Silent scandal
Why are elderly mistreated?
By World's Editorial Writers
5/29/2009
Maybe stress over a bad economy is partly to blame, or that families no longer are like the Waltons — multiple generations living easily together in the same household. Whatever the reason, there's no justification whatsoever for abuse of elderly relatives who appear — in shocking numbers — to be suffering the brunt of resentments, rage and neglect.
Something's going on in the community and it isn't good. Since 2005, reports from Adult Protective Services show that in the metro area adult and elder abuse at the hands of adult children has jumped almost 38 percent. By any measure that's an outrageous — and dangerous — statistic. But at least, thanks to better reporting, Tulsans are on notice that someone's watching.
But can agencies such as Adult Protective Services, a unit of Oklahoma's Department of Human Services, hope to watch closely enough? What happens behind closed doors often stays hidden until violence has escalated into injury or death.
Russell Jones, an APS representative, said that when adult abuse cases began piling up, authorities created a program — The Vulnerable Adult Task Force — to address the most egregious cases. By following a report from start to finish, authorities are better able to head off recurrences of abuse or neglect.
It's a tall order. In 2005 there were 1,850 reported cases of adult abuse. This year the number is projected to be 2,550 cases.
The abuse often is inflicted by adult children who are ill-suited for
caregiver roles and resent trying to cope with the medical problems so prevalent among the elderly.
Jones recalled a recent case involving a man who severely beat his 96-year-old mother while serving as her caretaker. He was arrested after he withheld medical care and threatened to kill her. That is an extreme case but situations that start out with a little neglect here and a missed doctor's visit there can escalate into a life-threatening state of affairs.
The only positive sign from these alarming statistics is that many of these cases are getting someone's attention. It's absolutely essential for overwhelmed family members to seek help before they do something they will regret. It's also incumbent on neighbors, friends and outside family members to report suspicious activity or injury.
Silence is deadly.
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