You should respond to at least two of your peers by extending, refuting/correcting, or adding additional nuance to their posts.
· All replies must be constructive and use literature where possible.
Elder Abuse
Simone Delice
St. Thomas University
NUR-417-AP2
Professor Ruben
Due Date: January 11, 2022
Elder Abuse
Elder abuse is an increasing issue in society and a vital public health problem. Elder abuse involves inappropriate action of caregiver causing trauma to the elderly. The elderly can mistreat themselves through self-neglect Elder abuse is a type of violence that defy human rights and can cause devastating consequences such as death or emotional suffering. The National Center on Elder Abuse (NCEA), as a resource centre for national elder abuse, named seven categories of elder abuse: physical abuse, psychological abuse, self-neglect, sexual abuse, neglect, financial abuse, and abandonment.
Physical Abuse
Physical abuse is intentionally using physical force against an older adult which can cause physical pain, injury, or death. Physical abuse is signaled by broken bones, tooth loss, improper explanations for an elder’s injury, and late medical care to an older person.
Neglect
Elder negligence is the caregiver’s failure to offer adequate protection to an elderly adult from harm that could lead to serious injury. Neglect involves the failure to regard the elder’s wellbeing. A caregiver may neglect an older adult if they fail to give medical care, proper clothing, shelter, and nutrition (Robinson et al., 2021). This type of elder abuse is common due to overworked caretakers due to understaffing in nursing homes.
Psychological Abuse
Psychological abuse involves verbal or non-verbal actions by a caregiver that inflict pain or distress on an older adult. Caregivers can inflict pain and sorrow on the elderly through; humiliation, insults, threats and isolation. Psychologically abused persons display signs such as; low self-esteem, depression and avoiding eye contact.
Sexual Abuse
Elder sexual abuse is any form of non-consensual sexual interactivity with the elderly. People doing such activities take advantage of older adults with dementia since they cannot consent to a sexual act (Robinson et al., 2021). Signs of elder sexual abuse include pain in the genitals, sexually transmitted infections and panic attacks.
Financial Abuse
Financial abuse is the unauthorized use of an elder’s resources or assets by a trusted person to provide care to the elderly. This is a commonly self-reported abuse that involves missing property of the elderly, a person portraying an unusual interest in the amount of money spent by the elderly and evidence of unpaid bills.
Self-neglect
Elder self-neglect is the elder’s behavior that threatens their health. This involves the elder’s inability to meet their basic needs and failure to have other people meet them. For instance, an older adult may not maintain basic hygiene and home (Robinson et al., 2021). Signs of self-neglect include lack of food, unclean house and inadequate clothing.
Abandonment
Elder abandonment is the intentional desertion of the elderly by the caregiver. Without formal arrangements, the caregiver may abandon an older adult at the hospital or nursing home. An abandoned elder can get confusion and pain (Robinson et al., 2021). They may look confused or depressed with poor hygiene.
Euthanasia is a subject of ethical debate in society. The autonomy principle requires that an individual chooses whether to die or live. It is seen as morally impermissible to allow a person who cannot decide to take their own life. Some older adults wish to die every day believing that they have lived their years. Elderly people undergoing unbearable pain are eligible for Euthanasia or Assisted Suicide (EAS). In approaching the ethical dilemmas that might arise from euthanasia, suicide and assisted suicide, it is suitable for medical professionals to consider the benefits and harm they cause. It is the goal of end-of-life care to improve the quality of life of the elderly and give them an honorable death. The elderly face many diseases that may cause more pain in their lives. Those that can make decisions should be allowed to make decisions (Akdeniz et al., 2021). Conversely, elderly people who cannot make decisions due to conditions such as dementia are eligible for EAS. The healthcare providers should also consider the ethical principles-nonmaleficence and beneficence. Nonmaleficence focuses on relieving the symptoms that can harm the elderly person, while beneficence emphasizes the signs that cause impairment to the elderly (Akdeniz et al., 2021). Some elderly people who attempt suicide die from abuse. Therefore, it is essential to care for the elderly to improve their lives and give them an honorable death.
References
Akdeniz, M., Yardımcı, B., & Kavukcu, E. (2021). Ethical considerations at the end-of-life care. SAGE Open Medicine, 9, 205031212110009.
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7958189/ (Links to an external site.)
Robinson, L., Saisan J., MSW., & Segal J. (2021). Elder Abuse and Neglect. Retrieved from
https://www.helpguide.org/articles/abuse/elder-abuse-and-neglect.htm
Elder Abuse
Zelene Harding
St. Thomas University
NUR 417 AP 2
Ruben D. Coll, MBA, MSN, APRN
January 13th
List and define the seven types of elder abuse that were identified by the National Center on Elder Abuse (NCEA).
Elder abuse can be defined as the neglect or the mistreatment of an aged individual that could be intentional or unintentional (Gholipour, Khalili & Abasian, 2020). The National Center on Elder Abuse (NCEA) helps in serving as a national wide resource center that focuses on the prevention of elderly mistreatment, exploitation, and neglect. According to the NCEA research, it is evident that among the elderly members of the society at 1 out of 10 aged individuals has undergone at least one type of the discovered form of abuse. Therefore, it is important to understand and know the different types of elder abuse since they can assist in protecting the aged from undergoing mistreatment.
Self-neglect: this is a form of elder abuse that threatens older groups in matters concerning their safety and health. In this case, neglects to take place when one denies themselves with protection and care with the provision of clothing, water, food, medication, hygiene, safety precautions, and an enabling environment. On the other hand, caregivers may lead to the creation of self-neglect whereby they deny the elders the protection as well as meeting their needs thus attracting serious injuries.
Financial abuse: this is a process where elderly people are taken aways their funds or their property without their knowledge or using a fraudulent manner. Notably, this abuse might involve family members or different people who act as their trustees including the caregivers or friends. This abuse takes place since the aged may not be conversant about their financial situation in the bank.
Abandonment: elderly abuse may take place while the group is abandoned by people assumed to take care of them but later end up leaving them intentionally hence deserting them. In this case, a former caretaker may decide to leave the elderly at a nursing home, at the hospital, and a healthcare facility without having a formal arrangement.
Neglect: elderly individuals are vulnerable to experiencing neglect abuse from their caregivers who fails to meet their basic needs (Font, & Maguire-Jack, 2020). Besides, this abuse becomes a result of a lack of human life regard and carelessness towards the old population. In this case, some of the elder neglects involves the inadequate provision of clothing, medical care, danger protection, and hydration and nutrition.
Emotional or physiological abuse: this refers to a type of elder abuse that entails the suffering of the elder group through yelling, insults, and verbal harassment (Gil & Capelas, 2021). In most cases, psychological abuse is the most frequent form of elderly abuse and mistreatment. As well, this abuse may include intimidation, harassment, and elderly humiliation.
Sexual abuse: this abuse entails the force or unwanted sexual relation with the elderly without their consent. In this case, the abuse could be any sexual interaction with the old who may be suffering from Alzheimer’s, dementia disorder as well as various disabilities that could be preventing them from permitting sexual acts.
Physical abuse: this abuse involves an intentional application of force against the elderly group thus leading to physical pain (Rosen et al., 2020). For instance, some of the probable physical signs include burns, bruises, broken bones, sprains, dislocated joints, and abrupt unexplained hair loss.
How would you approach the Ethical Dilemmas and Considerations that might arise regarding Euthanasia, Suicide, and Assisted Suicide?
According to my approach in the matter regarding ethical and consideration dilemmas, it will be critical to approach in a manner that will help in decision making. In this case, I will try figuring the issue, then making identification of the problem, considering the probable facts, analyzing, and making, and implementing the solution. While solving issues concerning euthanasia, suicide, and assisted suicide it is critical to consider ethical considerations to make sure that informed consent is fully practiced to the patient as well as allowing voluntary participation to accept assisted suicide attempts. Then, confidentiality consideration will be practiced whereby being a health professional patient’s information will be kept undisclosed without their consent. As well, the do no harm consideration approach should be practiced by making sure that the patient is safe without harming their health at any point.
References
Font, S. A., & Maguire-Jack, K. (2020). It’s not “Just poverty”: Educational, social, and economic functioning among young adults exposed to childhood neglect, abuse, and poverty. Child abuse & neglect, 101, 104356.
https://doi.org/10.1016/j.chiabu.2020.104356 (Links to an external site.)
Gholipour, F., Khalili, Z., & Abasian, M. (2020). Definitions and Theories of Elder Abuse. Elderly Health Journal.
https://doi.org/10.18502/ehj.v6i2.5022 (Links to an external site.)
Gil, A. P., & Capelas, M. L. (2021). Elder abuse and neglect in nursing homes as a reciprocal process: the view from the perspective of care workers. The Journal of Adult Protection.
https://doi.org/10.1108/JAP-06-2021-0021 (Links to an external site.)
Rosen, T., LoFaso, V. M., Bloemen, E. M., Clark, S., McCarthy, T. J., Reisig, C., … & Lachs, M. S. (2020). Identifying injury patterns associated with physical elder abuse: analysis of legally adjudicated cases. Annals of emergency medicine, 76(3), 266-276.
https://doi.org/10.1016/j.annemergmed.2020.03.020 (Links to an external site.)
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