Future Epidemic of Abuse and Neglect
Washington Post has a great article by Marie-Therese Connolly about demographics and elderly abuse. Ms. Connolly worked at the DOJ and has years of experience with the nursing home industry. Below are some excerpts.
As though declining health, impending mortality and other challenges weren't hard enough, too often old age is also plagued by abuse, neglect and exploitation.
Science has extended our lives dramatically: In 1900, Americans' average life expectancy was 47. By 2000, it was 77, and it's still rising. Estimates of the prevalence of elder abuse vary wildly, but by some reports there could be up to 5 million cases a year, with 84 percent going unreported. All other factors being equal, victims of even relatively minor mistreatment are three times more likely to die prematurely than those who are not victimized.
Furthermore, our nation is in the midst of three seismic demographic shifts that will put seniors at even greater risk for mistreatment. Older people are living longer, until they're frailer and more vulnerable. They are increasingly alone in old age, given that families are smaller and more geographically and emotionally dispersed. And the pool of potential caregivers is aging and shrinking. We need 30,000 geriatricians: We have only 9,000.
Neglect may sound more benign than abuse, but it usually lasts longer, is harder to prove and prosecute, and can be just as lethal. Thirty percent of seriously ill elders surveyed have told researchers that they would rather die than go to a nursing home. But while neglect of one person is tragic, systemic neglect by a facility or chain housing numerous residents can be catastrophic.
Facility owners may extract millions in profits, leaving insufficient funds to care for residents. Insulated by corporate structure, casting blame on facility staff, they are rarely held accountable. But the news about staffing, the most critical factor in the quality of long-term care, is bleak: A government study in 2002 concluded that more than half of the nation's nursing homes are understaffed at levels that harm residents. Nursing homes receive $80 billion from Medicare and Medicaid annually to care for 1.5 million residents. Yet not a single federal employee works on elder abuse issues full-time.
Marie-Therese Connolly, a fellow at the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars, is former coordinator of the Department of Justice's Elder Justice and Nursing Home Initiative.
