Blog #3: Wild Card

Domestic violence against the elderly is more common than one would think. Although most of society cannot fathom the thought of abusing an elderly person, there are many people that do it every day. According to the article, every year there are tens of thousands of elderly Americans abused in their own homes, in relatives’ homes, and even in facilities responsible for their care. There are many different types of abuse such as physical, mental, emotion, sexual, financial exploitation and many others. Often when an elder is getting abused there are more than one types of abuse occurring.

The most common signs of an abused elder are when they become argumentative with their care-giver and changes in their personality/behavior. An elderly person is just like everyone else, and is often fearful to report abuse. Also, some elderly people do not even realize they are being abused so if asked about it they get frustrated and angry. According to the article that for every one case of abuse against an elder there are at least twelve to thirteen cases not being reported. That statistic is very scary. If someone suspects that an elder is being abused they should first question the elderly person themselves, then involve the elder’s doctors.

I cannot understand how a person could even think of abusing another person; however abuse happens every day and is often left unreported. Abuse against the elderly in particular is a very important topic to me, as my own grandmother was the worst case of domestic abuse in the state of Maine in 2006. My parents did everything they could to protect my grandmother against my uncle, however the laws that were in place at the time were against my parents are on my Uncle’s side. My grandmother was both physically abused and financially exploited, but it took my grandmother eventually dying to have the authorities finally realize their legal system was flawed. As a result of this situation, I feel that it is very important to educate people on the signs of abuse and how to report the abuse. No matter how much an elderly person denies being abuse, if you suspect abuse then there is usually a reason why you’re suspecting it.

http://www.athealth.com/Consumer/Disorders/DomViolFacts.html