Around the United States, elder abuse and nursing home abuse are common problems. The best estimates suggest between 1 and 2 million Americans age 65 or older have been injured, exploited, or otherwise mistreated by someone on whom they depended for care or protection (1).
But in many cases, the abuse occurs in situations where the elder is not free to escape, make calls, or otherwise report their mistreatment.
For example, if an elder is being abused domestically, the adult child or spouse committing the abuse is unlikely to report the problem; but that person also has access to the phone, car, house keys, etc. In these domestic settings where the caregiving takes place in someone’s home, as few as 1 in 14 incidents, excluding incidents of self-neglect, come to the attention of authorities (2).
In nursing homes, family members sometimes live a long distance away or don’t visit their relative very often for whatever reason. When the home has no accountability, abuse can continue unquestioned.
According to the Tennessee Commission on Aging only 1 in 23 cases of elder abuse or neglect is reported in the State of Tennessee – a shocking figure.
At our office, our nursing home abuse attorneys in Memphis TN help victims of nursing home and elder abuse to get justice for these terrible injuries.
If you or someone you love has been harmed through elder abuse, contact us online or give us a call at 901-327-1212.
And to report abuse, neglect or exploitation of an older person call: 1-888-APS-TENN or 1-888-277-8366.
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(1) Elder Mistreatment: Abuse, Neglect and Exploitation in an Aging America. 2003. Washington, DC: National Research Council Panel to Review Risk and Prevalence of Elder Abuse and Neglect.
(2) Pillemer, Karl, and David Finkelhor. “The Prevalence of Elder Abuse: A Random Sample Survey,” The Gerontologist, 28: 51-57.