Elder abuse is constantly increasing nowadays. Elder abuse is any type of harm to elderly citizens in emotional or physical injuries, financial exploitation, and sexual assault. All these things are usually faced by the residents of the nursing homes who live in long-term care facilities.
The residents’ families put their trust in nursing homes to watch over their loved ones so that they can be cured as soon as possible, yet nursing homes don’t always provide the expected secure environments. The nursing homes are the epitome of good hospitality, but it is, unfortunately, vanishing away.
Reports of elders suffering various forms of nursing home abuse have made big headlines recently in every country. Elder abuse cases are increasing in every country, and this needs to get stopped as soon as possible.
It is pretty surprising that most of all the abuse is done by the nursing home staff, the very people hired to take utmost care of the residents. Other issues related to finance are the result of senior care corporations, which may sacrifice proper staff training and hospitality, and other quality and ethics measures to make a profit and bill out the minimum services they render to the residents.
Statistics On Elder Abuse:
- According to the World Health Organization, recent years have shown that 6 out 1 elder people in a nursing home face elderly abuse, and recently the cases are increasing rapidly.
- The residents’ families register nearly 1 out of 3 nursing homes for elderly abuse.
Types Of Elderly Abuse:
There are many elderly cases of abuse done by the nursing homes, and further, we will discuss it in detail.
Physical Abuse:
Physical abuse is one of the most prominent forms of abuse faced by the residents of nursing homes. You will be shocked to know that death cases because of physical abuse in nursing homes are pretty high. There are some warning signs which will help you trace out if there is some severe physical abuse. Some of them include:
- Broken bones are the most painful and the worst physical abuse that affects the body of the residents.
- Bruises, sprains, tooth loss, and sudden hair loss are prominent signs and are considered pretty serious physical abuse that needs quick action.
- Sometimes the signs are not so traceable on the bodies of the individual; then, you can trace out by experiencing some discomfort from the elder towards any nursing staff or any individual.
Sexual Elder Abuse:
Sexual elder abuse is a forced unwanted interaction of any kind towards a nursing home resident. This abuse is usually traced to those innocent individuals who have Alzheimer’s or dementia, who tend to forget everything in a short period of time. Some severe signs that you can easily trace out includes:
- Social and emotional withdrawal is one of the easiest ways through which you can see if the individual is going through something really serious.
- Frequent panic and anxiety attacks are pretty common in the residents. The residents have sleeping disorders, and they tend to get up in the mid-night because of recurring nightmares that snatch their peaceful sleep away.
- Pain in their intimate areas and also while sitting and walking. If you feel that there is something wrong with their walking and sitting pattern, you must ask them about it and ensure that they are vocal about their sufferings.
Emotional and psychological abuse:
Emotional and psychological abuse is one of the most challenging abuse to trace out in older adults as they tend to hide it easily because they do not want to stress you out about it. It does not contain any physical tracing out signs, so it becomes hard for you to know them.
Emotional abuse is usually an intentional act that includes fear, mental pain, or distress on an elder. If the individual does not talk much, it can be possible that they are facing some psychological abuse. This abuse is usually done through insults, humiliation, threats, and isolation. Some of the signs include:
- Attempting to hurt themselves, if you see any physical signs on their body, can also be because of the abuse.
- Avoiding eye contact, low self-esteem, and cutting themselves off from any social gatherings and mood swings are usually easily found in the individuals facing this issue or abuse.
- Isolating themselves from their family or loved ones is one of the most heart-wrenching signs, and if you feel like this is happening, then there is a need to take strict actions against this abuse and protect your loved one from any further suffering.
How To Stop These Elder Abuse?
Elder abuse is not something that you must avoid; if you believe your dear one is suffering from nursing home abuse, you have a lot of options. If you feel that there is something wrong in the services of the nursing home, report any signs of abuse to authorities and take legal action so that you can put a stop to elder abuse.
You can take the help of an attorney and file a case against the people who are abusing innocent elderly people. If you are looking for one such attorney, you can visit https://www.foryourrights.com/boca-raton/elder-abuse-attorney/ and take appropriate action for the ill practices.
If your loved one has been injured due to the wrongful act or negligence of a nursing home and its staff members? If any malicious activities have affected your dear ones or even you in any way, then taking accurate and proper measures is the solution.
Bottom Lines:
Elder abuse is significantly increasing a lot which is not a good thing and if you really want to do something for it then you must take strict legal actions so that you can also protect the people who might face this abuse in the future.
This article contains all the necessary information that will guide you if your close one is facing any elder abuse in the nursing homes. Next time you must once go through this article so that you can take appropriate actions.
