What is elder abuse?
Elder abuse may be domestic or institutional. Domestic elder abuse refers to maltreatment of an older person residing in his/her own home or the home of a caregiver. Institutional abuse refers to the maltreatment of an older person residing in a residential facility for older persons, e.g., a nursing home, board and care home, foster home, or group home.
Elder abuse of individuals in the community takes many forms, and in most cases victims are subjected to more than one type of mistreatment. In Missouri, over 50% of elder abuse reports allege physical neglect (to include self neglect); 10% allege financial exploitation; 8% allege physical abuse; and over 9% allege emotional abuse. • Abuse – the infliction of physical, sexual, or emotional injury or harm including financial exploitation by any person, firm, or corporation. • Neglect – the failure to provide services to an eligible adult by any person, firm or corporation with a legal or contractual duty to do so, when such failure presents either an imminent danger to the health, safety, or welfare of the client or a substantial probability that death or serious physical harm would result. • Eligible Adult – a person sixty years of age or old who is unable to protect his or her own interests or adequately perform or obtain services which are necessary to meet his or her essential human
Elder abuse law in California largely focuses on the “Elder Abuse and Dependent Adult Civil Protection Act (EADACPA)”. Abuse under an EADACPA claim in a civil action includes “physical abuse, neglect, fiduciary abuse, abandonment, isolation or other treatment with resulting physical harm or pain or mental suffering, the deprivation by a care custodian of goods or services which are necessary to avoid physical harm or mental suffering.
Federal definitions of elder abuse, neglect, and exploitation appeared for the first time in the 1987 Amendments to the Older Americans Act. These definitions were provided in the law only as guidelines for identifying the problems and not for enforcement purposes. Currently, elder abuse is defined by state laws, and in Connecticut, the definitions are found in the Connecticut General Statutes, Sec.17b-450. Domestic elder abuse generally refers to any of several types of maltreatment of an older person by someone who has a special relationship with the elder (e.g., a spouse, a sibling, a child, a friend, or a caregiver in the older person’s own home or in the home of a caregiver.) Institutional abuse, on the other hand, generally refers to any of the types of abuse that occur in residential facilities for older persons (e.g., nursing homes, foster homes, group homes, board and care facilities). Perpetrators of institutional abuse usually are persons who have a legal or contractual obli
Elder abuse is the infliction of physical, emotional, or psychological harm on an older adult. Elder abuse also can take the form of financial exploitation or intentional or unintentional neglect of an older adult by the caregiver. • Physical abuse can range from slapping or shoving to severe beatings and restraining with ropes or chains. When a caregiver or other person uses enough force to cause unnecessary pain or injury, even if the reason is to help the older person, the behavior can be regarded as abusive. Physical abuse can include hitting, beating, pushing, kicking, pinching, burning, or biting. It can also include such acts against the older person as over- or under-medicating, depriving the elder of food, or exposing the person to severe weather-deliberately or inadvertently. • Emotional or psychological abuse can range from name-calling or giving the “silent treatment” to intimidating and threatening the individual. When a family member, a caregiver, or other person behaves
