Elder Abuse and Human Right Violations: How it Happens and How to Avoid it

On December 5th, 2016, a human right was violated when an elder was abused. Jimmy Llenares, a resident in Maple Avenue, was shoveling his driveway in a cold afternoon, when suddenly three teenage girls threw snow at Jimmy without hesitation. Jimmy was, unfortunately, sad and mad. Of course, he didn’t say a word because he didn’t want to get in trouble. Jaqlyn had questioned him about the incident, and this was his reply verbatim. “On December 5th, there was 3 ladies walking on the alley, while I was shoveling the snow. They throw snow at me! What dah heck?” 

This is a big problem. People should care about violations of human rights and elder abuse, because clearly it could happen to anyone and everyone in the world. They need to know how to stop either the violations of human rights and to stop elder abuse as well. Human Rights is a right that is believed to belong justifiable to every person.The human right that the teens had violated was Article 5: Ban on Torture. This means that no one shall be subjected to torture or to cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment. The teens violated this human right by throwing snow at Jimmy forcefully and in a cruel way. Everyone has human rights and it is wrong for another human being to violate them. To stop human right violating, people should just mind their own businesses and not do any obscure actions towards other people, especially when the person is an elder.

The teens not only violated Jimmy’s human right, but they also committed elderly abuse. Physical abuse was the type of abuse that the three teenage girls had committed. As mentioned earlier, they threw snow at him. Jimmy is indeed considered an elder, because he is 73. Elderly abuse occurs everywhere. 1 in 10 Americans over the age of 60+ get abused, in which is considered as elderly abuse. Approximately 5 million elders get abused. Physical Abuse means inflicting physical pain or injury upon an older adult. The signs of physical abuse is bruises, pressure marks, broken bones, abrasions, and burns.

Elder abuse, once again, happens anywhere. Based on this article about elder abuse, the author states, “A doctor and judge had recently ruled her mother – by then in her 70s – incapacitated – unable to make decisions for herself. They appointed a legal guardian, shortly before she began her stay at Longhorn Village.But after only a few months of living there, her daughter says she noticed a change in the woman who was once so warm and engaging.’(My mother) became more and more distraught,’ she said.’She talked about wanting to move. She became more withdrawn and upset.’The woman’s legal guardian and family claimed in a lawsuit filed against the facility that she was sexually assaulted twice in 2012 by a male resident described as a’sexual predator.’ Claiming the Longhorn Village failed to protect the woman, the suit further alleged the man’s’sexual activities were known to the administration, but nothing was done to protect his victims.’ “ (Source: http://story.kxan.com/elder-abuse/) This proves that any type of elder abuse can occur to almost anyone anywhere. In this case, it happened to an elder woman at a nursing home. She had been sexually assaulted by a caregiver at the nursing home. This is technically abuse, because unfortunately she has dementia and didn’t exactly know what was going on. To sum it all up, elder abuse and human right violations should be put to a stop.