Abuse of elderly down some, for now

The Journal staff

Waukesha After a record year in 1993, reports of elder abuse and neglect dipped a little in 1994 to 75 cases. Investigators confirmed 40 of them.

"We've been on this roller- coaster for several years," said Don Pfaff, referring to the up- and-down nature of reports year after year. "For the life of me, I can't account for it."

Pfaff is coordinator of services for the Waukesha County Department of Aging.

In the previous three years, elder abuse reports totaled 94 in 1993, with 53 substantiated; 53 in 1992, with 39 confirmed; and 77 in 1991, with 43 substantiated.

While the numbers tell a confusing story, the people behind the numbers tell a disturbing one.

Among the statistics are an elderly Waukesha County couple whose case was described by Erica Wiese, a psychiatric nurse with the county's adult protective services unit.

He was 89, strong-willed, and ruled the roost. But physically, he was failing. He couldn't get around like before, his eyes were failing and his use of alcohol aggravated his situation.

She was 86, a woman who had prided herself on keeping the house and cooking. But dementia and cataracts stole her verve. As she could do less and less, her anxiety increased and her sleep decreased.

"The more she couldn't do things, the more he would get angry," Wiese said. "He just had no tolerance for the changes," those occurring with himself and with her.

Their altercations not uncommon over 40-plus years of childless marriage became more violent.

"His way of dealing with it was to come to blows," Wiese said.

When a report finally was made to the county's Department of Health and Human Services by a concerned third party, the wife had welts and bruises, and the husband had bruised hands.

Police were called and the woman was placed in a hospital under emergency detention. Eventually, she was placed in a Waukesha group home and he joined her a month later under careful staff monitoring. Since the report, made in the early part of 1994, the wife has died and her husband is confined to a nursing home. Fear of Pressing Charges

The kinds of physical abuse suffered by the woman are among the most disturbing to Pfaff, who has a hard time comprehending how an elderly person could be beaten by someone close. Often in abuse, an elderly person will not press charges against the abuser. Pfaff said he had seen enough cases to understand why.

"Most mothers are ashamed to admit that they are being abused by a child," he said. "And I can understand that. Who wants to admit that?"

In 1994, 16 cases of physical abuse were reported, up from 12 in 1993. Of those, six were substantiated in 1994 and nine were substantiated in 1993.

Neglect by others was the highest-reported category, but it was the least substantiated. Only 5 of 53 reports of neglect by others were substantiated.

The highest incidence of substantiated neglect or abuse was in the area of self-neglect, with 17 of 24 reports confirmed.

About half of all the material abuse reports 12 of 23 were substantiated. Likewise, just under half of the mental and emotional abuse cases 11 of 24 reports were substantiated.

To report suspected elder abuse or neglect, call the Department of Aging at 548-7828 or the Department of Health and Human Services at 548-7212.

Copyright 1995
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