Elder Abuse

Generally, countries delivering services to abused, neglected, and exploited elders have done so through existing health and social service systems. Because of the complexity of the cases, which often involve medical, legal, ethical, psychological, financial, criminal, and environmental issues, guidelines and protocols are used to assist the workers, and special training is made available to them. Multidisciplinary consulting teams are called upon to assist in planning the care. Telephone "helplines" to take reports are often the first component of an elder abuse system. Since much of elder abuse is spouse abuse, there is growing interest in providing services modeled after those developed for younger battered women, such as emergency shelters, support groups, the use of law enforcement, and the criminal justice system. Except for the United States, Israel, and four Canadian provinces, most countries have not passed specific elder abuse legislation but rely on civil rights, family violence, mental health, property rights, and criminal statutes to address the problem.