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Home » Consumer Information » Elderly Care

Elderly Abuse

It’s difficult to swallow, but institutional abuse of the elderly has been on the rise in recent years. Negligent care and nursing home abuse has especially become a rampant problem. Statistics compiled by the National Center on Elder Abuse show that between 1986 and 1994, the number of elder abuse incidents roughly doubled from 120,000 to 240,000. Since so many families enroll their loved ones into nursing homes when they are no longer able to care for themselves, we would like to have the satisfaction that they are being treated with compassion and respect. However, with reports such as the one previously mentioned, we can’t help but wonder if someone we know is suffering from below-average care, or even worse, abuse.

Why elder abuse is on the rise

One way to view this drastic rise in abuse is that it has risen proportionally with the growing number of senior citizens in our country, which happens at an all-time high. Evidence of this rising population is supported by the overwhelming concern with programs like Medicare and Medicaid, social security, and prescription drug prices. Elderly Americans are utilizing their political power to guarantee that certain services are put in place that will allow them to live out their lives to the fullest. As baby boomers and the prior generation reach their golden years, the number of nursing homes and assisted living facilities to provide them with care has jumped considerably.

Another reason reports of abuse are more common is due to the fact that Americans are simply living longer. What was once an amazing feat, living to be 90 or even 100 is no longer as shocking due to modern healthcare and medicine. As a result, residents’ nursing home stays have been extended.

In order to accommodate the growing population of seniors, more and more nursing homes and related organizations have been constructing new buildings. Some of these offer a wealth of care and services, while some are rather mediocre. Second-rate facilities usually employ disinterested, abusive, and inexperienced staff; these people often end up being the primary perpetrators of abuse in these elderly communities. Experts believe in excess of 30,000 elders die from some sort of neglect, maltreatment, or violence in the US each year.

A good portion of senior homes are filled to maximum capacity in order to take in as much profit as possible. The resident population may rise, but the size of the staff may not get any larger. In homes like these, the caretakers are normally pushed to their limits, ornery, and possibly undertrained. Residents are then subjected to lower quality care, as they are abused or simply forgotten.

Elder abuse and the law

As the occurrences of nursing home abuse continue to mount, the legal community has decided to take action to protect senior citizens. Beginning in 1987, as the number of cases of negligent care and abuse started to multiply, the federal government modified the Older Americans Act. The first federal resident rights stipulations were addressed in the 1987 OBRA amendments. These changes outlined the lowest allowable standards of health, safety, patient independence, notice requirements, and fiduciary responsibilities of adult care facilities. Noncompliance in any of these categories would mean the facility loses its Medicare or Medicaid. The facilities are also governed by state law and a “Resident Bill of Rights” that is just as protective, if not more strict, than federal laws. At this time, the federal government also gave meaning to what constitutes abuse, neglect, exploitation, and mistreatment as they pertain to the elderly. There is also state legislation in place that defines what constitutes elder abuse and negligent care. These definitions differ depending on jurisdiction. State law typically acknowledges three general categories of elder abuse including institutional, domestic, and self abuse.

Institutional abuse

Assisted living facility residents suffer from institutional abuse. This includes seniors living in nursing homes, foster homes, group homes, and board and care facilities. The perpetrators of institutional abuse are employees who physically harm, neglect, or take advantage of any resident whom they are bound by law or contract to provide a minimum duty of care.

Institutional abuse can affect a resident in a variety of ways:

  • Psychologically
  • Mentally
  • Physically
  • Socially
  • Sexually
  • Economically

The National Center on Elder Abuse claims that the most common episode of elder abuse is general neglect, or below average service, care, or concern for a resident.

The second most frequent form of institutional abuse is physical. Physical abuse is comprised of striking, unreasonable restraint, using excessive force, drugging, etc. Similar to emotional, sexual, and financial abuse, physical abuse is a heinous act because the perpetrator knowingly carries it out.

Sadly, negligent care and elder abuse are not readily identifiable, and staff members can be very secretive about these despicable actions. It is not out of the question for these forms of abuse to go on for months and even years at a time.

If you or a loved one has been the target of nursing home abuse, negligence, or maltreatment, you have the right to file suit. However, you must not delay your course of legal action because most states impose certain time constraints in which the window to sue expire after a limited days following the abusive incident. The victim should undoubtedly consult an attorney for advice before it is too late.