Emotional Abuse Of The Elderly In Long Term Care Facilities

There are many serious issues that administrators and nurses who work in long term care facilities have to deal with on a daily basis if they want to successfully run their nursing homes. One of the primary responsibilities of the people involved in the day-to-day care of patients in a nursing home is being aware of the unique needs of each of their residents.

Theoretically the employees in a long term care facility are supposed to do whatever they can, within reason, to ensure that each of their elderly patients is satisfied with where they live, that they are properly medicated, and that they are happy.

The reality of the situation may be far different.

As you might imagine, challenges can arise when a patient or a patient's family is difficult to deal with. Consequently one of the more subtle types of the mistreatment of elderly patients - emotional abuse - may rear its ugly head because of these difficulties.

However, no matter how difficult the patient or the family is to deal with, there is absolutely no excuse for elder abuse.

In many cases elder physical abuse is readily evident when a practitioner or a nurse begins to shove or hit one of the residents. But how can you tell if an elderly person is being emotionally mistreated - or if they are just being grouchy?

There really isn't an exact way of determining if a person is being emotionally abused. However, if one of your loved ones is a resident of a nursing home and if you suspect that he or she is being abused emotionally then you should begin to pay very close attention to any changes in their personality. These sometimes subtle changes can be indicative of a more serious underlying problem.

In addition, you should be aware of what the various types of emotional abuse are.

Types of Emotional Abuse

Although this list is not all inclusive, here are the most prevalent types of emotional abuse:

• The Threat of Punishment - when a practitioner or a nurse yells, threatens, or scares a patient into complying with their demands in concert with a threat of punishment, then he or she is emotionally abusing the patient.

• Verbal Harassment - when a patient is made to feel badly because of put downs, insults and slights they are probably being harassed.

• Deprivation - when a nursing home employee denies attention, medication, water or food he or she is abusing the resident.

• Humiliation - this is closely tied with verbal harassment. When a patient is privately or publicly humiliated the patient is being abused.

• Intimidation - if an employee uses coercion to get a patient to comply with their demands then they are emotionally abusing the patient.

There are criminal statutes that exist that prohibit elder care abuse. Many states have regulations in place that focus on elder emotional abuse. If you think that an elderly person is being abused it is often best to get the advice of an attorney who specializes in nursing home abuse who can offer guidance as to what steps you should take.


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To find out more about Nursing Home Abuse and what you can do about it go to http://www.sokolovelaw.com/legal-help/nursing-home-abuse/

Wendy Moyer on behalf of Sokolove Law.