Nursing Home & Elder Abuse

Nursing home abuse and elder abuse is essentially the same thing, and the only difference between the two terms refers to the specific or general sense of the abuser. Nursing home abuse refers to staff in the nursing home doing the abuse whereas elder abuse could refer to anyone doing the abuse. The main point to understand, however, is the fact that the abuse is being done by someone that is either in charge of taking care of the senior or someone that is trusted by the senior.

Types of Nursing Home & Elder Abuse

There are four distinct forms of elder abuse, and they are discussed in more detail below.

Physical Abuse: This is arguably the most common form of abuse and is the one that is reported most often. During this type of abuse, the abuser does something to the elder that specifically affects him or her in a physical sense. A disgruntled worker, for example, might decide to slap an elder that is refusing to take his or her medication. Another example might be a worker pushing an elder out of the way in order to get somewhere before the elder. These are both examples of physical elder abuse.

Emotional: Emotional abuse is the type of abuse that extracts an emotional response out of the elder; typical responses include intense anger or crying by the elder.

Psychological: This type of abuse is similar to emotional abuse except instead of bringing out negative emotions in the elder it will cause mental stress in the elder. This type of abuse includes repeatedly lying to an elder to get him or her in trouble. After this has been done a few times, the elder might really think that there is something wrong with him or her self.

Sexual: This type of abuse includes any form of sexual harassment or inappropriate sexual conduct.

Legalities

Regardless of the type of abuse that you undergo the important fact to keep in mind is that nursing home abuse of any kind is completely wrong and is punishable in a court of law. If you are considering legal action then you will want to get in contact with a lawyer as soon as possible. A lawyer will be able to give you advice about how to proceed as well as ensure that the abuser is held accountable for his or her actions and is unable to harm another senior citizen in the same manner.