Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: TUESDAY, May 1, 1990 TAG: 9005010290
SECTION: NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL PAGE: A1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: Los Angeles Times
DATELINE: WASHINGTON LENGTH: Medium
A nationwide survey, the first since 1981, shows that incidents of abuse have been increasing, and now touch one in 20 people over the age of 65. The survey results, based on data gathered by states in 1988, are a combination of actual reports and estimates of abuse.
The most likely victims are women over 75, and the abuser is frequently the son of the victim, according to an investigative survey by the Aging Committee's health subcommittee.
The report, with pictures of victims and details of their sufferings, offers a litany of fear and violence: a 77-year-old California woman told police her son hit her on the head with beer bottles, and a 71-year-old Massachusetts man suffered a six-inch gash in his forehead when his son struck him with a frying pan. In Montana, an elderly woman refused to give her nephew money, and he gave her a black eye, threatened to kill her and set fire to the ranch.
"We have surveyed the states and found that the incidence of elder abuse is up a dramatic 50 percent, from one million victims in 1980 to 1.5 million today," said Rep. Edward Roybal, D-Calif., chairman of the aging committee, which was scheduled to hold a hearing on the issue Tuesday.
"The lack of meaningful elder abuse programs and funding, coupled with the rapid growth of America's elderly population, is a prescription for even greater disaster than now exists," Roybal said.
Roybal hopes his hearing will stimulate Congress to increase federal grants to help the states "in identifying and helping these tragic victims. This is a crisis of epic proportions and we cannot afford to wait any longer," he said.
The states do not have enough money to finance adequate programs for protecting adults, according to Roybal. He favors legislation similar to the Child Abuse Prevention Act of 1974, which gave increased federal funds to the states that had laws requiring mandatory reporting of child abuse.
Only one in eight cases of elder abuse is reported to the police or to welfare and social service agencies, the Aging Committee report estimated. Victims "are often ashamed to admit their children or (other) loved ones abuse them or they may fear reprisals if they complain."
The report described typical victims and abusers: "Alcoholism, drug addiction, marital problems, and long-term financial difficulties all play a role in bringing a person to abuse his or her parents. The son of the victim is the most likely abuser, followed by the daughter of the victim. It is interesting to note that the abuser, in many cases, was abused by the parents as a child."
The abuse of the elderly covers a wide variety of behavior, including theft, neglect, oral harassment, and well as physical attacks. The report cited the cases of an 80-year-old California woman found "locked in her home, malnourished, ill and isolated." She was a prisoner of her grandsons, who were alcoholics and cocaine abusers.
The grandsons "had kept their grandmother isolated from all outside contact, denying entry to visiting nurses and canceling (the social service program) Meals on Wheels. They had also cashed their grandmother's Social Security checks and had almost depleted her bank account," the report said.
by CNB