Abuse and Neglect of Elderly Persons - Essay Example

 I discovered the hardships and abusive ill-treatment people face in our community when they grow old. It is only heartbreaking how elderly people do not receive the protocol from younger generations who do not, for once, consider the fact that they shall have to go through the same age later in life. This paper entails the abuses and neglects that people face at older ages and measures that can be taken to overcome these issues.

A brief visit

As I entered the old home, the disturbing smell of mothballs and urination got me. Soon immune to it, I moved on to identify people that might be most appropriate to be interviewed. Most of them had humped backs as if they carried the burden of a million secrets for years. As I settled on a creaking bed to begin my interviews with selected people, I couldn’t make out if the squeaking sounds in the background were that of the bed or of their rusty knees moving. Each of them comfortably shared their experiences and as their wrinkled and leathery lips moved, I could feel tears trickling down my cheeks hearing the tragic stories behind those blue and green veins and frail-skinned once-young people.

Abuse and neglect of the elderly

My findings from interviewing people at the institution concluded that they all have gone through some kind of abuse during their aging periods. They face situations frequently where they are abused and neglected. This included physical abuse where their loved ones carried out actions aimed at injuring, hurting, or causing physical pain to them. Due to old age, these people are like wilted flowers that cannot stand the pressure of airwaves. They are incapable of defending themselves against physical violence and end up suffering from bruises, strains, burns, and fractural wounds. Even worse, many elderly people were troubled by emotional torture and psychological abuse. Using insulting verbal statements and humiliating language are common gestures that trigger psychological maltreatment. More commonly observed instances included threatening by their caretakers to desert them at old homes or similar institutions and hence some of them eventually ended up there. Rarely, some cases claimed that their family members were engaged in the misappropriation of money or inheritance property and coercion to sign desired wills or legal documents. Mostly neglect was deliberate on the part of their caretakers who intended to punish them by keeping them underfed or deprived of medications and other necessities. However, rarely some were of the view that their family was too occupied or incapable to take proper care of them (Lachs & Pillemer, 1995).

Corrective measures

The question that arises is how to stop this social evil that has been embedded as part of our community. I inquired from my interviewees how they suggest this obstacle can be overcome. Masses must be educated at the national level and through organizational activists and pressure groups so that awareness is established and moral values are enhanced at the individual level. It is the system and perceptions of people that need revamping to be free from prejudice against old people. Campaigns must be conducted to create better awareness and regulations must be incorporated that discourage and penalize such abusive acts. The rights of old people need to be restored through changes in legal frameworks and the concept of institutionalization must be suppressed strictly.

Conclusion

It is only fair to conclude that it is high time that actions are taken at a higher level to eradicate this root social evil from our system and reinstate the position of elderly people in our society. They do not deserve the treatment they receive and need not be abandoned in old homes. Instead, they need to be taken care of at this age when they need it the most in the same way as they took care of their loved ones decades back. Abuses must be discouraged, punished, and abolished from the community so this world becomes a better place to live in.