 |  |
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| Experts
on elder abuse meet in June at Weill Cornell Medicine to discuss the
financial exploitation of older people. Clockwise from left: Karl
Pillemer, Bridget Penhale, Nelida Redondo, Kendon Conrad, Mark Lachs and
Peter Lloyd-Sherlock. All photos: Ira Fox |
Financial exploitation of older people by those who should be
protecting them results in devastating health, emotional and
psychological consequences. A group of international elder abuse
experts met in June at Weill Cornell Medicine to map out a strategy for
conducting research on this problem in low and middle income
countries.
The meeting, organized by
Dr. Mark Lachs,
co-chief of the Division of Geriatrics and Palliative Medicine and
the Irene F. and I. Roy Psaty Distinguished Professor of Clinical
Medicine at Weill Cornell Medicine, and
Dr. Karl Pillemer,
director of the Bronfenbrenner Center for Translational Research and
the Hazel E. Reed Professor in the Department of Human Development at
Cornell University, brought together experts from the United States,
Canada, the United Kingdom, South Africa, and Argentina.
"Over
the last few years, studies have found financial abuse and exploitation
of older people to be extremely prevalent and extremely harmful for
older people," said Dr. Pillemer, who is also a professor of
gerontology in medicine at Weill Cornell Medicine. "These studies have
mostly been done in the United States, England, and other high income
countries, but very little is known about how this problem plays out in
low-income countries. Our goal was to bring together research
internationally and comparatively to try to understand this problem."
"This
issue is an interesting integration of sociology, medicine, economics
and geopolitics," said Dr. Lachs, who is director of Weill Cornell
Medicine's Center for Aging Research and Clinical Care and director of
geriatrics for the New York-Presbyterian Health System. "There has been
growing interest here in the United States on financial vulnerability
of older people, but I'm unaware of an international group that is
focused on this."
One consequence of older people who are being
financially exploited is that they cannot meet their own health needs.
There are also psychological and emotional consequences because some
older people live in fear of relatives who may be exploiting them and
may give away much needed pensions to spouses, adult children, and
other extended family members.
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| Top
(from left): Chelsie Burchett, Bridget Penhale, Karl Pillemer, Janey
Peterson, Kendon Conrad, Mark Lachs, Natal Ayiga, Steve Gresham. Bottom
(from left): Peter Lloyd-Sherlock, David Burnes, Nelida Redondo. |
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According
to Dr. Pillemer, based on available evidence, 5 to 10 percent of older
people globally may experience some kind of financial
exploitation. Exploitation can take different forms. In high-income
countries, like the United States, the abuse may encompass theft, misuse
of power of attorney or denying access to funds. In low-income
regions, financial exploitation results from abuse of local laws and
cultural norms. For example, in some South American countries, the law
requires that children receive the parents’ dwelling, resulting in
children moving parents into nursing homes in order to obtain the
house. In parts of sub-Saharan Africa, women may be accused of
witchcraft in order to seize their property or gain access to their
funds.
Government pensions in low-income countries have become a
source of income for older people, which puts them at risk for financial
exploitation. However, researchers need to be sensitive to local
cultural norms in their conduct of research and analysis of data so
governments are not hesitant to provide much needed income to older
people, according to Dr. Lachs.
"In some of the countries there's
a cultural expectation that if the older person has a pension it will
be shared with other family members," Dr. Lachs said. "Whereas in my
practice, if a patient tells me that a child is asking for some of their
pension, it raises the specter of the potential for financial
exploitation."
The group, Dr. Pillemer said, concluded that
there's a desperate need for new scientific knowledge about the extent,
causes and consequences of this problem, as well as a need to
understand how the problem of financial exploitation is the same across
countries, and how it differs. The group is now working on a white
paper to make the case for comparative research on financial
exploitation of older people.
"That's important for a very
critical reason: By looking at the dynamics of financial abuse in
different countries, we can understand how policies affect both how
much abuse occurs and how to deal with it," Dr. Pillemer said.
In addition to Dr. Pillemer and Dr. Lachs, attendees of the meeting were:
- Bridget Penhale, Reader in Mental Health, University of East Anglia, UK;
- Peter Lloyd-Sherlock, Professor of Social Policy and International Development, University of East Anglia, UK;
- Steve
Gresham, Executive Vice President, Private Client Group, Fidelity
Investments, and Adjunct Lecturer in International and Public Affairs,
Watson Institute, Brown University;
- David Burnes, Assistant Professor, Factor-Inwentash Faculty of Social Work, University of Toronto;
- Nelida Redondo, Senior Researcher, Universidad Isalud, Argentina;
- Natal Ayiga, North-West University, South Africa;
- Janey
Peterson, Associate Professor of Clinical Epidemiology in Medicine,
Integrative Medicine and Cardiothoracic Surgery, Weill Cornell Medicine;
and
- Ken Conrad, Professor Emeritus, University of Illinois at Chicago.
The meeting was supported by the Elbrun & Peter Kimmelman Family Foundation, Inc.
Full Article & Source:
Experts Address Elder Financial Abuse as Global Problem
