May 4, 2023
Volume 53 - No. 18
by Friedrich Gomez According to the National Council On Aging, elderly abuse and neglect is a widely-unknown tragedy which is widespread and increasing at a most alarming rate. For millions of seniors who were once the quintessential and respected stalwarts who responsibly and proudly reared families, protecting and nurturing their loved ones into adulthood are, themselves, often neglected,
physical abused, and abandoned in their twilight years. They sometimes end up in hospitals with bruises and black eyes, fractures cheek bones or broken ribs with false reports of having fallen down, when in fact they have been physically abused. If not physically abused, many suffer a more insidious, silent fate that comes with neglect. They often die alone in their final mo-
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ments of life, feeling deeply ashamed and useless and believing that they are a final burden to their own family members whom they raised. What a most humiliating and tragic and agonizing way to die alone. During their precious final seconds of life on Earth, with no one there to even comfort or hold their hand, they often die alone without hearing those words they longed to hear: “I love you,” before drawing their last breath.
According to heart-wrenching health care statistics and providers of emergency services, seniors are often – and cruelly -- found alone, and dead, in their homes, apartments, or even on the streets as part of the burgeoning national crisis of homelessness across these United States. THE LONELY DEATH OF GEORGE BELL. Once the firefighters had jimmied the door that July afternoon, the police squeezed into an unkept apartment.
Elderly
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