Elder abuse is a single or repeated act or lack of appropriate action, occurring within any relationship where there is an expectation of trust, which causes harm or distress to an older person.

There are six main type of abuse of the elderly:

• Physical: e.g. hitting, punching, slapping, burning, pushing, restraining or giving too much medication or the wrong medication
• Psychological: e.g. shouting, swearing, frightening, blaming, ignoring or humiliating a person, also common is threatening to place the person in a nursing home even though the person's physical or mental condition may not require such
• Financial: e.g. illegal or unauthorised use of a person’s property, money, pension book or other valuables (including changing the person's will to name the abuser as heir), often fraudulently obtaining power of attorney, followed by deprivation of money or other property, or by eviction from own home.
• Sexual: e.g. forcing a person to take part in any sexual activity without his or her consent
• Neglect: e.g. where a person is deprived of food, heat, clothing or comfort or essential medication
• Rights abuse, by denying the civil and constitutional rights of people who are old, but not declared by court to be mentally incapable.

Perpetrators of this type of abuse can include anyone in a position of control or authority, whether that is within a family or institutional situation. This can include a partner, child or other relation, a friend or neighbour, volunteer worker, or a health, social care or other worker. A typical example is administering medication by force, practiced in many nursing homes. In one such case nurses were laughing that it took five of them to subdue a little old woman for an injection she had not wanted. In America FBI actively investigates civil-rights violations, but such investigations involving the elderly is generally unheard of.

Within the issue of elder abuse there is a hidden fact, that approximately 60% of elder abuse is towards women and that domestic violence in later life may be a continuation of long term partner abuse, or it may begin with retirement or the onset of a health condition. (Silent and Invisible: A Report on Abuse and Violence in the Lives of Older Women in British Columbia and Yukon, 2001)

National reported cases of elder abuse indicated that about 2/3 of the victims are women, 1/3 male. This training and manual will focus primarily onservices for women, although many interventions such as safety plans, protective orders, etc. may be useful and are available for older male victims too. (Wisconsin Coalition against Domestic Violence)

The higher proportion of spousal homicides support the suggestion that abuse of older women is often a continuation of wife assault. In contrast, the risk of homicide against older men was far greater outside the family than within. (Statistics Canada, 1999, 38)

Elder abuse can also include deserting an elderly, dependent person with the intent to abandon them or leaving them unattended at a place for such a time period as may be likely to endanger their health or welfare. (Oregon Revised Statutes)

Strangers are not the only perpetrators of crime upon the elderly, it is estimated each year 1 million elderly Americans are physically, psychologically, sexually or financially abused by relatives^[1] The true number of elder abuse by a relative is difficult to estimate, due to the subtleties that must be maintained between family members, this is highlighted by more than 70% of abuse cases being reported by third parties. The relative that is the perpetrator of the abuse is usually the spouse (59%), rather than the children (24%). Unexpectedly the abused person is usually not dependent upon the abuser, but rather the abuser is dependent upon the abused. Such abuse usually comes during retirement when relative face difficulties with changed living patterns, that accompanies the stresses of constant companionship. With the ageing of the population, elder abuse will naturally increase. The family is societies most violent institution and location for elderly abuse^[2] The most common form of elder abuse is simply neglect and lack of care.