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Elder Abuse

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Elder Abuse
Elder abuse is something that happens in every day society. In this paper you will find the history of elder abuse, the different types of abuse, case studies, statistical reports, and what can be done to improve the problem. Some may wonder why elder abuse even exists in a world that is supposed to love others. As people grow up they are taught to be kind and courteous to others, and to love one another.
When elder abuse was first discovered in 1975 it was called the “granny battering” (Fulmer, 2005). Elder abuse was first researched in the 1980’s. According to Jeffels (2010), “granny battering” was named by A.A. Baker. This was when elder abuse was first recognized as a social problem. Some states in America began to deal with the problem. It took until 1989 for anything major to be done. This was when an old meeting report was published and was fully acknowledged in the United Kingdom. According to Parker Waichman Alonso (2007) a study was conducted at Cornell University in 2007. This study was funded by the National Institutes of Health (NIH) and was only the second published report to look at patient to patient violence. It can be seen that it took some time for programs to fund research for elder abuse.
“On March 23, the president of the United States signed into law landmark health care reform legislation (Thurston & Modugno, 2010),” which parts of this legislation are the following two acts. The elder abuse justice act, and the patient’s safety and abuse prevention act. The patient safety and prevention act makes it where criminal background checks will be conducted for each person looking for employment in nursing homes or other long term care facilities. According to Govtrack (2009), the elder abuse justice act is a bill to amend the Social Security Act to enhance the social security of the Nation by ensuring adequate public-private infrastructure and to resolve to prevent, detect, treat, intervene in, and prosecute elder abuse, neglect,



References: Administration on aging. Major types of elder abuse. Retrieved August 30, 2010 from http://www.ncea.aoa.gov/ncearoot/main_site/faq/basics/types_of_abuse.aspx Alonso, P Fulmer, T. (2005). Elder Mistreatment Research Today and Tomorrow. Retrieved August 25, 2010 from www.nygec.org/uploaded_documents/AM_3_Fulmer.ppt GovTrack.us GovTrack.us. (2009). S. 795--111th Congress: Elder Justice Act of 2009. Retrieved August 30, 2010 from http://www.govtrack.us/congress/bill.xpd?bill=s111-795 Jeffels, S LA4seniors. (nd). Elder abuse and neglect. Retrieved on September 20, 2010 from http://www.la4seniors.com/elder_abuse.htm Spot Light |title=S. 1577 |accessdate=August 30, 2010 |author=110th Congress (2007) |date=Jun 7, 2007 1. "S. 795--111th Congress: Elder Justice Act of 2009." GovTrack.us (database of federal legislation). 2009. August 30, 2010 <http://www.govtrack.us/congress/bill.xpd?bill=s111-795> 2 5. |accessdate=August 30, 2010 6 7. |date=Apr 2, 2009 8

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