:''This article incorporates "medical abuse", which has a similar meaning but relates more specifically to harmful medical treatment rather than care in general, and may include victims who did not choose to be patients.''
Patient abuse or
neglect
In the context of caregiving, neglect is a form of abuse where the perpetrator, who is responsible for caring for someone who is unable to care for themselves, fails to do so. It can be a result of carelessness, indifference, or unwillingness a ...
is any action or failure to act which causes unreasonable suffering, misery or harm to the
patient
A patient is any recipient of health care services that are performed by healthcare professionals. The patient is most often ill or injured and in need of treatment by a physician, nurse, optometrist, dentist, veterinarian, or other heal ...
.
Elder abuse
Elder abuse (also called "elder mistreatment", "senior abuse", "abuse in later life", "abuse of older adults", "abuse of older women", and "abuse of older men") is "a single, or repeated act, or lack of appropriate action, occurring within any rela ...
is classified as patient abuse of those older than 60 and forms a large proportion of patient abuse.
*Abuse includes
physically striking or
sexually assaulting
Sexual assault is an act in which one intentionally sexually touches another person without that person's consent, or coerces or physically forces a person to engage in a sexual act against their will. It is a form of sexual violence, which ...
a patient. It also includes the intentional withholding of necessary food, physical care, and medical attention.
*Neglect includes the failure to properly attend to the needs and care of a patient, or the unintentional causing of injury to a patient, whether by act or omission.
Patient abuse and neglect may occur in settings such as hospitals, nursing homes, clinics and during home-based care.
Health professionals who abuse patients may be deemed
unfit to practice and have their
medical license
A medical license is an occupational license that permits a person to legally practice medicine. In most countries, a person must have a medical license bestowed either by a specified government-approved professional association or a governme ...
removed
as well as facing
criminal charge
A criminal charge is a formal accusation made by a governmental authority (usually a public prosecutor or the police) asserting that somebody has committed a crime. A charging document, which contains one or more criminal charges or counts, can ...
s as well as
civil cases
Civil law is a major branch of the law.Glanville Williams. ''Learning the Law''. Eleventh Edition. Stevens. 1982. p. 2. In common law legal systems such as England and Wales and the United States, the term refers to non-criminal law. The law rel ...
.
Abuse amongst the general adult population has not been well-addressed in literature.
Sexual abuse
The rate of
sexual abuse
Sexual abuse or sex abuse, also referred to as molestation, is abusive sexual behavior by one person upon another. It is often perpetrated using force or by taking advantage of another. Molestation often refers to an instance of sexual assa ...
in the United States is 9.5 per 10,000 physicians per 10 years.
Female and younger patients are more likely to experience sexual abuse and male doctors older who perform examinations in non-academic settings are more likely to perpetrate sexual abuse.
See also
References
Further reading
Nonfiction Books
* Bostwick, JS. The Patient Abuse and Neglect of Our Vulnerable Adults: America's Shame (2008)
* Caron, NK. Impact of effectiveness in implementation of the patient abuse reporting law on the reporting of "physical abuse, mistreatment, neglect" in residential health care facilities (1981)
Close BA, Greenberg MS, Morgenstern BR Nursing Home Patient Abuse – Realities and Remedies (1981)* Costa, MD Gynocide: Hysterectomy, Capitalist Patriarchy, and the Medical Abuse of Women (2007)
* Mackay, T. Without Due Care – An Australian Hospital Tragedy (2010)
* Shannon, JM. Patient abuse law: the reality (1983)
Sundram CJ Patient abuse and mistreatment in psychiatric centers: a policy for reporting apparent crimes to and response by law enforcement agencies (1985)* Thomas, G. Journey into madness:the true story of secret CIA mind control and medical abuse (1989)
Academic articles
Armstrong B A Question of Abuse: Where Staff and Patient Rights Collide – Hosp Community Psychiatry 1979 May;30(5):348-51.*
ttps://web.archive.org/web/20120305074431/http://ps.psychiatryonline.org/cgi/pdf_extract/35/8/832 Gutheil TG Patient Abuse – Hosp Community Psychiatry 35:832, August 1984Isaacman SH Patient Abuse in Rural Midwestern Pregnant Women? – Archives of Family Medicine, 1993;2(4):351.LaRocco SA Patient Abuse Should Be Your Concern – Journal of Nursing Administration April 1985 – Volume 15 Issue 4 Pages 27–31LaRocco SA A case of patient abuse – American Journal of Nursing: November 1985 – Volume 85 Issue 11 Pages 1233–1236Santistevan A, Deiker T Asking the Patient About Abuse and Neglect-Five-Point Plan, Las Vegas (NM) Medical Center 1988Sundram CJ Obstacles to Reducing Patient Abuse in Public Institutions Hosp Community Psychiatry 35:238–243, March 1984
Fiction
* Abagnalo, George. ''Boy on a Pony'' (Moreland Press, 2001) (exploring privileged sexual abuse of patients within the healthcare system).
External links
Patients FirstCalifornia Patient Abuse and Neglect Reporting Requirements SummaryDoctors and Sexual Abuse– investigation by ''
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
''The Atlanta Journal-Constitution'' is the only major daily newspaper in the metropolitan area of Atlanta, Georgia. It is the flagship publication of Cox Enterprises. The ''Atlanta Journal-Constitution'' is the result of the merger between ...
''
{{DEFAULTSORT:Patient Abuse
Abuse
Health care quality
Patient safety
Nursing ethics
Institutional abuse
Patient
Social problems in medicine