Letter of the Day | Silent scourge of elder abuse in Jamaica

THE EDITOR, Madam:

Muffled under the screaming terrors in our country and the wider world is a lesser known insidious ill – that of the abuse of our elders. The reports that make headlines concerning danger to the elderly usually border on the bizarre: echoes of a massacre by fire at Eventide Home in the 1970s or when an elder is fatally attacked by animals.

However, many more deliberate atrocities and silent savagery occur unchecked in households, which were ironically created by these elders in days gone by to be a place of love and care for their growing families. Even more ironic is the fact that much of this abuse is carried out by family members themselves who set upon the dying like a pack of wolves. The engineering brother or the scheming in-law coming out of the woodworks who suddenly are in dire need of financial assistance from their ailing sibling.

LOSS OF DIGNITY

The World Health Organization defines elder abuse as “a single or repeated act, or lack of appropriate action, occurring within any relationship where there is an expectation of trust, which causes harm or distress to an older person.” This type of violence constitutes a violation of human rights and includes physical, sexual, psychological and emotional abuse; financial and material abuse; abandonment; neglect; and serious loss of dignity and respect.

Most egregious is that this loss of dignity and respect occurs even during end-of-life care and is engineered by trusted siblings or offspring who perhaps view the dying family member as baggage but also the means by which they can secure ‘a bag a cash’. Feeble, indigent patriarchs and matriarchs find themselves coerced, threatened and forced to transfer authority over their worldly possessions by wannabe beneficiaries. Some even go as far as to pretend to be executors of everything within a person’s last will and testament, especially if that person died intestate.

BECOME AWARE

My intention in this letter is to make persons with silvering parents and other ageing loved ones more aware of elder abuse and to notice the signs. Be vigilant about their affairs. Read more about elder abuse. Consult a lawyer. Become aware of those who might seek to engineer exploitation to do them harm, in order to bring about their early demise.

One only has one mother, one father, and, in some cases, dear uncles, aunts, grandmothers and others who stepped up and became proxy parents and guardians. Surely they deserve better than to live out their lives in terror from those whom they believe they could trust. Some attempt to even drive a wedge between the elder and their children, in pursuit of their selfish gain. Love your family but do not bury your head in the sand. Abusers come in all forms.

CLAIRE RUSSELL-JACKSON