Suppose you are a family protective services caseworker employed by the county government. You have been asked to investigate a case of possible elder abuse. Mamie is 87, is slowly losing her memory to senility and is nearly incapacitated by degenerative arthritis. She lives in her family home with a 59-year-old divorced son who was honorably discharged from the service many years ago and was hospitalized on a diagnosis of paranoid schizophrenia.
Mamie's daughter, Moira, wants her mother placed in a nursing home, but the son, Meldrick, says that he can care for her at home, with some financial support from Moira and, of course, Mamie's Social Security and Medicare assistance. But Moira has had repeated reports that Mamie has been seen sitting in Meldrick's car for hours late at night and during the winter while he visits OTB, plays cards at church and drinks in bars. She also has evidence of bruises that Meldrick insists were caused as he was lifting her from bed to wheelchair or as he was helping in and out of the car.
In a memo, discuss whether Mamie is being abused. Your supervisor is a former college professor, and you know that she would like you to analyze Meldrick's behavior in terms of the theories that Wallace poses as explanations for elder abuse.