“The family looks forward to the day when the elderly, particularly those who are isolated and vulnerable, can no longer be manipulated and abused for the personal gain of their caregivers,” (Dedman and Newell 35). The biography Empty Mansions was written about the legacy of the Clarks and the interesting life of (at the time) the oldest living descendant, Huguette, who also happened to face blatant elder abuse near the end of her life. Dedman and Newell are trying to show the realities of the abuse of the elderly and strike deeper thinking about the current system that is meant to protect them. The reality, sadly, is this; people don’t truly understand what elder abuse is, the laws that are set in place are not protecting them, and there seems…show more content… Many other experts also agree that there are better explanations that could be found and there are many other topics that need to be researched as well (Jackson and Thomas 13). For example, emotional abuse involves threatening, blackmailing, purposely distressing, emotionally bullying, insulting, and demeaning an elderly person (Palmer et al. 37). Many people don’t understand why this should be a crime (because they see no harm), but it is has very real consequences to the victim. By abusing an elder verbally, you can often shorten the elder’s life span by inflicting stress (shortening their lifespan due to risks associated with stress) and causing depression (which can lead to suicide as well as other health risks involved) (Palmer et al. 38). Another misunderstood topic of elder abuse is financial abuse, which is the act of misusing an elders finances in anyway that seems counter to an elder’s interest (Black 294). Already the fastest…show more content… The list of the ailments that these individuals are staggering and it can increase the mortality rate by nearly three time higher than normal (Black 292). It is killing our older citizens and it making their quality of life deteriorate. Not only that, but the laws that we have in place are not even close to being equipped to solve this epidemic. If we actually decide to put the elderly’s interest first, we will take a look at creating programs that look after those who can’t take care of themselves. We will also create punishments that will deter others from even attempting abuse. If we do not start now, the elderly will continue to be abused without a voice to cry
