A GALWAY DOCTOR has called on banks and financial institutions to implement new measures to deal with the abuse of seniors’ money by family members.
Dr Shaun O’Keeffe warned that financial exploitation of the elderly – one of the most vulnerable sections of society – was “a serious problem” in Ireland today. “It is difficult to detect and do anything about, but it needs to be tackled. It is the biggest nut to crack in terms of elder abuse,” said the Merlin Park Hospital-based consultant geriatrician. He was speaking at a conference held in Galway to highlight World Elder Abuse Awareness Day.
Out of the 1,500 elder abuse cases referred to the HSE in the past year, one in 10 was related to financial abuse, it was revealed at the conference.
This abuse may take the form of theft, fraud, abuse of benefits and inheritance, misappropriation of property and pressuring seniors to change wills.
Dr O’Keeffe said it was very important that guidelines and safeguards surrounding guardianship were rolled out by banks and financial institutions.
Members of lobby groups representing the elderly at the event echoed the concerns of Dr O’Keeffe. Damian Leneghan, training and volunteer officer with the Senior Help Line, who receive 8,000 telephone calls a year, said his organisation was becoming increasingly concerned about the issue of financial abuse.
“Older people are being pressurised by their sons and daughters into selling their homes to offset the costs associated with nursing homes,” he said.
And Carmel Sheridan, development officer with Age Action, said financial abuse was “a big issue within families”.
“Older people are giving away sites and making changes to wills. It is all extremely intimidating for them – they are so vulnerable and it is difficult for them to speak out as they fear retaliation,” she explained.
Ms Sheridan added that elder abuse had been hidden by society for a long time. “It is time now to bring it out of the closet,” she said.
Sean Malone, the helpline co-ordinator with the Money Advice and Budgeting Service (MABS), said that elderly parents felt obliged to financially help their adult children.
“The parents feel obliged to bail out the kids and the kids are hoping to get money from their parents before they die,” he said.
A DVD to help care givers in residential settings identify elder abuse was also launched at the conference by Minister of State for Older People, Máire Hoctor. In addition, she launched a new HSE policy entitled Responding to Allegations of Elder Abuse.
The conference also heard that while examination of cases is continuing, early analysis shows that 83 per cent of the 1,500 elder abuse referrals involve people living in their own homes while in 96 per cent of cases the alleged abuser was a family member.
The most common type of abuse was psychological abuse (29 per cent). Neglect accounted for 21 per cent of cases under investigation while physical abuse accounted for 17 per cent.There are now 23 HSE case workers with specific responsibility for elder abuse.