Likely targets are older adults who have no family or friends nearby and people with disabilities, memory problems , or dementia. Abuse can happen to any older adult, but often affects those who depend on others for help with activities of everyday life — including bathing, dressing, and taking medicine.
People who are frail may appear to be easy victims. Financial abuse is becoming a widespread and hard-to-detect issue. Even someone you've never met can steal your financial information using the telephone, internet, or email. Be careful about sharing any financial information over the phone or online — you don't know who will use it.
Financial exploitation is the misuse, mismanagement, or exploitation of property, belongings, or assets. Health care fraud can be committed by doctors , hospital staff, or other health care workers.
It includes overcharging, billing twice for the same service, falsifying Medicaid or Medicare claims, or charging for care that wasn't provided. Older adults and caregivers should keep an eye out for this type of fraud.
You may see signs of abuse or neglect when you visit an older adult at home or in an eldercare facility. You may notice the person:. If you see signs of abuse, try talking with the older adult to find out what's going on. For instance, the abuse may be from another resident and not from someone who works at the nursing home or assisted living facility.
Most importantly, get help or report what you see to adult protective services. You do not need to prove that abuse is occurring. Professionals will investigate. Research estimates that approximately one in ten older adults living in their homes experience elder abuse each year Acierno et al. In addition, evidence is emerging that shows this rate is especially high in racial and ethnic minority groups Beach et al. The current economic crisis has further exacerbated the problem, as the frequency of reported financial exploitation of older adults which is often coupled with other forms of abuse has increased MetLife, Yet research suggests that cases of elder abuse are significantly underreported.
Furthermore, a significant number of elder abuse cases that are actually reported or identified end up slipping through the cracks due to a lack of coordination among service providers Brandl et al.
Unfortunately, as 77 million baby boomers age, the problem is only expected to worsen. Census Bureau, When we look at the projected population increase by race and Hispanic origin, we see that the population is becoming more racially and ethnically diverse requiring communities to think through how they will provide language and culturally relevant services.
While great strides have been made in recent decades to improve responses to child abuse and domestic violence, elder abuse lags far behind in terms of recognition and attention. In the most heartbreaking cases, it means the complete loss of savings earned through decades of hard work. Elder abuse also is a critical public health issue.
Survivors report higher rates of depression. They often withdraw from social interactions, and many blame themselves, which results in shame and silence and magnifies these effects.
They are three times more likely to die prematurely. Elder abuse intersects other public health concerns as well. For example, social isolation is associated with many negative health outcomes and also increases the risk of abuse. Elder abuse also overlaps with the opioid crisis.
The conditions that prescription opioids are used to treat are more prevalent in older adults, making their medicine cabinets a target for theft.
Addiction can drive family members to target the life savings of vulnerable elders to pay for drugs -- and to become violent if denied.
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