GPs should be aware of elder abuse

Geriatrician Professor Susan Kurrle says she had never heard the words ‘elder abuse’ until 1989.

Now educated on the somewhat silent epidemic, Professor Kurrle encourages other GPs to notice the “red flags” that may be associated with some elder abuse cases.

As Professor Kurrle addressed delegates at last week’s Aged Right Advocacy Service World Elder Abuse Awareness Day conference, she said it was important for GPs to ask their older patients if they are frightened or if someone has hurt them.

“If you ask those questions in the context of a medical appointment, it’s really interesting what comes up,” she said.

Professor Kurrle’s speech showed confronting and graphic images and presented case studies of some of her abused elderly patients. Centred on the role of the medical profession in abuse prevention, her talk explored how GPs and specialists can improve their responses in cases of abuse.

“Medical professionals need to be able to recognise the types of situations where elder abuse is occurring. We need to recognise the stressed carer and the vulnerable older patient and start understanding,” she said.

Professor Kurrle is a geriatrician in hospital and community practice at Hornsby Ku-ring-gai Hospital in northern Sydney, where she is clinical director of the Division of Rehabilitation and Aged Care Services, and at Batemans Bay Hospital in southern NSW.

According to the passionate professor, emergency departments also need to “do better” when identifying cases of elder abuse, adding that education and training is “absolutely essential”.

“We need to start asking why this happening and what caused that funny looking burn on the older patients’ back or the bruising on their arms.

“Unfortunately, there has been a poverty of work done by medical professionals in the area of elder abuse. We have let our patients down really badly and it’s really sad that I’m standing here 24 years since I met my first case of elder abuse and we’re still, to this day, not tackling the issue particularly well.”

Possible elder abuse ‘red flags’ to look out for:

• Sudden changes in the older person’s behaviour (ie are they losing interest or not as active in activities they once enjoyed?)
• Remain alert to ‘toxic’ situations at the older person’s home (ie poor living arrangements)
• Identify poor hygiene, signs of malnutrition and any unusual bruising or marks on the older person’s body
• Is the carer stressed out and acting in an unusual manner?
• Does the older person’s story about how they got the bruise on their chest sound fictional? Learn to separate lies from the truth.