Elder Abuse: What is it and Who is to Blame?

Elder abuse in America is, unfortunately, no longer uncommon. Next to children, the elderly are the most vulnerable and susceptible to possible abuse. This is further enhanced by the fact that the elderly are often isolated socially and mentally impaired. The rising number of elderly suffering from Alheimer's and other forms of dementia help to make them easy targets for mistreatment.

Abuse of the elderly doesn't always take place in a nursing home. It also takes place in high priced retirement communities, within the individual's own home, the home of a family member, and even right out in public.

Those who abuse the elderly are not easy to identify. You cannot look at someone and automatically say, he (or she) probably abuses the elderly. They are much more clever at hiding their true nature. But just like bullies in a school yard, these individuals get off on taking advantage of the elderly because they can't stand up for themselves.

My husband certainly had no inkling, when he placed his mother in a nursing home, she would suffer at the hands of her supposed healers. He counted on the doctors and nurses there to protect and take care of her because she was too ill to remain at home. A combination of strokes had destroyed her mind and the disintegration of the discs in her back had left her immobile. She required around the clock medical care. Instead of that much needed care, however, she died at the hands of an angry intern.

Abusers may be professional caregivers - - as was the case with my mother-in-law - - or they may be relatives, spouses, partners, or even complete strangers. Elder abuse is a complex issue. Although most people recognize its existence, there is no clear cut definition of everything that it encompasses. In truth, abuse can take on one or more forms, including mental, emotional, social, economic, and the most obvious - - physical.