While it might be obvious that elder abuse in the form of physical abuse and neglect can lead to hospitalization, a new study shows that psychological and financial elder abuse are also factors in illness that leads to hospitalization.
The Chicago Health and Aging Project is a community-based longitudinal study that began in 1993 to look at risk factors for Alzheimer’s in older adults. The most recent part of the study looked at 106 participants that social services agencies identified as victims of elder abuse between 1993 and 2010. The study was led by Dr. XinQi Dong, from the Rush University Medical Center in Chicago.
The sampling broke down as follows: 45 cases of psychological abuse, 19 of physical abuse, 50 of willful neglect, and 65 of financial exploitation. None fell into the sexual abuse category.
The study showed that physical elder abuse doubled the rate of hospitalizations, after adjusting for other risk factors including socioeconomic status, cognitive and physical function, and comorbidities.
Being abused in more than one day – for example, emotionally and financially – had a “dose-dependent” impact, with a relative risk of 2.59 with two or more types of elder abuse.
The study showed that the reported rate of hospitalizations for older adults who did not suffer elder abuse was 0.62, while seniors who experienced elder abuse were hospitalized about 1.97 times a year.
Researchers found that the psychological abuse rate ratio (2.22), financial exploitation (1.75), and caregiver neglect were independently associated with increased rates of hospitalization.
“Elder abuse is independently associated with increased mortality risk, especially for cardiovascular related mortality. However, the relationship between elder abuse and health services utilization still remains unclear,” Dr. Dong said in the study. “Despite recent advances in our knowledge of elder abuse, we do not know the rate of health care services utilization among those who are victimized.”
“Elder abuse is a serious, common and under-recognized public health and human rights issue,” said Dong. He added that elder abuse issues lagged behind child abuse and intimate partner abuse in public discourse.
“Given the soaring cost of health care in this country, the results my help health care providers focus on clinical screening, prevention and intervention of elder abuse cases in order to devise targeted strategies to reduce unnecessary utilization of health services.” said Dong.
Kenneth E. Covinsky, MD, MPH, a geriatrician at the University of California San Francisco and the city’s VA Medical Center, added in an editor’s note that a lack of support network at home and caregiver stress are some of the key components in elder abuse cases.
The study did not draw any conclusions about causal mechanisms. “Are these elderly persons at higher risk for health care services utilization because of being abused? Or are they mostly vulnerable elderly persons with poor health status that triggers higher health care services utilization and makes them susceptible of being abused?” Stéfanie Monod, MD, of Switzerland’s University of Lausanne Medical Center, wrote in an accompanying commentary.. “The answer is probably both.”
“Increased awareness of elder abuse is important, but promoting good routine care that encompasses preventative measures is also of paramount importance to protect these patients from becoming abused,” Monod wrote.
Strom Law’s Elder Abuse Legal Task Force
Founded by former U.S. State Attorney Pete Strom in 1996, the Strom Law Firm has been fighting elder abuse cases for 15 years. The nursing home abuse lawyers at the Strom Law Firm take an aggressive approach to confronting the kind of egregious misconduct found in nursing home abuse and neglect cases. We represent elderly clients and families who have been victims of:
- Physical, emotional, and psychological abuse and neglect
- Medication and prescription errors
- Inappropriate use of physical or chemical restraints
- Bedsores, pressure sores, decubitus ulcers, and infections
- Dehydration and malnutrition
- Falls, dislocations and fractures
- Inadequate staffing, training, and negligent supervision claims
- Financial abuse and exploitation
Our investigators and attorneys will move quickly and discretely to uncover and preserve critical evidence and vigorously pursue the maximum amount of compensation available under applicable laws.
Contact the Strom Law Firm for Help Prosecuting Elder Abuse
If your loved one has suffered elder abuse at the hands of a caregiver, assisted living facility, or nursing home, you do not have to suffer in silence. The attorneys at the Strom Law Firm understand the complex law around elder abuse, and can help protect you and your loved ones. We offer free, confidential consultations, so do not hesitate to contact us. 803.252.4800.
