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One of the many fallacies of human existence is their selfish desires. A person will go to extraordinary lengths to ensure that they benefit from any action that will be taken. Although self-preservation is one strong characteristic of a human, such preservation at the expense of another person is morally and ethically incorrect. Every life is sacred, no matter if the life is young or old. This paper discusses the social ill of elderly abuse, its reasons, types, and measures that can be adopted to prevent it.
Definition of Elderly Abuse
According to the social organization in the UK, elderly abuse can be defined as 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 (Elder Abuse, 2006). In simpler words, it is an action done more than once that causes the older person some harm.
Types of Elderly Abuse
Abuse to elders can be caused by various ways that may leave the victim scarred for the rest of the life. The most common forms include (Help Guide, 2008)
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Physical: Causing physical pain or injury to an older person, which can include using force against the elders will, assaults, or using restraints or confinement
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Emotional: Causing psychological abuse to the elder by intimidating, yelling, humiliating, or completely isolating/ ignoring the person
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Financial: Committing fraudulent or non-willing transactions either by scamming the elder or misusing personal records
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Sexual: Forcing the elder to take part in sexual behaviors against their consent or sharing pornographic stories or media with them
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Neglect: Intentional or non-intentional failure to fulfill the needs of the elderly healthcare through ignorance or denial of such a need
Reasons for Elderly Abuse
As explained above, elderly abuse may only be due to the selfish desires of a person, or in some cases, the abuse may be unintentional. Most people believe that such abuse can only take place in nursing homes where the caregivers heartlessly make the elders go through pain and suffering. But interestingly, only a small fraction of such abuses take place in nursing homes since only about 4% of all American elders live in nursing homes (APA, 2009). Most of the abuse takes place at home from relatives, children, childrens spouses, or grandchildren. It has been observed that abuse of such sort happens due to some other reason. For example, an elderly living with his children gets suddenly diagnosed with cancer. The additional cost to treat the problem is too much for the family to deal with. This negativity is attached to the elder and hence abuse.
For elders who are helpless themselves may not be able to express their emotional or physical state correctly, and thus the treatment at home by the family may involuntarily harm the elder. (APA, 2009)
Abuse does not have a single pattern and maybe only a reaction to the changes in condition. This may be an older persons growing frailty and dependence on others for companionship and for meeting basic needs, while the family members may not be able to provide the time or handle such needs. (APA, 2009)
In some cases, when the elderly is transferred to the nursing home, the elders can take in some abuse from the care providers. Since the care providers go through giving the same monotonous care services to numerous patients, they get numb to the pain and suffering; thus, their actions may reflect a non-caring attitude. This may cause emotional pain to the elder who looks for connection and safety in the new environment.
References
APA (2009). Elder Abuse and Neglect: In Search of Solutions. American Psychological Association.
Elder Abuse. Org. (2006). What is Elder Abuse? Web.
Help Guide.Org. (2008). Elder Abuse. Types, Signs, Symptoms, Risk Factors, and Prevention. Web.
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