‘Elder Abuse Widespread’ When Elders Speak Out they are Sometimes Disregarded

Ireland,EU and Key West ,Florida.USA Recent figures on elder abuse in Ireland released by the HSE represent only a fraction of the cases in Ireland, according to a spokesperson for Age Action.
As the majority of the 26 elder abuse officers have been in their posts for less than 12 months, Mr Eamon Timmins, Age Action’s Head of Advocacy and Communications said the scale of the problem is likely to be much greater.

“Age Action had previously used the results of international studies, which showed that between three per cent and five per cent of the older population have been victims of elder abuse,” Mr Timmins told IMN.

“Applying this to Ireland, would mean that between 14,000 and 23,000 older people would have experienced elder abuse. The figures released show only a fraction of the problem. Because of the nature of the abuse, much of it goes unreported. Many people who are abused are afraid to speak out.”

However, Mr Timmins welcomed the release of figures for shining a light on what is an unreported problem. “They help break the taboo,” he said. “The figures show that this is a problem in Ireland. Hopefully, it will encourage more people to report cases of abuse. It’s hard to believe this is the first time we have statistics on elder abuse in this country.”

In particular, one figure that Mr Timmins noted was that while 92 per cent of alleged abusers in 2007 were family members, just 16 per cent of the cases were referred to the officers by other family members.

Paul Mulholland

Sometimes when they do speak out they are discredited, because of their advance age or other conditions and unless they have obvious physical signs of abuse are often not taken seriously especially if there are family members involved , which by now we know the majority of elder abuse happens at the hands of family members.

This police report dated 8-25-2005 states "
THIS INVESTIGATOR DID NOT OBSERVE ANY SIGNS OF PHYSICAL ABUSE OF MRS. CLARA FERNANDEZ AT THE TIME OF THIS INTERVIEW. " and no further action was taken to protect Mrs Fernandez

Here the police officer states "I TOLD VICTIM TO SIGN ON THE PROPER BOX AND DATE IT. THE VICTIM HAD A HARD TIME SIGNING ON THE LINE AND HER HAND SHOOK CONTINOULYS. IT WOULD BE HARD FOR THE VICTIM TO TYPE SAID PAGE LETTER SINCE SHE IS AN ELDERLY PERSON AND HAD A HARD TIME SIGNING THE STATEMENT."

The Victim statement which had been typed by her friends for greater clarity was dismissed........

Although we will painfully regret the incapacitation of our parent and the death of the other due to the stress of the situation the rest of our lives, we hope that their sacrifice has not been in vain and that the lessons learned will help authorities intervene in time and save other elder couples survive the sibling battles for control and power that too often seems to follow their advance into old age. Battles that seem so know no boundaries and that often spread out of control hurting and many innocent people and leaving a wake of death and destrucion that is un acceptable .