There are federal and state laws addressing the abuse of senior citizens and other vulnerable adults, with state laws having precedence over federal laws. While the states are usually responsible for prosecuting cases of elder abuse, federal statutes help define elder abuse.
What is Elder Abuse?
Elder abuse is committed when someone mistreats a senior citizen physically, emotionally or sexually. It also includes abandoning or neglecting an elderly person or exploiting them for financial or material gain. While most people consider a senior citizen someone over the age of 60 or 65, these laws can apply to adults at any age, if they are vulnerable due to mental or medical disabilities.
Types of Elder Abuse
As a Florida elder law lawyer can explain, there are several types of elder abuse recognized by state laws across the country, including:
- Physical
- Emotional or psychological
- Sexual
- Neglect
- Financial Exploitation
- Abandonment
Physical Abuse
Since many seniors are in frail health, minor physical acts can injure them, especially when inflicted intentionally. Along with typical abusive contact, such as hitting, beating, shaking, kicking or pushing, these acts can also include:
- Pinching
- Burning
- Force-feeding
- Inappropriate, excessive use of physical restraints or drugs.
- Holding someone against their will.
Emotional or Psychological Abuse
These acts are abusive if they inflict emotional pain, anguish or distress, but they are not always verbal. Along with common acts of name calling, insults, harassment, and threats emotional or psychological abuse also includes:
- Humiliating a senior citizen.
- Treating elderly people like children.
- Using the silent treatment.
- Isolation from friends or family.
Sexual Abuse
Sexual elder abuse is the same as sexual abuse of any person of any age, which is non-consensual sexual contact of any kind. It’s also abuse if the victim is incapable of giving consent or cannot understand what’s happening to him or her. These acts include unwanted touching, forced nudity, taking sexual explicit pictures, rape and molestation and other acts of sexual assault or battery.
Acts of Neglect
Neglectful acts are committed by caretakers who may family members or paid caretakers, the staff in a nursing homes or other care facilities. These acts include not providing an elderly person with food, water, shelter, personal hygiene, clean clothes, medicine, a safe environment and basic comforts. Neglect can be active, such as intentionally not providing care, or passive, which happens when a caretaker is unable to fulfill their responsibilities.
Financial Exploitation
Financial or material exploitation is covered by various acts of fraud, confidence or con jobs, theft or other ways of gaining financially or materially from a vulnerable senior citizen. These acts can include:
- Cashing checks without account holder’s knowledge.
- Misusing or stealing money or possessions.
- Using coercion or deception to have documents signed.
- Gaining from the improper use of a guardianship, conservatorship or power of attorney.
Abandonment
Abandoning a senior citizen can mean leaving that person in a nursing home or a public area, turning away from the responsibility to care for them or leaving them to fend for themselves.
While the punishments may vary, all 50 states will prosecute variations of these acts as elder abuse.
This blog post was submitted by K. Hunter Goff, Esq.
