When I think of the topic abuse, I immediately think of child abuse, spousal abuse, and sexual abuse (sexual harassment). Sadly, abuse to our elder population in care facilities wasn’t one of the first that came to mind. Abuse happens everywhere, and will affect someone close to use, or someone we know. "Every year an estimated 2.1 million older Americans are victims of physical, psychological, or other forms of abuse and neglect" (Kari Sable, 1994, para. 1).
After reading ‘Ethical Issues in Long-Term Care’ (Pratt, 2010), the discussion on abuse really opened my eyes. Abuse is not just pushing someone down in the dirt and calling him or her names, abuse goes far beyond that. Abuse can come in many different forms. First, there is emotional abuse. This type of abuse can arrive in the form derogatory language to a person, defamation, slander, or even talking down to him or her as if he or she were two years old, when clearly these residents at some point in their lives were independent adults. Another form of abuse is physical abuse. This type if abuse would include causing pain to someone by hitting, pushing, kicking, etc. Although, in chapter twelve of the textbook, I learned that physical abuse also includes denying care that prevents pain, or not acting upon a resident’s request to change a bedpan (Pratt, 2010). Thirdly, we have sexual abuse. It is very obvious to me that there would be residents that were unable to keep up with their ADL’s, and that could include changing their undergarments or bathing. If privacy and personal boundaries were not respected in vulnerable situations like that, I would have to assume a form of sexual abuse was committed even if the actions were unintentional.
Lastly, I was introduced to a form of abuse that is new to me, fiduciary abuse. This type of abuse “describes a situation in which an individual who is legally appointed to manage another party's assets uses his or her power to benefit financially in an unethical or illegal fashion “(Investopedia, 2010, para. 1). I personally see fiduciary abuse a bit different than the other types of abusive treatments that I listed. This type of abuse makes me think of a son or daughter on a power trip, who legally has access to their elder mother or father’s funds and spends it without rhyme or reason that doesn’t benefit the care or concern of the parent. The reason I categorized this differently is because this seems like it would happen more often and go without notice and would more than likely go un-approached and stopped.
No matter where you are, who you are, or how old you are, abuse is completely unacceptable. People must learn to report it even if you are unsure. Hopefully, someday, we could all live in a world free abuse, perversion, exploitation, and injustice.
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