Elder Abuse

Elder abuse is any action that might be constituted as abuse that is perpetrated against a senior citizen or an infirm elderly person. This can include things like physical abuse (slapping), emotional abuse (taunting), or even psychological abuse (threatening).

Causes of Elder Abuse

There are many reasons that an individual could begin to abuse an elderly person, and from his or her position, these reasons seem logical and justified. However, there is no reason that justifies abuse in any form. Some of the most common reasons are outlined below.

Revenge: This is perhaps the biggest reason that elder abuse occurs. When parents are watching over their children growing up there are naturally going to be disagreements, fights, and even tantrums that may have lasting effects on the whole family. As far as elder abuse goes, if a child was abused growing up he or she might feel justified payback when his or her parents become elderly. A number of elder abuse cases will have this as a motive behind them.

Inexperience: There are a number of different cases where lack of experience instigates elder abuse. This is more likely to happen in a nursing home than with a relative. With more elderly people moving into homes nowadays, new homes have emerged all over the country with new staff attending to those homes. This means that on average the typical nursing home worker is less experienced today than a decade ago. Inexperienced people will make mistakes more often and a classic example of that is inadvertent elder abuse. However, it is still elder abuse, and therefore it is still wrong.

Legalities of Elder Abuse

If you are aware of elder abuse then it is quite possible that there will be legal action taken sometime in the near future if people are made aware of the problem. If you are the elder being abused, are close to the elder being abused, or even if you are not you can visit a lawyer and discussing the situation with him or her. A lawyer will be able to give you good advice on what steps you should take next.