MPS Urges Doctors To Remain Vigilant For Signs Of Elder Abuse
05 Oct 2008
With the elderly community set to be celebrated on International Day of Older Persons (1 October), a leading professional indemnity provider is urging its members to remain alert to potential indicators that senior citizens have been abused.The Medical Protection Society (MPS) says it is issuing the advice partly because there is a greater tendency in the media, and society generally, to focus on abuse of children, rather than that of older people, which often remains invisible.Despite this relative lack of awareness, MPS draws attention to claims from the charity Action on Elder Abuse, that 4% of old people in the UK have been abused. Figures from the Office for National Statistics, issued last month, have confirmed that, for the first time, there are now more people of state pensionable age in the UK than under-16s, with the over-80s being the fastest-growing age group of all.
* Dr Stephanie Bown, MPS director of communications and policy, said: "Elder abuse can take various forms; physical and financial abuse is probably the most common, but abuse can also be psychological or sexual.
Dr Bown also said: "The International Day of Older Persons is a particularly appropriate time to remind all doctors and healthcare workers about this widespread, but often concealed problem. Signs of elder abuse can be subtle and clinicians are understandably reluctant to raise concerns which may prove to be unfounded. "However, doctors have a key role in both identifying and preventing abuse, and a responsibility to protect vulnerable patients from harm. The patient's interests must always be the doctor's primary concern and, sometimes, this will mean probing more deeply to explore whether the patient's symptoms are a manifestation of abuse.
Abridged
SOURCE: Medical News Today
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