IPA Press Releases

Financial, psychological and physical abuse of elders has become a major forensic concern

VANCOUVER, B.C. - One of the world’s foremost geriatric psychiatrists and a leading American lawyer in the field of elder abuse, will conduct a session here Tuesday on the subject of forensic geriatrics, an issue that is increasingly a matter of police and justice concern worldwide.

The symposium will be conducted by Dr. Sanford I. Finkel, a founder and past-president of the International Psychogeriatric Association and the founder of the American Association of Geriatric Psychiatry, and Karry Peck, the current president of the Chicago Bar Association, a national authority on the subject of elder abuse.

A high percentage of seniors worldwide is in a totally vulnerable position. In the United States alone, more than one million late stage Alzheimer’s patients are in care homes, a population greater than the total number of people hospitalized in the country for all other problems combined. And this may represent just 70 per cent of elders with severe mental difficulties requiring totally managed care.

"Increasingly, we are being asked to give evidence in court cases in which quality of care is disputed," Dr. Finkel said. "Estates have become much larger and frequently become the source of fights. Karry Peck has dealt with a range of elder abuse issues from rape, murder and personal injury to financial misappropriation."

Suicide and suspicious death among the elderly are regularly in the headlines amid various disputes about law, ethics and euthanasia.

Other Tuesday highlights include:

• The first of two days of bilingual programming (French and English), a cooperative effort between the Société de Psychogriatrie du Quebec and the Société de Psychogeriatrie de Langue Francaise.
• A session chaired by Dr. Francois Primeau will focus on ethical issues in geriatrics, from physical and pharmacological efforts at restraint, force-feeding and similar concerns, as well as research into the dementias. Dr. Serge Gauthier addresses the question of whether dementia patients are being used as guinea pigs.
• Dr. Donald Hay of Denver will lead a symposium which will explore the practice, techniques and legal issues concerning the use of Electro-Convulsive Therapy (ETC), sometime referred to as "shock" therapy
• What is Lewy body dementia? Second only in incidence to Alzheimer's, Dr. Ian McKeith of England is a leading authority on this increasingly recognized condition.
• Sessions dealing with depression and dementias around the world exploring "cultures in motion," transcultural, cross-cultural and migrational issues in psychogeriatrics. Among the participants will be Dr. J. M. Bertolote, Team Coordinator, Mental and Behavioral Disorders, Department of Mental Health, World Health Organization.
• The role of the primary care physician recognizing and dealing with depression and dementias, will be examined in different sessions, chaired respectively by Dr. Lynne Hall of Melbourne, Australia, and Dr. William Coleman of the United States. The incoming international president of IPA, Dr. Edmond Chiu, also of Melbourne, will lead a general discussion on how to "upskill" general practitioners in psychogeriatrics.

The Ninth International Congress of IPA opened in Vancouver Aug. 15 and will conclude Friday. About 2,000 of the world’s leading physicians, scientists and related professionals in the field of mental health for an aging population, are in attendance.