Neglect is a passive form of abuse in which a perpetrator is responsible to provide care for a victim who is unable to care for himself or herself, but fails to provide adequate care.
Neglect may include the failure to provide sufficient supervision, nourishment, or medical care, or the failure to fulfill other needs for which the victim is helpless to provide for himself or herself. The term is also applied when necessary care is withheld by those responsible for providing it from animals, plants, and even inanimate objects. Neglect can carry on in a childs life falling into many long-term side effects such as; physical injuries, low self-esteem, attention disorders, violent behavior, and can even cause death.[1]
Contents |
There are many different types of neglect but they all have consequences whether it be physically or mentally. Neglect can effect the body physically by effecting a child's development which can lead to chronic medical problems. When experiencing neglect you usually have poor nutritional value, which causes abnormal patterns for development.When not given the proper nutrients at certain growth periods it can result in stunted growth, and inadequate bone and muscle growth. Brain functioning and information processing are also consequences of neglect. Which leads to difficulty in understanding directions, the understanding of social relationships, or the impossibility of completing academic tasks without assistance. [2] Neglected children or adults can have physical injuries like fractures or severe burns that go untreated, or infections, lice or other signs of lack of care. Not being treated for health problems can lead to chronic disorders when children get older. There are many physical effects neglect can have on a person. [3]
Not only is neglect associated with physical problems it also has an effect on a person mentally, ranging from poor peer relationships to violent behavior. Not only is behavior affected but the way a person looks at themselves which can lead to low self esteem and the feeling of not being wanted. Neglect is more severe in younger children when it comes to psychological consequences. Parental detachment can harm the child's development of bonding and attachment to the parents, causing the child's expectations to be the same when they get older (like an unending cycle). Too little parental availability can result in difficulties in problem solving, coping with stressful situations and social relationships. Studies of neglected children show heighten levels of depression and hopelessness, and higher incidents of suicide attempts. [4]
In English law, neglect is a term of art, identical to the, now deprecated, expression lack of care and different from the concept of negligence. Its sole function is to qualify a verdict returned at an inquest by finding that it was a factor that contributed to a death.[5]
Master of the Rolls Sir Thomas Bingham defined it in these terms:
Neglect in this context means a gross failure to provide adequate nourishment or liquid, or provide or procure basic medical attention or shelter or warmth for someone in a dependent position (because of youth, age, illness or incarceration) who cannot provide it for himself. Failure to provide medical attention for a dependent person whose physical condition is such as to show that he obviously needs it may amount to neglect. So it may be if it is the dependent person's mental condition which obviously calls for medical attention (as it would, for example, if a mental nurse observed that a patient had a propensity to swallow razor blades and failed to report this propensity to a doctor, in a case where the patient had no intention to cause himself injury but did thereafter swallow razor blades with fatal results). In both cases the crucial consideration will be what the dependent person's condition, whether physical or mental, appeared to be.
— R v. HM Coroner for North Humberside and Scunthorpe, ex parte Jamieson[6]
|
||||||||