Elder Abuse Essay Example

Elder Abuse Essay Example Elder Abuse Essay Elder Abuse Essay Elder abuse is something that happens in every day society. In this paper you will find the history of elder abuse, the different types of abuse, case studies, statistical reports, and what can be done to improve the problem. Some may wonder why elder abuse even exists in a world that is supposed to love others. As people grow up they are taught to be kind and courteous to others, and to love one another. When elder abuse was first discovered in 1975 it was called the â€Å"granny battering† (Fulmer, 2005). Elder abuse was first researched in the 1980’s. According to Jeffels (2010), â€Å"granny battering† was named by A. A. Baker. This was when elder abuse was first recognized as a social problem. Some states in America began to deal with the problem. It took until 1989 for anything major to be done. This was when an old meeting report was published and was fully acknowledged in the United Kingdom. According to Parker Waichman Alonso (2007) a study was conducted at Cornell University in 2007. This study was funded by the National Institutes of Health (NIH) and was only the second published report to look at patient to patient violence. It can be seen that it took some time for programs to fund research for elder abuse. â€Å"On March 23, the president of the United States signed into law landmark health care reform legislation (Thurston amp; Modugno, 2010),† which parts of this legislation are the following two acts. The elder abuse justice act, and the patient’s safety and abuse prevention act. The patient safety and prevention act makes it where criminal background checks will be conducted for each person looking for employment in nursing homes or other long term care facilities. According to Govtrack (2009), the elder abuse justice act is a bill to amend the Social Security Act to enhance the social security of the Nation by ensuring adequate public-private infrastructure and to resolve to prevent, detect, treat, intervene in, and prosecute elder abuse, neglect, exploitation, and for other purposes. The Elder Justice Act was first introduced on April 2, 2009 and has not yet been reported by the committee (Govtrack, 2009). This act alone should make a great impact to help elder abuse decrease. According to Govtrack (2007), the website states that the patient safety and abuse prevention act is a bill to amend titles XVIII and XIX of the Social Security Act to require screening, including national criminal history background checks, of direct patient access employees of skilled nursing facilities, nursing facilities, and other long-term care facilities and providers, and to provide for nationwide expansion of the pilot program for national and State background checks on direct patient access employees of long-term care facilities or providers. This bill was first introduced on June 7, 2007, and was reported to the community on September 10, 2008. It was never signed by the president and did not become a law (govtrack, 2007). Elder abuse does not just happen in one form, but in many forms. According to the U. S. Administration on Aging (AOA) (n. d. ), the different types of elder abuse are physical, emotional, sexual, neglect, abandonment, financial, and self neglect. The AOA clearly defines physical abuse as the use of physical force that may result in bodily injury, physical pain, or impairment. Physical abuse may include acts of violence such as hitting, beating, pushing, shoving, slapping, kicking, pinching, and burning. Inappropriate use of drugs and physical restraints, force feeding, and physical punishment of any kind also are types of physical abuse. Emotional abuse is the infliction of torture, pain, or distress through verbal or nonverbal acts. This type of abuse includes verbal assaults, insults, threats, intimidation, humiliation, and harassment. Treating an older person like an infant and giving an elder person the silent treatment are examples of emotional abuse (AOA, nd. . Sexual abuse is defined as sexual contact without consent of any kind with an elderly person. Sexual abuse may include unwanted touching, all types of sexual assault or battery, such as rape, sodomy, coerced nudity, and sexually explicit photographing (AOA, nd). Neglect is defined as the refusal or failure to fulfill any part of a person’s obligations or duties to an elder. Neglect may also include failure of a person who has fiduciary responsibilities to provide care for an elder or the failure on the part of an in-home service provider to provide necessary care. Neglect typically means the refusal or failure to provide an elderly person with such life necessities as food, water, clothing, shelter, personal hygiene, medicine, comfort, personal safety, and other essentials included in an implied or agreed-upon responsibility to an elder (AOA, nd). Abandonment is defined as the desertion of an elderly person by an individual who has taken on the responsibility for providing care for an elder, or by a person with physical custody of an elder(AOA, nd). Financial exploitation is defined as the illegal or improper use of an elder’s funds, property, or assets. Some examples may include, cashing an elderly persons checks without authorization or permission; forging an older persons signature; misusing or stealing an older persons money or possessions; coercing or deceiving an older person into signing any document; and the improper use of conservatorship, guardianship, or power of attorney(AOA, nd). Self neglect is characterized as the behavior of an elderly person that threatens his/her own health or safety. Self-neglect generally manifests itself in an older person as a refusal or failure to provide him/her with adequate food, water, clothing, shelter, personal hygiene, medication when indicated, and safety precautions. The definition of self neglect excludes a situation in which a mentally competent older person, who understands the consequences of his/her decisions, makes a conscious and voluntary decision to engage in acts that threaten his/her health or safety as a matter of personal choice (AOA, nd). Some case studies I will discuss are Hall v. Time Warner, Inc. , Bogert v. Morrison, and Ellzey v. James. Hall v. Time Warner, Inc was a California case from August 2, 2007. The television series Celebrity Justice sent a reporter and cameraman to interview Marlon Brando’s housekeeper in her nursing home, which her family sued. The trial judge refused to dismiss the complaint, and the appellate court ruled that Mr. Brando’s will and estate plan were legitimately a subject of public interest, and that the television program was exercising its First Amendment rights. The trial judge was ordered to conduct further hearings on whether the housekeeper would be likely to prevail on the merits at trial, and if not her complaints of trespass, intrusion upon seclusion, intentional infliction of emotional distress and elder abuse must be dismissed without a trial (spotlight, 2007). According to Spotlight (2007), Bogert v. Morrison was from Florida Court of Appeals on November 28, 2007. Mr. Morrison lived in New Jersey but was visiting in Reno, Nevada when he had an accident resulting in a head injury. He returned home with his partner, but his children invited him to Florida for a visit. While he was in Florida, they initiated a guardianship proceeding; his companion promptly filed a petition in New Jersey. The Florida court initially ruled that it had jurisdiction since the first case was filed there. The appellate court reversed after finding that ties to New Jersey were stronger. The appellate court ultimately agreed and ordered the lower court to reconsider whether to award judgment against the trustee of up to more than $200,000. The Margolis ase relies on an unusual state statute, but serves as a warning to spouses who act as trustee over an incapacitated spouses assets. The Ellzey v. James case is from the Mississippi Court of Appeals on November 20, 2007. Mr. Ellzey gave his longtime companion a deed to oil and mineral rights he owned, intending to hide them from the state Medicaid agency. Later he lost the unrecorded deed he had gotten her to sign returning the rights to him. He sued for return of the property, but the courts ruled that his admitted intent to defraud Medicaid prevented him from seeking equitable relief (spotlight, 2007). An Adult Protective Services survey of cases in Los Angeles County showed the types of abuse to be 28% Neglect, 26% Fiduciary abuse, 25% Psychological abuse, 21% Physical abuse. Research indicated that many abuse victims were subject to multiple types of abuse, such as a combination of physical and psychological abuse, or a combination of fiduciary abuse and neglect (LA4seniors, nd). So what can be done to help our senior citizens to live happy and not have any fear? First of all nursing homes should properly train their employees abut elder abuse and the consequences if they are caught abusing cliental. Police officers and social workers should also be trained to look for signs of elder abuse and to ask in a proper manner when signs are spotted. Maybe the general public should be instructed on elder abuse, so that people will see what is going on in our world. There are currently laws being passed to help protect our seniors, but is that really enough. What more can we do. | | * sudden changes in bank account or banking practice, including an unexplained withdrawal of large sums of money by a person accompanying the elder; * the inclusion of additional names on an elders bank signature card; * unauthorized withdrawal of the elders funds using the elders ATM card; * abrupt changes in a will or other financial documents; * unexplained disappearance of funds or valuable possessions; * substandard care being provided or bills unpaid despite the avai lability of adequate financial resources; * discovery of an elders signature being forged for financial transactions or for the titles of his/her possessions; * sudden appearance of previously uninvolved relatives claiming their rights to an elders affairs and possessions; * unexplained sudden transfer of assets to a family member or someone outside the family; * the provision of ervices that are not necessary; and * an elders report of financial exploitation. | References Administration on aging. Major types of elder abuse. Retrieved August 30, 2010 from ncea. aoa. gov/ncearoot/main_site/faq/basics/types_of_abuse. aspx Alonso, P. (2007). Nursing Home Abuse amp; Violence Among Residents Common, Yet Severely Understudied. Retrieved August 25, 2010 from yourlawyer. com/articles/read/12894 Fulmer, T. (2005). Elder Mistreatment Research Today and Tomorrow. Retrieved August 25, 2010 from www. nygec. org/uploaded_documents/AM_3_Fulmer. ppt GovTrack. us. (2007). S. 1577110th Congress: Pa tient Safety and Abuse Prevention Act. Retrieved August 30, 2010 from govtrack. us/congress/bill. xpd? bill=s110-1577 GovTrack. us. (2009). S. 795111th Congress: Elder Justice Act of 2009. Retrieved August 30, 2010 from govtrack. us/congress/bill. xpd? bill=s111-795 Jeffels, S. (2010). Elder Abuse in Britain. Retrieved August 25, 2010 from ehow. com/about_6305502_elderly-abuse-britain. html#ixzz0xeJxHD9K LA4seniors. (nd). Elder abuse and neglect. Retrieved on September 20, 2010 from la4seniors. com/elder_abuse. htm Spot Light. (2007). Spot Light on Elder Abuse. Retrieved on September 20, 2010 from http://elder-abuse-spotlight. blogspot. om/2008/02/elder-law-court-cases-from-2007-usa. html Thurston M. amp; Modugno V. (2010). Elder abuse: national tragedy. Retrieved august 2, 2010 from http://find. galegroup. com. prx-01. lirn. net/gps/infomark. do? amp;contentset=IAC-Documentsamp;type=retrieveamp;tabID=T004amp;prodId=CJ223348926amp;source=galeamp;srcprod=SP00amp;userGroupName=lirn_crevc amp;version=1. 0 S. 1577110th Co ngress: Patient Safety and Abuse Prevention Act. GovTrack. us (database of federal legislation). 2007. August 30, 2010 lt; govtrack. us/congress/bill. xpd? bill=s110-1577gt; {{cite web |url= govtrack. us/congress/bill. xpd? bill=s110-1577 title=S. 1577 |accessdate=August 30, 2010 |author=110th Congress (2007) |date=Jun 7, 2007 |work=Legislation |publisher=GovTrack. us |quote=Patient Safety and Abuse Prevention Act }} 1. S. 795111th Congress: Elder Justice Act of 2009. GovTrack. us (database of federal legislation). 2009. August 30, 2010 lt; govtrack. us/congress/bill. xpd? bill=s111-795gt; 2. {{cite web 3. |url= govtrack. us/congress/bill. xpd? bill=s111-795 4. |title=S. 795 5. |accessdate=August 30, 2010 6. |author=111th Congress (2009) 7. |date=Apr 2, 2009 8. |work=Legislation 9. |publisher=GovTrack. us 10. |quote=Elder Justice Act of 2009 11. }}