Elder Abuse in LTC

The 2001 Waxman Report had some very alarming statistics:

One out of every 3 nursing homes in the United States was cited for elder abuse.

Of the 9,000 complaints of abuse between January 1999 and January 2001 3,800 were not discovered by inspectors. Instead the abuse did not come to light until a formal complaint was made.

For every case of abuse that is reported it is estimated that another 5 cases go unreported.
http://www.ltcombudsman.org/ombpublic/49_369_1847.CFM


According to the Safestate website in California alone elder abuse has grown 25% with 2/3’s being committed by the family members. One might infer that this increase is because family members are taking more of an active role in caring for their elder family members then placing them in facilities. Elder abuse can not only include physical and psychological harm but financial abuse as well. Nationally it is estimated 1 in 20 elderly persons will be abused in their lifetime.
http://safestate.org/index.cfm?navId=11


As a society how do we combat this problem?

The statistics above are alarming and disturbing. Even with the great strides that have been made since the Waxman report of 2001 there is still a long way to go to protecting our elders from abuse. In 2006 the NCCNHR campaign kicked off a 2 year campaign to improve the quality of long term care facilities. This is a collaborative project involving legislators, administrators and consumers with the goal of improving nursing home care. The NCCNHR boost they have a 45.6% participation rate of nursing homes at this time in their program.
http://www.nhqualitycampaign.org/

Other ways to combat this problem is increase public awareness. Every state is required to have an Obudsman representative where people can address their concerns and complaints to. The Obudsman program in Florida is a volunteer based program but operates under state and Federal law. If someone suspects elder abuse in a long term care facility contacting the LTC administrator or your state’s Obudsman representative is the first step to stopping the abuse.
http://ombudsman.myflorida.com/

In order to break the cycle of abuse we need to arm ourselves with the knowledge to combat it. This means increased training for employees in LTC facilities, awareness campaigns for family members and arming those residents in LTC facilities with the information of where to report abuse. As a society we need to demand tougher regulation and fines for those LTC facilities that have repeated complaints. The screening process for employees of LTC needs to be more stringent and consistent across the board. Increasing public awareness of this problem is the first step in combating it.