Nursing Home Negligence And Abuse

Understanding And Preventing Elder Neglect

There are certain obligations that we need to fulfill towards the elderly who are at a stage of their lives when they deserve to be treated with respect, care and compassion. Elder neglect is basically due to insensitivity and a lack of recognition of the need to provide the aged with a comfortable life during their twilight years.

The elderly are usually subject to neglect at their own homes or at a facility where they live their life. It is a tragedy that the elderly have to face such loneliness in their lives at a time when they need companionship and support. These people have worked hard to bring up a family and may have often done so with little regard to their own material comfort.

It is not as if there are no laws to protect the elderly from abuse or neglect, tantamount to abuse. The federal and state governments have set up a number of laws to protect the rights of the elderly. For example, the Illinois state government has setup the Illinois Elder Abuse and Neglect Act in 1988 to protect the rights of the elderly citizens in the state.

The state of Florida has a department of Elder Affairs that renders a number of services to the elderly people in the state and provides conscientious citizens with a means to report elderly abuse and neglect.

It is quite evident that the laws are in place. In spite of the legislations, if elder abuse and neglect continues to take place then we need to take a deep look within ourselves and sensitize ourselves to the needs of the elderly.

The magnitude of the problem can be gauged by the fact that there are at least 2 million elderly American citizens who are subject to abuse and neglect in one way or the other. The population of elderly people in the US is continuously growing. This is because of better health care and life spans. Given the trends, the problem of elderly abuse and neglect is also likely to grow in proportion.

The majority of nursing homes have staff that is well equipped and sensitized to handle the needs of inmates that include the elderly. Some however lack the skilled staff and chances of resident mistreatment and abuse increase thus. Elder abuse may be at the hands of personal nurses, grown up offspring or even spouses.

Besides increasing the number of laws against elder abuse, it is also necessary to increase the severity of the penalties. However, elder neglect can be prevented only by increasing awareness amongst medical health care workers, nurses, doctors and the general public.

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