Patient Abuse

Patient abuse is an issue that is faced everyday in the United States. There have been extreme cases of patients abuse that has even resulted in death. Patient abuse is something that many people are working hard to improve. Although patient abuse affect patients in every aspect of health care, elder abuse has become a serious issue. Elder abuse can include emotional, financial, verbal, mental, sexual, or physical abuse. Many reports of elder abuse go unreported because some elders fear retaliation and the fear of no one believing them.

Elder abuse is an aspect in health care that seriously needs to be addressed. When the elderly turn to caregivers for care it is not always an easy decision. They have been used to caring for themselves and trusting others may be difficult for them. Caregivers that abuse the elderly could include employees working in the facility where the patient resides and even family members. In many cases the patients who are getting abused cannot defend themselves physically and verbally. This makes the patients more vulnerable to abuse and often prevents the patients from speaking up for themselves. It is a violation of patient rights because patients have the right to receive compassionate care from caregivers.

It is saddening that patients experience this treatment towards the end of their lives. This can also be hard for the family members who discover the abuse. Patients tend to be very trusting of those who provide care for them and abusing the patient could cause distrust. Abusing the patient could also cause more health problems and sometimes result in death which is why it is an important issue to discuss. This could eventually increase health care costs because we will have to treat patients for abuse. This problem in the United States does not seem to be improving. Hopefully more individuals will become more aware of the issues regarding patient abuse and will become more educated to prevent this in the future.