Personal Injury Law

Facts and Stats on Elder Abuse

By Moseley Collins, Esq.

Many people suffer from some type of abuse through out their lives, whether it be verbal, physical, or sexual. The elderly are a huge group that suffer from abuse, mainly negligence. Here at the Law Offices Of Moseley Collins, we have dealt with numerous cases involving elder abuse.

I have here an accumulation of facts and statistics on elder abuse.

You can also locate these at safestate.org

"Every year an estimated 2.1 million older Americans are victims of physical, psychological, or other forms of abuse and neglect. For every case of elder abuse and neglect reported to authorities, experts estimate that there may be as many as 5 cases not reported. Research suggests elders who have been abused tend to die earlier than those who are not abused, even in the absence of chronic conditions or life threatening disease." Elder Abuse and Neglect: In Search of Solutions

American's over the age of 50 years represent 30% of our population, 12% of our murder victims and 7% of other serious and violent crime victims.

90% of elder abuse and neglect incidents are by known perpetrators, usually family members, 2/3rds are adult children or spouses. 42% of murder victims over 60 were killed by their own offspring. Spouses were the perpetrators in 24% of family murders of persons over 60.

The eldest of our seniors, 80 years and older, are abused and neglected at 2 - 3 times the proportion of all other senior citizens. -- Bureau of Justice Statistics

In most states "mandatory reporters of elder abuse" are required by law to report suspected cases of elder maltreatment. Nearly 70 percent of Adult Protective Service agencies' annual caseloads involve elder abuse.

21.6% of all domestic elder abuse reports came from physicians or health care professionals 9.4% from service providers, 14.9% are family members. They types of abuses and their percentage of frequency are below.

Neglect 58.5%
Physical abuse 15.7%
Financial exploitation 12.3%
Emotional abuse 7.3%
Sexual abuse .04%
All other types 5.1%
Unknown .06%

As a Sacramento personal injury lawyer, Moseley Collins specializes in serious personal injury cases, including elder abuse. We believe that if you or a loved one have been seriously injured, you should retain an experienced personal injury attorney. Click here or call us at (916) 444-4444. We are ready to get started on winning your case. There is never a fee until we win!

Full post as published by Sacramento Injury Lawyer Blog on August 04, 2008 (boomark / email).