May 24, 2006

You're a 75-year-old woman.

You don't drive.

You have less than $50 cash in the house and no access to bank accounts or credit cards.

Your husband of 50-plus years has just hit you, again, threatened that he'd be back to “finish the job” in a few hours, and headed to his favorite bar.

Your children, whom you rarely see, live several states away.

Oh, and you need a walker or a wheelchair to get around.

“How easy do you think it is for this woman to leave her abuser?” Candace Heisler asked her audience on Tuesday. “Not very.”

This is the world of domestic abuse of the elderly, a world that Heisler graphically illustrated during a two-hour presentation Tuesday at Bucks County Community College .

A retired California prosecutor who specialized in elder abuse cases, Heisler was the keynote speaker at the third annual William J. Neff Sr. Symposium on the Prevention of Crimes Against Older Adults.

Organized by the Bucks County District Attorney's Office and sponsored by several community agencies, the forum is named for William Neff. Neff was 83 when he was kicked by an aide at Alterra Clare Bridge , the Lower Makefield assisted living home where he lived in 2000. He died a week later of broken ribs and a punctured lung.

Heisler spoke to about 180 nurses, nursing home administrators, long-term care and adult day-care workers and law enforcement personnel. Her presentation covered domestic violence, stalking, sexual assault and homicide-suicide in later life.

Bucks County District Attrorney Diane Gibbons also spoke to the group.

Though caregiver abuse of the elderly has gotten more attention in recent years than previously, domestic violence between older men and women is still a relatively undiscovered area of concern, Heisler said. Most domestic violence prevention and outreach programs are aimed at young or middle-aged women, she said.

Yet, domestic violence knows no age limit.

“It doesn't stop because you reach some magical age,” she said.

The legal community defines domestic violence as a pattern of violence or intimidation used to gain power and control. Most perpetrators are spouses or intimate partners, according to the National Committee for the Prevention of Elder Abuse. The majority are men, and many abuse drugs or alcohol.

Its prevalence is hard to quantify exactly. But when Heisler asked the auditorium full of people how many had dealt with a case of elder domestic abuse, at least half a dozen hands rose in the air.

In reality, the problem probably is much more common, Heisler said, noting that domestic violence of the elderly is under-reported.

It is often not seen for what it is, she said.

“Many times, people think the abuse they're seeing is caregiver stress,” she said. That assumes that a “normally competent, well-intentioned” caregiver becomes overwhelmed and lashes out, she said. It was an early theory of elder abuse, but has not been supported by recent research, Heisler said. Instead, she said, most such cases of abuse are part of a history of domestic violence.

Plus, she said, the “caregiver stress” theory puts the blame on the victim and excuses the actions of the abuser, Heisler said. 

Older women face many barriers to leaving their abusers, including the isolation and lack of money that they typically have in common with younger abused women. Additionally, they may not be able to get around well on their own, and may depend on their abusers for care at home and access to health care and medication, Heisler said.

Heisler encouraged all the attendees to get their agencies to work together to establish better safety nets for older abused women.

She also praised Bucks County for being at the forefront of the issue of elder abuse, which she said will continue to grow in importance as the nation's population ages.

“What you're doing here, bringing all these people together to talk about this, is not being done all across the nation,” she said. “You should all be very proud of the work you're.

Copyright © Global Action on Aging
Terms of Use  |  Privacy Policy  |  Contact Us