Often times I have heard about nursing home abuse on television, news broadcasts, local and national journalists, and the media of residents being victimized. Currently throughout the United States, elderly and non-elderly individuals are placed in nursing home facilities for diverse causes. Aging parent’s declining health, mental incapacity, incontinence, restricted mobility, depression, poor family support, and the inability to function with every day daily task. The prerequisite before entering into a facility by law is to assess each resident’s physical capability, medical condition, psychological state, and financial ability. Loved ones of residents are challenged with the decision to continue with daily responsibilities in their own lives, …show more content…
A 95-year-old woman while being transferred from her bed to a chair is dropped on her head with a laceration to her scalp and internal bleeding to the right side of her head due to a mechanical device failing. Consequently due to the mechanical failure, the sling that lifted her from her bed to the chair snapped sending her crashing to the floor. She died three months later because of these injuries. The National Ombudsmen Reporting System (NORS) uses a reporting tool to measure abuse and neglect in nursing home facilities. “The Old Americans Act in section 712 requires state long-term care ombudsmen to identify, investigate, and resolve complaints made by or on behalf of residents, and to ensure that residents have regular and timely access to ombudsman services”(Bloeman, Rosen, Clark, Nash, Mielenz, 2015,p.3). Complaints to include physical, sexual, verbal, psychological, financial exploitation and gross abuse have been tracked across the fifty (50) states in the United States. “The average findings of complaints were initiated by residents of 38%, relatives/friends of 20%, facility administrator or staff member of 17% (Bloeman, Rosen, Clark, Nash, Mielenz, 2015, p.5). With the progressive increase in the elderly population in nursing homes, resident abuse will intensify and increase. “As a registered nurse, I have seen abuse, neglect and mistreatment of residents” …show more content…
Specific prolonged illnesses, such as diabetes, stroke, and mental conditions, Alzheimer’s diseases are determining factors of placement in a nursing home. Elderly persons who live alone with the inability to accomplish daily functions are another reason for placement. Finally, mild cognitive impairment which is considerably underdiagnosed is reason for placement in nursing homes. Understanding these issues, not all nursing home facilities have services that will provide residents with the necessary help needed. Since these residents must be placed into a facility, and nursing staff remains understaffed, short-handed, and overworked, consequently, abuse, neglect and mistreatment rise to the surface where residents reap this unethical behavior. “Elder mistreatment refers to intentional actions that cause harm or create a serious risk of harm whether or not harm is intended to a vulnerable elder by a caregiver or other person who stands in a trust relationship to the elder, or failure by a caregiver to satisfy the elder’s basic needs or to protect the elder from harm” (Daly, J.M., Merchant, M.L., & Jogerst, G.J, 2016, p.1). “The World Health Organization (WHO) reports that the number of people aged over 60 will triple between 2000 and 2050” (Corbi, G.,Grattagliano, I., Ivshina, E., Ferrara, N., Solimeno-Cipriano, A., & Campobasso, C.P, 2015, p. 297). With this projection, elder mistreatment,
Cooper, C., Selwood, A., & Livingston, G. (2008). The prevalence of elder abuse and neglect: a systematic review. Age and ageing, 37(2), 151-160. Department of Heath (2000) No Secrets: Guidance On Developing and Implementation of Multi-Agency Policies and Procedures to Protect Vulnerable Adults from Abuse.
These rules apply to day to day interactions with everyone in the facility including the patients, families, other health care providers and the public. In much long-term care facility, the compliance of the ethical code of conduct is a condition of employment and those who are found guilty of violating the regulations are severely disciplined and in worst cases terminated. Long-term care facility employs several corrective measures to discipline violators of the code of conduct. Some of the remedial measures include providing additional training for the offender, written warning, and refunding overpayments in cases of billing violations. The disciplining of employees who violate the code of conduct is based on the type of conduct being violated
One particularly horrifying event that occurred was in August 1970 when residents in a nursing home in Baltimore died from salmonella food poisoning. The unconcern for the seriousness of this incident shown by writers of the Washington Post demonstrated a need for federal regulations for the standard of care given by nursing homes. Thus, in 1971 President Nixon and the Department of Health, Education, and Welfare (HEW) established the Office of Nursing Home Affairs (ONHA) to oversee any programs involving nursing homes. The Long-Term Care Ombudsman Program was one initiated by ONHA to “improve the quality of care in America’s nursing homes and to respond to complaints submitted… about abuse and neglect of nursing home residents” (Hunt & Nadell, 2007,
abuse: When the service user lives with the carer, it may increase the chances for abuse to occur as this situation may cause stress and resentment if the carer feels he/she cannot cope. Not properly trained staff who do not receive any supervision or support at work, as well as stressed staff who are going through personal problems, or who do not like working in the care sector, may increase the risk of an individual being abused. In addition, patients who are not mobile, are confused, suffer from dementia or are aggressive or challenging, may also present an increase for the risk of an individual being abused, since the carer
Living in a long-term care facility can be devastating. Residents may feel abandoned by family, sadness because their friends have passed, or a feeling of being stuck. Though there are regulations in place to keep a stand for quality of life, I think as administrator I would go above and beyond those regulations. In my opinion they need to be stricter, but since they are not, I would do my best to give our elders what they have earned and deserve. It is important to consider how a person would want the conditions of a facility that their grandmother, grandfather, mother, or father would be in when they could no long live at home.
Identifying people at risk of abuse and neglect It is important when working in a health and social care environment that service providers are able to recognise or identify people who are at risk of suffering from abuse or neglect. Some abusers are aware the care worker’s role. This role is to make sure that they are able to report concerns and will make user that they don’t abuse or neglect a service user in front of others. In addition to this, it is important that a service provider is able to spot of there has been any changes in behaviour in a certain service user who they are giving help to.
The United States government is doing a surprisingly little amount for the million of elderly who are being abused everyday. An affective abuse policy increasing elderly protection services is immensely needed. The public should also be informed about elderly abuse, and the individuals who commit the crime of abusing the elderly should have stricter punishments. People in society can help towards pushing for a more goal driven elder justice policy. In the article, “The Elderly Must Be Protected From Abuse,” author Robert B. Blancato explains seven goals which should be addressed towards elderly justice.
At Adult Protective Services majority of our work involves investigation of abuse, neglect, and exploitation. At Adult Protective Services our job is to protect the vulnerable elderly population, as well as the population that have disabilities. “Only APS is statutorily authorized and responsible for investigating elder and vulnerable adult abuse and taking steps to protect the victims, and it is generally only APS that helps the most frail and incapacitated older persons”(Quin, 2012, p.68). When abuse is suspected, a case worker will reach out to all parties involved, such as the alleged victim, alleged perpetrator, and all collaterals. Unlike many other professions, case worker are not required to have any written consent to speak with
Having knowledge of social policies is essential to address elder abuse because it is crucial to have valued information to provide to the service user or how to report any type of abuse or neglect with seniors. In Canada, elder abuse legislation is a responsibility of federal, provincial and municipal (Podnieks, 2008). Likewise, the federal Criminal Code (1985) defines the standards for criminal justice through the country. Hence, this code has strengths and limitation regarding elder abuse.
By the end of Confronting Elderly Abuse in America, I was crying and upset. I felt so bad for the victims, and I couldn’t believe that so many people could hurt the elderly. I believe the state stated in the documentary was that nearly 90% are abused by someone they know. It’s devastating to know that those being abused put so much trust in the ones they love without knowing their loved ones are abusing their power. Although, the majority of elderly abuse cases are caused by a loved one or caregiver there are those cases that person abused was picked at random like husband’s grandma.
Hillier and Barrow (2015), associate problems of caregiving with the responsibility itself, the caregivers personal health, role strains, strained family relationships, ect. With all of this strain on an informal caregiver it seems most beneficial to the caregiver and the elderly individual to consider admittance in to an assisted living facility. Once a basis has been established as to why an elderly person is admitted in to an assisted living facility, further insight shall be established to denote what is considered elder abuse. In this movie, Life and Death in Assisted Living Facilities, several
Prospective JD candidate Jane Black analyzes the issue of elder abuse in her article “The Not-So-Golden Years: Power Of Attorney, Elder Abuse, And Why Our Laws Are Failing A Vulnerable Population” (particularly the financial aspect) and creates a solution to the glaring issues that plague the system meant to protect the elderly. Black uses three main points to produce an accurate look at the issues at hand. First, elderly people are particularly vulnerable to abuse making them easy targets. Second, the laws that are meant to keep the elderly safe are weak, thus enabling more abuse. Third, by creating stronger laws and programs, elder abuse can be curbed very easily.
Factors leading to the abuse includes gender, lack of caregiving experience, physical health, dependency, social isolation of caregivers, and health problems. The victim was an old woman of 79 years old. The perpetrator did not have experience as a caregiver.
3.1 “Use a case study from a health or social care setting to identify the extent to which individuals are at risk of harm”. Case Study “Ms. Thompson is an elderly person who suffered from physical and mental and limitations and has resided in a skilled nursing facility. APS had received a report that an individual at the facility had shoved Ms. Thompson head through a wall in her room. The perpetrator was not known, but there was a hole in the wall in which bruises on Ms. Thompson body consistently with reported abuse.
Elder abuse can be referred to as a single or repeated act or lack of appropriate action, occurring within any relationship where there is an expectation of trust, which causes harm or distress to an older person. Elderly people often get abuse by people who should be their protector and carer, in most circumstances many elderly adults are abused in their own homes, in relatives’ homes, and even in facilities responsible for their care. If you suspect that an elderly person is at risk from a neglectful or overwhelmed caregiver, or being preyed upon financially, it’s important to speak up. Learning about the warning signs of elder abuse, what the risk factors are, and how you can prevent and report the problem it’s very vital in protecting the elderly from abuse, some of these abuse are; • Not caring for someone property (neglect) • Pressuring