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Currently, there are more than 15,000 nursing homes located across the entire United States. These facilities serve more than 1.4 million elderly residents each year. Over half of these nursing homes are for-profit entities. Much goes into running a successful nursing home – ownership and management must comply with proper hiring standards, Medicare/Medicaid requirements, invest in equipment, and implement services which could include counseling, mental health, rehabilitation, physical therapy, diet and nutrition, dementia/memory care, and pharmaceuticals/medication. With so many moving parts, the most important goal, patient health and well-being, can fall through the cracks.

While we all want to care for our loved ones, sometimes it is not possible – physically, emotionally, or financially. Dealing with a sick or elderly loved one can be difficult, and when nursing home facilities make promises to treat our friends and family well, we expect them to live up to them. Abuse or mistreatment can start out small but turn into a big problem if unaddressed. When visiting your loved one, whether he/she is a parent, grandparent, spouse, sibling, friend, or relative, it is important to always look for signs of potential misconduct. Sometimes they can be explained away, but other times they cannot.

1. Bodily changes

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The elderly population is increasing in the United States, as life spans are longer than ever. According to the Population Reference Bureau, there were more than 46 million people older than 65 years old in the United States in 2016. By 2020, that figure is estimated to increase to 98 million, which means that segment of our population would jump from 15% of the total population to 24% of the total population.

In future years, the Population Reference Bureau predicts a significant increase in the level of nursing home care needed to serve our elderly population. In 2010, approximately 1.3 million people over the age of 65 required nursing home care. By 2030, that number could increase to 2.3 million. Care for elderly people with Alzheimer’s is also expected to increase. In 2013, 5 million elderly Americans were living with Alzheimer’s. By 2050, there will be an estimated 14 million people with that condition.

With the number of people needing nursing home or long-term care expected to increase, nursing home admission statistics are bound to follow. A problem in nursing homes now is when staff members, including aides, nurses, and Certified Nursing Assistants (CNAs), subject residents to different forms of abuse. One of the biggest ways of mistreating a resident is by committing emotional abuse. Emotional and psychological abuse take place when one acts in a manner that causes emotional pain and distress, and it can include verbal assaults, threats of abuse, harassment, or intimidation, per the National Council on Aging.

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June 15 is World Elder Abuse Awareness Day. Over the past year, almost 1 in 6 elderly people experienced some form of abuse, including psychological, financial, neglect, physical, and sexual, according to figures published by the World Health Organization. The organization collected data from 52 studies in 28 countries.

Psychological abuse is the most common form of elder abuse, according to the World Health Organization. Under this form of abuse, a caregiver will call an elderly person names and take other steps to embarrass them, degrade them, or prevent them from seeing friends and family members. Financial abuse involves mishandling an elderly person’s money or assets, such as when a nursing home fraudulently bills the patient for unnecessary medical treatment. Neglect entails failing to meet a resident’s basic needs in order for that person to live properly, including nutrition, cleanliness, and medical care.

Elder abuse is a hot-button issue worldwide, as the number of people aged 60 is expected to double by 2050. Organizations across the world are trying to increase awareness of elder abuse and highlight how prevalent it is, as one study estimated that only 1 in 14 cases of elder abuse actually get reported to authorities. Certain elderly people are embarrassed to report the abuse, while others think that nobody would believe them. For patients with cognitive disorders or dementia, they simply may not remember the abuse even taking place, which makes them physically unable to report it to somebody else.

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When we place our aging or sick loved ones in nursing homes, we trust that they are treated respectfully and carefully. Though we cannot always physically be there with them, we take extraordinary steps to ensure their safety and well being. However, abuse still occurs, and at shocking rates. What’s worse is that most cases of abused are never actually reported. One way to eliminate this problem is to place cameras in nursing home rooms to hopefully end elder abuse.

Recently, a camera strategically placed in a Massachusetts nursing home caught a violent case of elder abuse on tape. The footage shows a 93-year-old resident of Wingate Healthcare being tossed around her room. Two nursing home employees pulled the resident by her hair across her room and flung her into her wheelchair. The two staff members can also be seen threatening the resident with their fists. The victim weighed under 100 pounds and suffered from dementia.

As soon as the footage was revealed, Wingate fired the staff members. The two are both expecting to face charges of assault and battery on a person over the age of 60. According to reports, Wingate has been extremely cooperative with authorities and has conducted an independent investigation in the matter.

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Elder abuse is a widespread but often under-reported problem. Studies show that only 1 out of every 14 cases of elder abuse are ever reported to the proper authorities. This statistic comes at the heels of data showing that citizens of the United States, and the world, are getting older. Worldwide, the percentage of adults aged 65 years or older is expected to triple to 1.5 billion people by 2050. In a recent survey, over 25% of Americans polled agreed that the growing number of aging adults is a major problem.

Currently, the elderly make up 15% of our nation’s population, and as mentioned above that number is expected to keep rising. If the trend of elder abuse and neglect continues to go unchecked, coupled with our growing population of elderly adults, more Americans will be subject to abuse in their lives. Abuse can take many forms including physical, financial, or sexual abuse.

Lawmakers in Tennessee and throughout the United States recognize the troubling trend of increased elder abuse are taking steps to ensure that our older adults are receiving the protection they deserve. In 2016, Tennessee lawmakers introduced legislation that created Vulnerable Adult Protective Investigative Teams in Tennessee, whose goal is to protect elderly and vulnerable adults. One way of accomplishing this goal is to promote information sharing between government agencies across the state.

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Elder abuse and neglect can take many forms. Abuse can occur physically, verbally, psychologically, or financially, while neglect can be reckless or intentional. Unfortunately, the news these days seems to be filled with reports of nursing homes abusing and neglecting their elderly residents. What may come to mind are the images of nursing home staff members physically assaulting the elderly or performing unnecessary and dangerous chemical restraints to subdue patients.

While many nursing home abuse cases involve caregivers harming patients, one particular incident in New York involved one patient abusing another. This occurrence took place last August in a nursing home in Buffalo, New York. According to reports, 82-year-old Ruth Murray was assaulted and beaten to death by another nursing home patient at Emerald South Nursing and Rehabilitation Center.

The tragic event occurred after Murray wandered into the room of an 84-year-old dementia patient. According to medical records, the attacker suffered from extreme dementia and, as part of his care plan, was supposed to be checked on every 15 minutes by nursing home staff.  At the time of the incident, however, both the victim and her attacker were unsupervised, which allowed the attack to take place. The New York State Department of Health cited the nursing home for failing to provide adequate care and fined the facility $10,000, its harshest fine.

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A nursing home in Idaho is facing a lawsuit and severe penalties following findings of neglect. Holly Lane Rehabilitation and Healthcare Center in Nampa, Idaho is one of the latest nursing homes to be hit with allegations of gross neglect of its residents. According to findings by state inspectors in 2016, residents of the home were dehydrated, left to sit in their own feces and urine, and frequently battled infections brought on by the neglect of the nursing staff.

87-year-old Jerry Carr has filed a lawsuit against Holly Lane and its parent company, Orianna Health Systems, which is based out of Bartlett, Tennessee. Carr is seeking undisclosed damages in excess of $100,000. In 2015, Carr had been living at Holly Lane for 12 years when he suffered a serious fall that required surgery and left him hospitalized for two months before he could return to Holly Lane. Upon returning to the home, Carr required constant and detailed attention from nursing staff. The lawsuit alleges many complaints of inadequate care from the facility and its employees.

Among his claims, Carr alleges that the nursing home and its employees did not change his clothes when he soiled himself, did not provide him with his prescribed pain medication, failed to keep him hydrated, and failed to take steps necessary to prevent the fall that caused his severe disabilities. As a result of the neglect, Carr contracted a MRSA infection, which to elderly adults like Carr, can be a death sentence.

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