Old and Alone: The Epidemic of Elder Abuse in America

In 2015, 77-year-old Elaine Latshaw was found dead in her home in Mahanoy City, Pennsylvania, covered in her own urine, feces, and blood. Her foot was so destroyed by gangrene that the bones were protruding, according to local news reports. An autopsy later attributed her death to "aspiration pneumonia due to multiple pressure ulcerations, gangrene, and malnutrition due to hypertensive vascular disease with vascular dementia."

Local police say her death was no accident. This summer, Latshaw's son John and his girlfriend Dorothy Robinson were charged with the third-degree murder for their failure to care for Latshaw.

The couple, for their part, say they were simply following Latshaw's wishes—and that she wanted to die.

By 2040, more millennials will be caring for the elderly than for the next generation of children. One in ten of those people will be abused—emotionally, physically, or both—and for 90 percent of those abused, it will be at the hands of their own family and caretakers, according to the National Council on Aging.

"It really is a national hidden scandal," said Sherri Snelling, CEO and founder of caregiver support service Caregiving Club, who has worked in and outside of the government to advocate for elder rights. "There's a lot of shades of gray to this."

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Old and Alone: The Epidemic of Elder Abuse in America