Elder Abuse In Nursing Homes - A Growing Problem

You have probably already seen the statistics about how many seniors reach retirement age every day. The numbers are really quite frightening. Nearly 80,000 seniors reach retirement age every day. That puts enormous strain on places like retirement homes, nursing homes and long-term care facilities and the people who are required to run them and support them. Therein lies at least part of the problem.

There aren't enough qualified people to go around. There's a terrible shortage of nurses and healthcare workers. There's even an ad running locally that you can be trained to be a nurse in 11 days. Oh my gosh! Keep me away from that place.

A study was done by the government not long ago showing that nearly 60% of all nursing homes had employees with some kind of criminal record. That is where a lot of the abuse comes from.

With more seniors going into nursing homes and long-term care facilities those facilities are scrambling to hire people-anyone-regardless of credentials.

And elder abuse is not just limited to the United States it is a worldwide problem. In Australia a study showed that 60% of elderly abusers were family members. It just gets worse.

In 2004 alone more than 500,000 cases of elder abuse were reported. One of the problems is that so many cases of elder abuse don't get reported because their victims have Alzheimer's or dementia and are unable to verbalize what they're going through.

Two years ago the well-known actor Mickey Rooney testified before Congress on his own personal experience of being exploited by a member of his family. Rooney is now in his 90's.

Rooney is now featured in a Hollywood documentary about financial abuse of the elderly. The film is called "Last Will And Embezzlement." The producers of the film are hoping that it will highlight and draw attention to the plight of so many elderly.

Rooney mentioned that if it can happen to him, it can happen to anyone.

Financial abuse of our seniors is just one type of abuse that seniors are subjected to in nursing homes. The more common types are verbal and physical abuse. If you suspect that your loved ones are victims of verbal or physical abuse, one of the best ways to catch them is with a hidden camera.

The iPod Dock Camera is one of the best hidden cameras with a DVR included for catching elder abuse. It records to an SD card for easy retrieval and playback.

Many states now have agreed that using a hidden camera in the rooms in a nursing home is legal. You can protect your loved ones with a hidden camera.