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Elder Care News
Chair of Senate Aging Committee Backs New Bill to
Stop Elder Abuse
Kohl joins Sen. Lincoln, Sen. Hatch to introduce
Elder Justice Act
 March 30, 2007 - U.S. Senator Herb Kohl (D-WI),
Chairman of the Senate Special Committee on Aging, today hailed the
introduction the Elder Justice Act of 2007, introduced by Senator Orrin
Hatch (R-UT) and Senator Blanche Lincoln (D-AR). Chairman Kohl, an
original co-sponsor of the legislation, said, "We are finally saying
enough is enough - elder abuse is unacceptable and we are going to act
to stop it."
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Elder Abuse Legislation
Introduced by Senators Breaux, Hatch
Feb.
11, 2003 -- Sen. John Breaux (D-La.), ranking member of the Senate
Special Committee on Aging, and Sen. Orrin Hatch (R-Utah), chairman of the
Senate Judiciary Committee, yesterday introduced comprehensive federal
legislation to address elder abuse and crimes against seniors, and to
guarantee protections for older Americans.
Click
Read more
Elder Care News |
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The National Center on
Elder Abuse, the major source of statistics on elder abuse, says studies
have estimated that between 3 and 5 percent of the elderly population
have been abused, and says the Senate Special Committee on Aging
estimates that there may be as many as 5 million victims every year.
In a 2004 Survey of State Adult Protective
Services, NCEA said findings show a 19.7 percent increase in the
combined total of reports of elder and vulnerable adult abuse and
neglect and a 15.6 percent increase in substantiated cases in the four
years since the last survey was conducted in 2000.
The study, which analyzed the latest data from the
states, found that in 2003, APS agencies received 565,747 reports of
suspected elder and vulnerable adult abuse, as compared with 482,913
reports four years prior.
Our nation has for far too long turned its back on
the shame of elder abuse," said Kohl. "Congress has held hearings on the
devastating effects of elder abuse for a quarter of a century."
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What is Elder Abuse?
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Elder abuse is doing something or failing to do
something that results in harm to an elderly person or puts a helpless
older person at risk of harm. This includes
● Physical, sexual and emotional abuse
● Neglecting or deserting an older person you are responsible for
● Taking or misusing an elderly person's money or property
Elder abuse can happen within the family. It can
also happen in settings such as hospitals or nursing homes or in the
community. Elder abuse is a serious problem in this country. All 50
states have laws against elder abuse. The laws differ, but all states
have systems for reporting suspected abuse.
>>
Medline Plus, click here to section on
elder abuse
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Kohl says the bill takes several important steps to
make improvements to what is now an "inadequate system of protection for
our vulnerable elders."
● It boosts funding for the long-term care
ombudsman program, which serves as an advocate for the elderly and
disabled in long term care.
● It also establishes an adult protective
services grant program and forensics centers that are charged with
developing expertise on elder abuse.
● It elevates the importance of elder justice
issues by creating a coordinating council of federal agencies that will
make policy recommendations and submit reports to Congress every two
years.
● It requires the Departments of Labor and Health
and Human Services to take a proactive role in funding initiatives aimed
at improving training programs and working conditions for long-term care
professionals as a strategy for increasing the number of such workers
during the coming years.
The legislation we are introducing today will go
a long way to focusing more attention on solutions for elder abuse, and
developing new approaches to improve the quality of long-term care.
Sen. Lincoln, who is also on the Senate aging
committee, earlier introduced Senate Bill 40, which would amend title
XVIII of the Social Security Act to provide Medicare beneficiaries with
access to geriatric assessments and chronic care management, and for
other purposes.
More About Elder Abuse
Following are other highlights from Abuse of Adults
Aged 60+ 2004 Survey of Adult Protective Services by the National Center
on Elder Abuse.
The 2004 Survey collected 2003 fiscal year data
from all 50 states, Guam, and the District of Columbia. Most important,
at least two-thirds of the states were able to separate out reports of
elder abuse from vulnerable adult abuse. Among those 32 states
responding, there were 253,426 incidents involving elder abuse, ranging
from a low of 85 in Guam to a high of 66,805 in California. This
represents 8.3 reports of abuse for every 1,000 older Americans.
Other Key Highlights
● In 2003, 192,243 cases of alleged elder abuse
were investigated by the APS in 29 states.
● In 24 of the states, nearly half (46.7%) of the
investigations were substantiated, ranging from a low of 7.2% in
Arkansas to a high of 72.4% in Texas.
● In the overwhelming majority of cases (89.3%)
the alleged abuse was reported to have occurred in a domestic setting.
Who are the victims?
● Older women, according to the survey, are far
more likely than men to suffer from abuse or neglect. In 2003, two out
of every three (65.7%) elder abuse victims were women (15 states
reporting).
● In 20 of the states, more than two in five
victims (42.8%) were age 80 or older.
● The majority (77.1%) of victims, according to
reports from 13 states, were Caucasian.
Types of abuse and perpetrators
In 2003, slightly more than half (52.7%) of the
alleged perpetrators of elder abuse or neglect were female (11 states
reporting). Three out of every four alleged offenders (75.1%) were under
60 (7 states reporting).
Most alleged perpetrators in 2003 were adult
children (32.6%) or other family members (21.5%). Spouses/intimate
partners accounted for 11.3% of the total (11 states responding).
Twenty-one of the states (40.4%) maintain an abuse
registry or database of alleged perpetrators, while 31 (59.6%) do not.
As reported by 19 states, types of maltreatment
substantiated included:
● Self neglect (37.2%)
● Caregiver neglect (20.4%)
● Financial exploitation (14.7%)
● Emotional/psychological/verbal abuse (14.8%)
● Physical abuse (10.7%)
● Sexual abuse (1%)
● Other (1.2%)
Reporting elder abuse
The three most common sources of reports of elder
abuse and neglect allegations were family members (17%), social services
workers (10.6%), and friends and neighbors (8%), according to APS data
from 11 states.
Recommendations
● Accurate and uniform data must be continuously
collected at state and national levels so that elder abuse trends can be
tracked and studied. A concerted effort is needed to create uniform
definitions and measures for reporting. As a baseline, all states need
to be able to provide the information requested by the 2004 Survey .
● States should collect detailed and age- and
gender-specific information on race and ethnicity of elder abuse victims
and the alleged perpetrators. Very little is known about the racial and
ethnic composition of victims.
● Training in the identification and reporting of
abuse should expand to key groups such as utility and postal workers,
etc., who are not traditionally targeted in prevention and intervention
efforts.
● It is crucial for states to collect outcome
data on clients served. This information will be extremely helpful in
determining efficacy of APS intervention.
● With the increasing number of abuse reports,
investigations, and substantiations, there is a need to increase
education, and intervention efforts at all levels, local to national.
● States should collect as much data as possible,
not only about elder abuse victims, but also about the perpetrators.
Little information is available on perpetrators and what happens to them
as a result of APS intervention. Data collection in this area will be
critical for prevention, intervention, and advocacy.
● A national study of APS data specifically
related to the abuse of adults 60+ should be conducted no less than
every four years to ensure methodological comparability between surveys.
The 2004 Survey was conducted by the National
Center on Elder Abuse, with oversight by the National Committee for the
Prevention of Elder Abuse and the National Adult Protective Services
Association. Special appreciation to lead investigator and study author
Pamela B. Teaster, PhD of the Graduate Center for Gerontology, College
of Public Health, University of Kentucky.
>>
National Center on Elder Abuse, click here
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Nursing Home Abuse, Medical Malpractice? Contact a lawyer.
click here
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