elder abuse

abuse Elder abuse is a single or repeated act or lack of appropriate action, occurring within any relationship where there is an expectation of trust, which causes harm or distress to an older person.There are five main types:

physical abusePhysical: e.g. hitting, slapping, burning, pushing, restraining or giving too much medication or the wrong medication

psychological abusePsychological: e.g. shouting, swearing, frightening, blaming, ignoring or humiliating a person

Financial: e.g. illegal or unauthorised use of a person’s property, money, pension book or other valuables, often after fraudulently obtaining Power of Attorney, often after a finding of dementia

sexual abuseSexual: e.g. forcing a person to take part in any sexual activity without his or her consent

Neglect: e.g. where a person is deprived of food, heat, clothing or comfort or essential medicationPerpetrators of this type of abuse can include anyone in a position of control or authority, whether that is within a family or institutional situation. This can include a partner, child or other relation, a friend or neighbour, volunteer worker, or a health, social care or other worker.Within the issue of elder abuse there is a hidden fact, that approximately 60% of elder abuse is towards women and that domestic violence in later life may be a continuation of long term partner abuse, or it may begin with retirement or the onset of a health condition. (Silent and Invisible: A Report on Abuse and Violence in the Lives of Older Women in British Columbia and Yukon, 2001)The higher proportion of spousal homicides support the suggestion that abuse of older women is often a continuation of wife assault. In contrast, the risk of homicide against older men was far greater outside the family than within. (Statistics Canada, 1999, 38)

Resolution Remedies
A better way to resolve disputes without the cost and delay of using the traditional court system.
http://www.resolutionremedies.com/

National Center on Elder Abuse - NCEA
Offers fact sheets, reporting numbers, news, a list of NCEA publications, bibliographies, statistics and resources.
http://www.elderabusecenter.org/

National Committee to Prevent Elder Abuse - NCPEA
This association of researchers, practitioners, educators, and advocates offers several publications. The site has an expert questions and answer feature.
http://preventelderabuse.org/

National Library of Medicine
The world's largest medical library. It collects materials in all major areas of the health sciences and to a lesser degree in such areas as chemistry, physics, botany and zoology.
http://www.nlm.nih.gov/