Elderly abuse and neglect are two of the most disturbing crimes that people commit. To take advantage of people who are unable to defend themselves feels like an unexpected low for a sane or decent human being. Yet, many health care workers sink to these lows every day. Several of those who do not, still see these instances and further add to the problem by not reporting them.
In fact, PBS stated in the summer of 2019 that nursing facilities continue to ignore requirements to report incidents of abuse and neglect. It shares that thousands of serious cases went unreported. Even worse, these cases took place on taxpayers’ dollars as the victims were recipients of Medicare benefits.
In 2016 alone, there were 6,600 cases that should have been reported but were not. These cases involved 6,200 patients in total. This is roughly 18% of the total cases involving Medicare beneficiaries. Some instances involved deliberate abuse, while others resulted from genuine errors. Whatever the cause, all should have been reported.
Because of this growing trend in underreporting, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services now plan to increase the supervision of nursing home facilities. Nursing facilities are not the only ones at fault though. Even state inspectors sometimes seemed to have very unclear notions about when to report or not to report incidents.
Psychology Today estimates that even outside of Medicare and Medicaid facilities, elderly abuse or neglect is reported by one in 10 patients. The most vulnerable group is elderly persons over the age of 80 years old. What is perhaps even more disturbing is how often the abuser outside of nursing facilities are the victim’s spouse or child.
