The article on Elder Abuse: What Is the Federal Role? by Kohl, Saunders, and Blumenthal speak about how people cannot get away from the new reports of the effects of elder abuse, neglect, and financial exploitation across America. The lack of funding for Elder Abuse has dictated the shortage of resources available for institutions and the community to protect one of the most vulnerable adults in our nation. Elder abuse, neglect and exploitation is a horrific and serious problem that is a widespread social justice problem affecting our health care issues. Vulnerable elders should be protected by our laws, but our federal government provides no resources for elder abuse, which is the only form of family violence not funded (Elder Justice, 2011).
The vulnerable and isolated elderly are being denied the protection and care they need because of the shortage of funding available for appropriate resources to intervene. The following findings are imperative in the reasons elder abuse needs to be funded with available resources for nurses, professionals working with the elderly, law enforcement, and the community: (1) In the next 30 years the population age 60 years or older will increase rapidly as the Baby Boomers reach retirement age of more than 76,000,000,(2) three to five million elders are neglected, abused or exploited every year in the United States, (3) Elder abuse has no boundaries, and it affects all genders, racial, and social class, and geographic lines, (4) Three times more victims of elder abuse are more likely to die at an earlier age than expected, and (5) Despite the scarce data about the extent of elder abuse, experts concur that majority of cases of elder abuse often triggers the life of an independent elder’s life in a downward spiral (Breaux, 2004) .
More than 25 years have passed since the first Congressional hearing on elder abuse declared it to be a national disgrace and throughout this time frame, Congressional action to...