Reporting elder abuse: Limitations of statutes

doi:10.1016/S0196-0644(89)80063-0

Annals of Emergency Medicine

Volume 18, Issue 11, November 1989, Pages 1217-1221

https://doi.org/10.1016/S0196-0644(89)80063-0 Get rights and content

Summary

When it comes to protecting abused elders and determining physicians' legal responsibilities, each state has its own legislation — there is no federal policy. In the extreme, this can mean 50 variations on a theme. Few laws clearly delineate differences between neglect and abuse, nor do they provide graduated remedies to address differing degrees of severity. Even though many states have passed mandatory reporting laws, most provide little or no funding for meaningful intervention.

All physicians should become familiar with applicable elder abuse laws and the procedure for referring a suspected case. This presentation of our findings is necessarily brief and should not take the place of familiarity with the legislation in the reader's own state. A copy of relevant state legislation generally can be obtained from the local state legislator's office or law library.

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There are more references available in the full text version of this article.

Cited by (26)

Management of elder abuse in the emergency department
1999, Emergency Medicine Clinics of North America
The problem of elder abuse in our society is more widespread than is thought by many health care professionals. Unlike other forms of domestic violence, elder abuse has been slow in gaining the attention of the general community, although its prevalence is estimated to be just slightly less than that of child abuse.¹⁶ First recognized as a problem 1970s, when the term granny battering appeared in the literature,² two decades later there are still many unresolved issues and unanswered questions.
Emergency physicians are in a unique position regarding the diagnosis and management of elder mistreatment. Because of the relative isolation of many elders who are mistreated, an unexpected visit to the emergency department (ED) may be the only opportunity for detection of abuse; however, ED studies have shown that not only do many departments lack protocols for elder abuse, physicians are not even aware of it as an entity.⁶ In one Michigan study, only 2% of all cases reported in the state were made by physicians.¹² The following is a discussion intended to familiarize physicians with the problem of elder abuse in this country, including its historical background, definition, prevalence, detection, and management.
Legal issues in treating perpetratorsand victims of violence
1997, Psychiatric Clinics of North America
The United States is a violent country. In 1990, nearly one third of the 19 million crimes against victims involved violence.⁵¹ Psychiatrists increasingly are faced with the task of assessing perpetrators and victims of violence. Common situations involving an assessment of dangerousness include emergency psychiatric evaluations, civil commitment, release of a patient from the hospital, and the evaluation of outpatients who make threats towards others. Legal issues encountered in treating victims include mandatory reporting laws and domestic violence.
Elder abuse: A review
1997, Annals of Emergency Medicine
Elder mistreatment: National survey of emergency physicians
1997, Annals of Emergency Medicine
To determine the perceived magnitude of elder mistreatment, physician awareness of applicable state laws, and the barriers to reporting suspected cases, we surveyed a random sample of 3,000 members of the American College of Emergency Physicians in the United States. Survey questions included practice characteristics, number and type of suspected cases of elder mistreatment seen in the ED, number of cases actually reported, and reasons for not reporting abuse. Physicians were also asked about the availability of elder-mistreatment protocols and their familiarity with local laws and reporting requirements. We received 705 completed surveys, for a response rate of 24%. Most physicians (52%) described elder mistreatment as prevalent but less so than spouse or child abuse. The respondents had evaluated a mean of 4±8 (range, 0 to 93) suspected cases of elder mistreatment in the preceding 12 months; approximately 50% were reported. Only 31% of emergency physicians reported having a written protocol for the reporting of elder mistreatment, and physicians were generally not familiar with applicable state laws. Twenty-five percent were able to recall educational content pertaining to elder mistreatment during their emergency medicine residencies. Most physicians were not certain or did not believe that clear-cut medical definitions of elder abuse or neglect exist (74%); that emergency physicians can accurately identify cases of mistreatment (58%); or that their states had sufficient resources to meet the needs of victims (92%). These results suggest that practicing emergency physicians are not confident in identifying or reporting geriatric victims of abuse or neglect. This lack of confidence may reflect inadequacies of training, research, and continuing education with regard to mistreatment of older people. [Jones JS, Veenstra TR, Seamon JP, Krohmer J: Elder mistreatment: National survey of emergency physicians. Ann Emerg Med October 1997;30:473-479.]
Elder Abuse and Neglect: Responding to a National Problem
1994, Annals of Emergency Medicine
Identifying victims of elder abuse and neglect: A training video for prehospital personnel
1997, Prehospital and Disaster Medicine

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Collective reviewReporting elder abuse: Limitations of statutes

Summary

Ann Emerg Med

Elder abuse: An Examination of a Hidden Problem

Elder abuse and neglect

JAMA

Collective review
Reporting elder abuse: Limitations of statutes