Senior Population Expanding And So Is: Elder Abuse
By Earl Bolender
Originally published in the Mount Shasta News, November 7, 2001
Having just lost her husband and unable to get around like she used to, an elderly widow decides to hire a live-in helper.
The young woman who gets the job goes out of her way to show her employer she is trustworthy and appears to be an ideal caregiver.
It isn't long before the young woman has access to her employer's $250,000 bank account in order to pay bills and buy groceries.
Soon the elderly woman discovers the money she and her late husband worked all those years to amass for their retirement is gone.
Such is the crime now known as elder abuse; and it is becoming more and more of a problem as the nation's senior population expands.
In California alone, some 3.6 million people are now 65 years of age and older, according to the U.S. Census Bureau, which estimates that figure will double within the next 15 to 20 years.
"The fastest growing segment of the population throughout the United States is 85 years of age and older," says Siskiyou County Sheriff's Department elder abuse prevention officer Pam Cunningham. "A major reason is the advancement in medical care. People are living longer. For the first time in our history, seniors outnumber teens."
This population growth is putting seniors at higher risk for abuse, not only in urban areas, but in smaller rural communities including Siskiyou County.
There are four basic types of elder abuse—physical, psychological, neglect and financial.
Physical abuse includes beatings, sexual assault, prolonged deprivation of food and water, and the use of physical or chemical (medication) restraint.
Psychological abuse includes verbal threats and subjecting a person to serious emotional distress through fear, isolation and confinement.
Neglect includes failure to assist in personal hygiene, failure to provide clothing and shelter and failure to provide medical care.
Financial abuse includes theft, embezzlement, misuse of funds or property, and fraud.
Paul Greenwood, San Diego County's deputy district attorney and head of the DA's Elder Abuse Unit, has successfully prosecuted a number of elder abuse cases. He says elder abuse is increasing because of the vulnerability of many victims—and because victims are afraid to report the crime because they fear retaliation or are ashamed to admit they've been swindled.
"Sometimes the victim cannot even report the crime because of illnesses like Alzheimer's and dementia," Greenwood says.
A typical perpetrator of elder abuse is an adult child or spouse who lives with the victim or a voluntary public caregiver. Elder abuse also occurs in professional care facilities such as licensed nursing homes.
Cunningham says one of the major problems in dealing with elder abuse is the absence of regulations or restrictions on voluntary public caregivers.
"It's the third fastest growing profession in the country," Cunningham says. "That's because anyone can walk into a home and be a caregiver. There has been Senate legislation introduced that would require things like background checks, but all of these have been shot down."
But, she adds, support for such legislation is growing.
Elder abuse also occurs in professional care facilities.
Collin Wong, executive director of the Department of Justice's Bureau of Medi-Cal Fraud and Elder Abuse, provides staggering percentages regarding the poor quality of care provided to residents of care facilities.
He says California has approximately 1,500 licensed, skilled nursing homes, but one in three were cited for having serious or potentially life threatening care problems between 1995 and 1998.
From 1986 to 1993, approximately 300,000 deaths occurred in California nursing homes. Of those, 22,000 reportedly died as a result, at least in part, of neglect such as lack of food, water and untreated bedsores.
"How many incidents of elder and dependent adult abuse occur annually in California?" Collins said. "We don't know for sure the exact number, but the best guess by the experts in their field is 225,000 cases. That's nearly one quarter of a million people under the care of others who are abused each year."
Cunningham, Greenwood and Collins agree that the best way to stop this growing crime is through education and awareness, not only of law enforcement and state agencies, but the community at large.
"We all need to be a little nosy," Cunningham said. "If it doesn't look right, it doesn't smell right, it doesn't sound right, it isn't right. Report it."
Under current law, care custodians—including home health agencies and individual providers, health practitioners such as doctors, dentists, paramedics and pharmacists, and protective agency staff such as long-term care ombudsmen, police and sheriff departments and probation officers—are mandated to report any suspected abuse of elderly or dependent adults. Cunningham says the reporting requirement should be taken further.
"It's really a team effort that needs to include everyone," Cunningham says. "Not just law enforcement and the various agencies, but the community as a whole. Elder abuse is a problem, and we must face the fact that it is not going to just go away all by itself."
