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By JERRY LYNOTT; Times Leader Staff Writer
Friday, May 01, 1998 Page: 2A
It’s often kept secret out of fear, embarrassment or a desire to protect a
family member.
When elder abuse is docu-
mented, women usually are the victims. Their adult children are most likely
the abusers. And death as a result is rare.
That wasn’t the case with Lois
Snyder, 83. whom state police charged Thursday in the death of her
84-year-old husband, Harold.
“In terms of extreme cases like
(Snyder’s), we don’t know how many are occurring across the nation,” said
Toshio Tatara, who researches elder abuse.
Tatara, the former director of the National Center on Elder
Abuse in Washington, D.C., said that in general the problem is un-
derreported and unrecognized.
The center’s latest figures from
1996 list 293,000 reports of elder abuse – an increase of more than
150 percent in reports from a de-
cade earlier.
Neglect or failure to fulfill a person’s obligations or duties to an
elderly person is the most common form of abuse, followed by physical,
emotional and sexual abuse.
But some experts estimate that only one in 14 incidents gets re-
ported, Tatara said.
If not for the involvement of a hospital social worker, there might never
have been criminal charges lodged against Lois Sny-
der, a Hazle Township woman.
A nurse in the intensive care unit told troopers she overheard
Lois Snyder telling her husband not to talk about what happened because it
would make her “look bad.”
She allegedly kicked her hus-
band in the stomach, rupturing his small intestine on March 12.
Eighteen days later, Harold Sny-
der died from organ failure attrib-
uted to the injury.
He reportedly told police his wife “bosses him around” and had been doing
it for some time.
Before each retired from the Ha-
zleton Standard-Speaker newspa-
per, he was her boss.
“Over a period of time, caring for an elderly person is a very try-
ing and difficult task, even if the person is healthy.” Tatara said.
He identified frustration on the part of a caregiver as a factor con-
tributing to abuse.
“What triggered her, we dont know that,” Tatara said of the wife’s reason
for the alleged as-
sault.
Sara Aravanis of the National
Association of State Units on Ag-
ing said elder abuse also occurs when there is an abusive relation-
ship between partners.
“We know that domestic vio-
lence grows old,” said Aravanis,
associate director for elder rights with the Washington, D.C.-based
association.
With age, the balance of power may change as physical abilities wane, she
explained.
It’s not unusual for protection from abuse orders to be filed on behalf of
people over 60, said
Linda Bottger, supervisor of Adult
Protective Services for the Lu-
zerne/Wyoming Counties Bureau for the Aging.
Bottger said the issue is com-
plex and difficult for most people to grasp.
“They’re very reluctant to share
(information),” Bottger said.
“Older people hesitate to call and ask for help.”
The possibility of being re-
moved f