Surprising Things That Most People Don’t Know About Elder Abuse by Their Families
With age, most people lose the ability even to do basic things. Therefore, elderly people depend on their families and caregivers to help them do these things. The unfortunate thing is that some people abuse the elderly who have no power to protect themselves. It is even more frightening to learn that most people are unaware of the hardship that elderly people go through. Here are surprising things that most people don’t know about elder abuse by their families.
Most people are only aware of physical elder abuse, such as active neglect of their needs. However, there are many other forms of abuse that the elders go through ? for instance, psychological and emotional abuse. Although someone is helping an old person undertake daily chores such as cleaning and eating, he or she may be rude. Some people are also impatient and are unwilling to listen to the requests of the elders they are taking care of. It is even more alarming to discover that most of these abuses go unreported. Therefore, if you are the caregiver, you need to become more aware of the needs of the elders. It is necessary you seek to see ways you can help minimize and even eliminate elder abuse.
The other worrying thing about elder abuse is that most of the victims are unable to defend themselves or speak up about the abuse. In some homes, the elders’ movement is restricted to a single room. Therefore, the elder does not interact with other people and has to suffer at the hands of the caregiver. Such a person is not in a position to speak up about the abuse he or she is going through. Therefore, this makes the elders feel helpless and unwanted.
The other challenging thing about elder abuse is the lack of sufficient regulations and protection policies. In many states, the law lacks the necessary provision to protect the rights of the elders. Most of the cases that are reported the victims are left helpless since the law does not protect them. Thus, this creates a need for the amendment of the law to help eradicate elder abuse by their families and assisted living communities.
The time-consuming and costly court proceeding makes it impossible to stop elder abuse. The reported cases take too long for the court to makes a ruling. Also, to file for the cause requires a substantial amount of money which most elders may not have. Therefore, this may discourage other elders from experiencing abuse from reporting to the authorities. It is time there is a review on the court process of settling elder abuse cases. The idea is to make the process quick and affordable to the victims. Therefore, this will encourage more victims to report the abuse.
Therefore, it is necessary for all stakeholders to take action to minimize elder abuse by their families. It is crucial to know that abuse can happen to anyone. Thus. It is crucial to create awareness about this issue.