The Shameful Truth About Elderly Neglect

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The Shameful Truth About Elderly Neglect A painful and shameful reality of modern life is that, as more and more people are living longer, they are more vulnerable and subject to abuse and neglect. Senior citizen incomes are drastically reduced, family and friends are reluctant or unequipped to properly care for them, and the elderly are increasingly shuffled aside by a society that has not kept up with the demands of an ever increasing population, and does not have the real means of attending to them in their current numbers. The problem is also more widespread than is commonly believed, and research indicates that a huge number of senior citizens are consistently the victims of some kind of neglect or abuse. Studies conducted nationally put the figure at between 2 to 10 percent, but it is acknowledged that the figure is misleading; many older people are not willing to reveal neglect because it is shameful to them (Lachs, Mark S., and Karl Pillemer.2004.) Not unexpectedly, abuse or neglect by others accounts for over half of recorded instances of maltreatment. For example, a case is documented in Jackson County; Independence, Missouri of a woman living in the home of her son who emergency crews found unfed and in a recliner to which her skin had become fused. She also had an open wound infested with maggots. She died shortly thereafter. (KMBC.com; Kansas City News, 2011). Equally dramatic is the case of two women having starved to death while in a California care facility under Department of Social Services supervision. Even when an ambulance was called and the women were hospitalized for severe malnutrition, no doctor reported neglect as obviously occurring (Quinn, Tomita, 1997, p. 56). This gross neglect breeds other problems. The elderly, ignored or unattended in care facilities or in their relatives homes, tend to suffer from

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