Few doctors report abuse of elderly patients
Sunday, August 10, 2008
By Tracy Breton
Journal Staff Writer
Doctors in almost every state are required by law to report suspected elder abuse of their patients. But hardly any of them do, even if they fear that their silence may subject an elderly person to continued abuse at the hands of a caregiver.
Physicians report just 2 percent of the elder abuse and neglect cases recorded each year by state protective service agencies, according to medical and legal experts and recent articles published in medical journals. One study, published in 2005 in a journal focusing on geriatric medicine, says that the actual figure may be even lower.
The lack of physician reporting is a huge problem, experts say, because as the elderly population continues to grow and doctors become ever more pressed for time in meeting the demands for care, more elder abuse will go undetected.
Doctors are often the only people outside an elderly victim’s home who have contact with the victim. If they don’t blow the whistle, who will?
THERE ARE a myriad of reasons why doctors don’t report elder abuse, say experts who have studied the issue.
“Sometimes physicians don’t know what they’re looking at because, historically, there has not been education on elder abuse provided in medical training,” says Candace Heisler, a lawyer who spent 25 years prosecuting domestic violence cases in San Francisco and now works as an elder abuse consultant. “There are relatively few medical schools that have any specialized geriatrics training and there are relatively few geriatricians.”
Says Kohn: “Elder abuse is often hidden. You don’t necessarily see the bruises or the broken ribs. Most elder abuse clients don’t have a bruise to show for it.” Those who do, he says, often won’t go to their doctor until after their wounds have healed.
Abridged
SOURCE: Providence Journal
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