Closing Pandora's Box

Elder abuse in the United States is a bigger problem than the majority of us know. It is a problem difficult to fully understand; it is a silent victim’s problem as many times the elderly are too scared to turn in their abusers. As a result, the government is unable to identify with certainty the size of the problem. What various governmental and non-profit sources do know is based on surveys and research of samples of senior citizens; these are the facts on elder abuse:

· Millions of senior citizens, an estimated 11 percent, suffer from some form of abuse every year.

· Senior citizens are more likely to know their abuser than not know him/her and not report the abuses they endure.

· Domestic elder abuse is believed to be unreported in 13 out of 14 cases.

· Financial exploitation is believed to go unreported for 24 out of 25 cases.

Women are especially prone to be victims of elder abuse. According to the National Center for Victims of Crime (NCVC), “Older women (67%) are far more likely than men (32%) to suffer from abuse….” And according to Adult Protective Services, the more advanced one’s age is, the higher risk said person will endure abuse. Age is not the only thing that puts elderly women more at risk however; one’s financial status is also a factor. A 2009 OWL International report stated the following:

Elderly women also face economic barriers. According to the U.S. Census, nearly one in five single, divorced or widowed women over the age of 65 is poor, and the risk of poverty for older women increases with age. Women ages 75 and up are over three times as likely to be living in poverty as men in the same age range. Their health care may be tied to their husbands’ employment, creating additional disincentives to leave abusive relationships.

Despite all of this, little has been done in regard to a wide-spread effort to educate people on women’s increased risk of elder abuse. And what is truly sad is that women physiologically have less physical strength than men, and thus are less capable of defending themselves against physical abuses.

Amber Paley is a writer who has devoted her life to educating the public about the problems of elder abuse in the United States. Though she does guest posts regularly, she also spends much of her time writing about nursing home abuse lawyers