Elderly Abuse By Zach Diamond

Picture yourself walking into the nursing home to visit your loving grandmother to bring her flowers and spend the day with her. You expect everything to be fine, with excellent care being rendered by the staff of this “trusted” facility. The staff directs you to your grandmother’s room where you find that she is asleep. Upon further investigation, you become worried. You find that she had not been taking the medications that she needs for her well-being. She is soaked in her own excrement with bruises on her face and arms with every scratch and cut apparent. How could this be? Elderly abuse is occurring more and more these days, due to the fact that the baby-boomer generation is getting older and some nursing homes may be understaffed or under supervised. More and more people need medical help with their aging bodies, however nearly one in ten Americans over the age of sixty faces abuse (“Elder Abuse Statistics & Facts | Elder Justice.”). Let us further investigate the topic of elderly abuse in the following text and break down the absurd epidemic to its fundamentals.

History

            Elderly abuse more likely to occur when an aging person becomes dependent in at least one of many ways and needs a care taker to insist wellbeing. The people who commit these abuses can be grown children, spouses, neighbors, or caretakers in nursing facilities. This has become prevalent since the late twentieth century and early twenty first century as baby boomers, ages of 65 over, are more often being admitted to possibly understaffed nursing homes.

Elderly abuse in nursing homes and other long-term care facilities began to gain widespread attention in the 1970’s due to the lack of regulations and care supervision (“What We Do”). However, decades before this, the government was already trying to aid this epidemic. In the late 1950s, State and federal officials were being overrun by the increasing amount of cases where elderly citizens were unable to manage themselves and resultantly created the Protective Services Unit (Bonnie and Wallace 238). Congress soon passed legislation that would give states money to help further aid the Protective Services Unit as part of the Social Security Act (Bonnie and Wallace 239). This organization began to Shape the way that elderly people are treated and care for generations to come.

            There are many theories that try to explain why elderly abuse has been occurring more prevalently since the 1970s. The most popular theory is that caregivers can be overburdened and some perpetrators may have a history of psychological issues (Bonnie and Wallace 240). Perpetrators in most cases can have a history of emotional issues or substance abuses. Other theories include speculations that there may have been issues with child abuse in the past of the caregiver and the tradeoff of dependencies of the now dependent elderly citizen (Bonnie and Wallace 241). These theories explain why the perpetrator would commit such acts, but what external facts exist?

            A study conducted in 1988 by Doctors K. Pillemer and D. Finkelhor, on the topic of elderly abuse in the Boston metropolitan area revealed that 3.2 percent of that population was abused or neglected (Bonnie and Wallace 243). This number may seem low, however, when you take into account every town of every state in the United States, cases of elderly abuse can be incredibly high. In 1999, a total of 470,790 reports of abuse came into Adult Protective services across the United States (Bonnie and Wallace 245). This increasing account of elderly abuse can be explained by a correlation of citizens over the age of 65 increasing and those people receiving poor treatment. The Administration of Aging released information on elderly people in the United States and found that in 2014, people age 65 and older make up 14.5 percent of the population and by 2040, that number will climb to 21.7 percent (Administration on Aging [AoA]).

As the population has been increasing over the past several decades, so have the number of elderly people. External factors throughout the decades can be due to the increasing number of elderly people, overrunning the staff at some nursing homes and causing caretakers to take advantage of the person. It is now the time to ensure that the elderly population is receiving adequate care whether it be within their own homes or in nursing facilities and to do so by reflecting on the history and trends of this epidemic.

Examples

            When an elderly person is being abused, it can occur especially when that person is disabled, including mentally. The perpetrators of elderly abuse will almost certainly make sure that the victim is isolated and rarely has contact with the outside world. Just as an abused child may go to school every day, the family is likely isolated and does not associate with anyone who may compromise the given circumstances, unfortunately. The most common form of elderly abuse is verbal, following physical and financial abuse. Verbal abuse can lead the person to depression and have many other emotional effects. Physical abuse can include neglect, scrapes, burns, rashes, bruises cuts and any other action that inflicts pain. Financial abuse can occur when an elderly person’s resources are being either withheld or misused or any other time that a victim is being exploited in financial situations. This can include forging an elder’s signature, taking property or money, or having an elder sign a deed through deception.

            Senior citizens who fall victim of these crimes may often leave these situations unreported and may not even try to escape the circumstances. This occurs because oftentimes they may feel embarrassed or intimidated to do anything about it. Elderly citizens who experience abuse are three times more likely to be at risk for death as compared to a happy, healthy elderly person (“Elder Abuse Statistics & Facts | Elder Justice.”).

Ninety six year old Eryetha Mayberry was caught on tape being tortured by two nursing home assistants in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma in 2012. Her daughters, Doris Racher, Earlene Adkisson and Sandra Cisper watched on a secret camera as the two nurse assistants stuffed latex gloves into the elder’s mouth, jerked Eryetha out of her wheelchair, and shoved her head downwards to get the woman to lay down. The three sisters initially placed the secret camera in the room because they suspected someone was stealing from their mother, however, what they found was truly disturbing. The great, great, grandmother suffered from dementia and does not remember much, however, no one deserves to be treated with such neglect and violence. The two assistants have been tried and convicted of neglect by a caregiver and served two years in prison. The information on this devastating topic was taken from an article on an Oklahoma news station’s website covering the topic (Hertneky).

Seventy five year old Arthur Green had a lake house that he built himself on property that consisted of everything he owned. He was eventually confronted by his granddaughter who then tricked him into signing paperwork that would hand the property over to her. Arthur’s granddaughter then attempted to sell the property, nearly forcing Arthur to become homeless with not a single item to his name. If it were not for certain agencies with help hotlines, Arthur would not have been able to get assistance from a lawyer and resultantly refuted the paperwork, voiding all the legal proceedings surrounding the eviction of his property. Information on this topic was received from an article on a Detroit, Michigan’s news website about preventing financial abuse of elders (“Older Americans are falling prey to scams by trusted friends and family”).

Solutions

            When an elderly person is being abused and there is no action being taken, it is your responsibility to raise awareness of the situation and to find a solution. Before you can get help for the elderly person, you must first identify the signs that abuse is occurring. Different types of abuse leave different clues behind. Finding solutions can sometimes be difficult for reasons including language barriers, especially if the elderly citizen is a recent immigrant or if they are mentally disabled or otherwise unable to speak clearly. Additionally, solutions can be difficult to find if the person is isolated. Oftentimes the abuser will make sure that the elderly person is separated from contact to the outside world, prolonging the abuse.

The best way to stop elderly abuse is by preventing it from happening in the first place. Many precautions can be taken to reduce the risk factors of abuse, with the most important being education. Raising the awareness of these types of situations has occurred frequently since the creation of the Administration on Aging, a national organization that oversees caretaking and creates regulations for many older adults across the United States. Community outreach is very important to help educate and influence the younger public about how important it is to protect, respect, and care for our elderly loved ones. This can be done in schools and convention centers set up within communities to get the public and even elderly people involved with solving the epidemic. The Administration on Aging has advice for elderly people in the United States to help prevent abuse from ever happening, whether it be that they live in a professional caretaking facility or they live at home with a caretaker. An elderly person must be sure to have their own cell phones, take care of their health, know their rights to intervene or engage the services of a paid or family caregiver to address concerns, use direct deposit of checks, stay active in the community, seek professional help for alcohol/depression/drug concerns, review their will periodically, and to plan carefully for the future with the help of a loved one.

Legal precautions can be taken as well if abuse persists. The Administration on Aging set up a program in 1987 called the Prevention of Elder Abuse, Neglect, and Exploitation program (Administration on Aging [AoA]) . This program “…provides federal leadership in strengthening elder justice strategic planning and direction for programs, activities, and research related to elder abuse awareness and prevention” (1). In other words, it trains first responder professionals like health care providers and law enforcement officers to respond and recognize elderly abuse as well as provides a budget to states based on how many citizens over the age of 60 live in that state to go towards coordinating shelters and counsels for the abused (1). It also provides communities with education campaigns to increase awareness and works in parallel with other multidisciplinary organizations to prevent all types of abuse. The Adult Protective Services [APS] also helps those in need that are being abused or neglected by rendering aid to those in need when abuse reports are filed and working with allied professionals to maximize elderly people’s safety (1).

Many elderly people are in danger because their caretakers are at risk of burnout. Even professional caretakers hired to work in the home of the elderly person can undergo too much tension and begin to take out anger on the person that they are caring for by hitting them, not allowing them to leave a certain room, or even by verbally abusing them. Abuse can even be when the caretaker neglects the patient or even tries to cut off communications with the elderly person to the outside world. For these reasons it is always a great idea to give caretakers a break every once and a while to take a vacation so that they do not become burned out. In Texas specifically, the state APS is using funds provided to them by the Administration on Aging to help primary care physician groups to provide communication services, facilitation, to provide technical assistance, and to help prevent elderly abuse by education related to thorough screenings of caregivers. The goal of the service is to target at-risk care takers with a specialized screening tool to help protect elderly citizens with dementias and Alzheimer’s disease. Having someone else care for your loved one for at least a few hours a week can greatly help reduce stress and is essential to prevent abuse.

Overall, one should always remember that if you are aware of potential or ongoing abuse that you should never fear consequences of interfering with someone’s personal business if their life is at risk. Depending on where you live, you will be able so contact support organizations in your area that specialize in these types of situations. Remember that the only way that abuse is ever stopped is if someone reports it. Also, one must never confront the abuser directly because this could put the elderly person in more danger. Only do so when you have direct consent to remove the elderly person from the threat immediately. For life threatening emergencies call 911. All of these possible solutions would be ideal no matter what the case may be. There should be absolutely no tolerance for abuse and those who abuse should be held responsible and face the consequences for their actions. Elderly people are the most wise members of our society and should be treated with respect and be able to find joy in their lives as long as possible.

 Camus and Absurdity

            Albert Camus questioned the meaning of existence. This topic digs deep into your emotions and belief systems and can only be explained philosophically. “The problem here is that everyone we know and love will die someday, and some of them will suffer tremendously before that happens. How is that anything but absurd?” (Maguire). This quote gives us a philosophical connection between the natural absurdity of man and the topic of elderly abuse. Mankind is absurd in that we cannot live without meaning, however, we are incapable of determining meaning (The Absurdist Explains: What is: Absurdism?). We all care for one another in this world disregarding how cruel everything is around us. Maybe it is just this that gives us meaning in life. To build one another up and to teach each other how to live life to its fullest. The absurdity in the topic of elderly abuse is that if mankind’s purpose in life is found within our own beliefs, the belief that we must care for each other, then why would we resort to abusing the elderly? This would further prove Albert Camus theory that we are all as a species trying to find meaning and order in the universe when this conflicts with what we actually find, being formless chaos.

Conclusion

            Elderly abuse is an epidemic that may sometimes go unseen or may appear to not be such an incredible problem. It is quite the opposite of this, however. Elderly people are sometimes the best resource when it comes to many topics, like history, wisdom, or even relationship advice. Elderly people in the United States have many experiences that make them stand out from previous and current generations. Many elderly people from the age of 65 and older were part of the “Baby Boomer” generation, raised by parents who fought in the largest war the United States  has ever seen: World War II. The Baby boomer generation consists of over 74.9 million people in the United States and is arguably the most powerful generation to exist in modern history (Pollard, Scommegna). Now, this generation is in need of care due to their age as the problem of abuse occurs to those who are helpless. It is now the responsibility of newer generations to see the end of this absurd epidemic as it effects millions of Americans who previously fought for us, provided for us, cared for us, and taught us right from wrong.

Works Cited

“Administration on Aging [AoA].” AoA, Aoa.org, aoa.acl.gov/Aging_Statistics/Index.aspx. Accessed 13 Mar. 2017.

Bonnie, Richard J., and Robert B. Wallace. Elder mistreatment abuse, neglect, and exploitation in an aging America. Washington, D.C., National Academies Press, 2003, www.nap.edu/read/10406/chapter/15. Accessed 9 Mar. 2017.

“Elder Abuse Statistics & Facts | Elder Justice.” NCOA.org, National Council on Aging, 10 Feb. 2017, www.ncoa.org/public-policy-action/elder-justice/elder-abuse-facts/. Accessed 16 Feb. 2017.

Hertneky, Dana. “Caught On Tape: Elderly Woman Tortured In OKC Nursing Home.” Oklahoma's Own - News9.Com - Oklahoma City, OK - News, Weather, Video and Sports, News9.Com, 30 Nov. 2012, www.news9.com/story/20232384/caught-on-tape-elderly-woman-tortured-in-okc-nursing-home. Accessed 14 Mar. 2017.

Maguire, Laura. “Camus and Absurdity.” Philosophy Talk, Philosophytalk.org, 28 Feb. 2015, www.philosophytalk.org/blog/camus-and-absurdity. Accessed 27 Apr. 2017.

“Older Americans are falling prey to scams by trusted friends and family.” WXYZ, WXYZ Detroit, 14 Jan. 2013, www.wxyz.com/money/consumer/dont-waste-your-money/older-americans-are-falling-prey-to-scams-by-trusted-friends-and-family. Accessed 14 Mar. 2017.

Pollard, Kelvin, and Scommegna, Paola. “Just How Many Baby Boomers Are There?” Just How Many Baby Boomers Are There?, Population Reference Bureau, Apr. 2015, www.prb.org/Publications/Articles/2002/JustHowManyBabyBoomersAreThere.aspx. Accessed 28 Apr. 2017.

“The Absurdist Explains: What is: Absurdism?” The Absurdist, WordPress.org, the-absurdist.com/the-absurdist-explains-what-is-absurdism?gclid=Cj0KEQjwrYbIBRCgnY-OluOk89EBEiQAZER58plAeo4tvXEAkDK590cN68IIv9tCSbQumGbHJ35VjLwaAiga8P8HAQ. Accessed 28 Apr. 2017.

“What We Do.” NCEA National Center on Elder Abuse, Administration on Aging, 2 Feb. 2015,    ncea.acl.gov/whatwedo/research/statistics.html. Accessed 7 Mar. 2017.