CURRENT CONCEPTS - ABUSE AND NEGLECT OF ELDERLY PERSONS

The metaphor of domestic violence as chronic disease is a useful one for clinicians. Studies of domestic violence over the life span suggest that, like many ongoing illnesses that are typified by periods of quiescence and exacerbation, abuse is more often episodic and recurrent than an isolated event.1–3 This metaphor may also help to remind physicians that elderly patients are at risk; a report from the House Select Committee on Aging has suggested that between 1 million and 2 million older Americans experience mistreatment each year.4 Given the scope of this clinical and public health problem, what has been… © 1995, Massachusetts Medical Society. All rights reserved.