Elder abuse geriatrics: describing an important new medical specialist

ABSTRACT

Elder mistreatment, including elder abuse and neglect, is a difficult diagnosis to make and manage for most providers. To address this, two elder abuse consultation teams were developed for patients in the hospital and emergency department settings. As these teams have developed, the providers involved have obtained specialized training and experience that we believe contributes to a new field of elder abuse geriatrics, a corollary to the well-established field of child abuse pediatrics. Providers working in this field require specialized training and have a specialized scope of practice that includes forensic evaluation, evaluation of cognition and capacity, care coordination and advocacy for victims of abuse, and collaboration with protective services and law enforcement. Here we describe the training, scope of practice, ethical role, and best practices for elder mistreatment medical consultation. We hope this will serve as a starting point for this new and important medical specialty.

KEYWORDS:

• Elder abuse
• elder mistreatment
• geriatrician
• medical specialist

Acknowledgments

Attendees at the September 28–29, 2022 meeting included authors of this manuscript. The authors wish to acknowledge the contributions of their colleagues.

The Vulnerable Elder Protection Team wishes to thank the New York Office of Victim Services (OVS), and the Vulnerable Elder Services, Protection and Advocacy Team (VESPA) wishes to thank the State of Colorado Office for Victims Programs (OVP).

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Data availability statement

There is no available data to share.

Additional information

Funding

VEPT is currently funded by the New York Office of Victim Services [#C11419GG] and supported by a Paul B. Beeson Emerging Leaders Career Development Award in Aging [K76 AG054866] from the National Institute on Aging. E-Shien “Iggy” Chang’s participation was supported by K01 AG081540 from the National Institute on Aging. VESPA is funded by the Colorado Office of Justice Programs, Victim of Crime Act Grant.