Elderly Abuse

Abuse in Later Life This topic is one that I find very interesting and have a personal connection with. Growing up I only had one grandparent being by grandmother from my mother’s side and because of this I grew very close with my best friend’s grandmother who was being cared for in a nursing home. I looked at her as another grandparent, another person I could look up to. When she started becoming very ill that was when her family placed her in a nursing home very close to where they lived. The caregivers that worked in this nursing home tried to do the best they could with being short staffed and over occupied with patients, but they were unable to give her the attention she very much needed. The doctors did not think much of the medical concerns she had, but because of this her cancer (that they realized she had after it was too late) spread without any treatment which later caused her death. I understand that this is not exactly abuse, though I do think it has a little to do with neglect. Since this is the closest I come to any sort of abuse that we have learned through this course I figured I would have a bigger interest in learning more about it. The numbers of older Americans is continually growing and the reported cases of elder abuse continue to increase, so I believe this will become more acknowledged by people and more professionals will begin working with older victims of abuse in later life. As I learned from the book and also from an interview with a nurse at Christ Hospital in Jersey City abuse on elders encompasses many and most of the other types of domestic abuse a forms such as: physical, sexual, emotional abuse as well as financial exploitation, neglect, self-neglect and .abandonment. The victim is most often in a current relationship with the abuser whether they be an intimate partner, family member or caregiver. I was uncertain exactly what happens to the elderly victim after it is discovered that there is a form of abuse taking place; Does the victim go into a nursing home if they had not been in one and there is no one else to look after them, who deals with these crimes, is there a system put in place that guides what procedures are to be followed? Susan Conlon, the nurse that I interviewed, answered my questions, but even after hearing my answers I felt unsatisfied. I say this not because she could not answer them, but because I found that there are no set guidelines or real laws for things like this. “Professionals often struggle to determine which organization and/or agency should be the main contact and the most successful interventions to respond in different scenarios because of the complex nature of elder abuse.” Susan Conlon continued on saying that many times domestic violence or “DV” agencies do not consider victims of elderly abuse as part of their target population so they will usually refer these victims to adult protective services agency or elder abuse. In a case where it is intimate partner violence, DV programs could have a variety of “tools” that are unique and suitable for victims of any age. DV programs might be able to offer emergency housing, 24 crisis lines, legal advocacy, safety planning, and support groups for the victims. Being able to recognizing abuse in later life is vital when either an elder abuse/APS or domestic violence worker encounters certain situations. Not being able to acknowledge this separation of elder abuse means that the abuser will continue their behavior and claim that since the workers did not report or bring up any abuse earlier there couldn’t have been any form of abuse. For these cases the worst scenario is that the victim might not be given assistance from any system, or the victim could receive services from one system but not profit from the common resources and knowledge of both systems.