According to the Senate Special Committee on Aging, cited by a 2002 ABCNews.com report, 20 percent of U.S. nursing homes are cited for abuse of elderly patients. Unreported elder abuse might outnumber reported cases by five to one, according to the article.

Definition

As defined by the eJustice Nursing Home Abuse Resource website, elder abuse is the act, the failure to act and/or the incitement to act to cause physical or mental harm or death to an elderly resident of a nursing home. What constitutes elder abuse falls under five categories.

Physical Abuse

Physical abuse of the elderly includes hitting, shoving, arm-twisting, slapping, pinching and kicking. Controlling behavior through the use of corporal punishment is also physical abuse.

Mental or Psychological Abuse

Mental or psychological abuse that does not result in physical harm includes intimidating, harassing, humiliating and threatening punishment and/or deprivation.

Sexual Abuse

According to the Nursing Home Abuse Resource website, sexual elder abuse constitutes touching or exposure of the genitalia, breast or anus of any resident without the resident's informed consent and includes sexual coercion, harassment and assault.

Verbal Abuse

Verbal abuse constitutes disparaging or derogatory communications in spoken, written or gestured language in the hearing of a resident, according to the Nursing Home Abuse Resource website.

Involuntary Seclusion

Separating a resident from other residents, or from the resident's room, against the resident's will or the will of the resident's legal representative, constitutes involuntary seclusion, according to the Nursing Home Abuse Resource website.

Source:

Nursing-home-abuse-resource.com: Nursing Home Abuse

ABCnews.go.com: Nursing Home Abuse

Aging.senate.gov: Senate Special Committee on Aging website