{"id":56,"date":"2011-04-13T17:13:50","date_gmt":"2011-04-13T17:13:50","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.estatetrustlawyer.com\/blog\/?p=56"},"modified":"2016-03-09T14:44:04","modified_gmt":"2016-03-09T14:44:04","slug":"getting-your-affairs-in-order-how-to-prevent-elder-abuse","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.estatetrustlawyer.com\/blog\/getting-your-affairs-in-order-how-to-prevent-elder-abuse\/","title":{"rendered":"Getting Your Affairs in Order\u2014How to Prevent Elder Abuse"},"content":{"rendered":"

ABC news recently shared a news story about actor Mickey Rooney<\/a> which brought the sad fact of elder abuse to the forefront. The article describes how Rooney \u201cwas granted court protection from stepson Chris Aber and his stepdaughter Christina Aber, after he filed a case against them charging verbal, emotional and financial abuse, and for denying him such basic necessities as food and medicine…. The court documents say that both Chris and Christina Aber have been keeping Rooney as \u2018effectively a prisoner in his own home\u2019 through the use of threats, intimidation and harassment. \u201c<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

Unfortunately stories like this are all too common.\u00a0 A report released by the National Center on Elder Abuse<\/a> mentions that \u201cbetween 1 and 2 million Americans age 65 or older have been injured, exploited, or otherwise mistreated by someone on whom they depended for care or protection.\u201d Most cases of elder abuse aren\u2019t as severe that described by Rooney.\u00a0 In fact, according to the ABC article, \u201cmore often than not, elder abuse has to do with unintentional neglect from family members who are ignorant of the proper ways to care for an aging individual.\u201d And perhaps even more prevalent among the elderly is self-neglect, \u201cwhich occurs when the elderly fail to follow medical advice or otherwise care of themselves.\u201d<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

Luckily, there are steps that concerned family members can take to help prevent their loved one from falling into mistreatment, neglect or abuse.\u00a0 The National Center on Elder Abuse<\/a> shares some simple steps that can be taken to reduce the risk:<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n