School of Health and Caring Sciences, Linnaeus University, Kalmar, Sweden.
Nurs Philos. 2011 Oct;12(4):248-61. doi: 10.1111/j.1466-769X.2011.00490.x.
Doing violence and evil always indirectly or directly leads to making someone else suffer. Such is the dialogical structure of evil and it seems to be the dialogical structure of elder abuse as well. There is a perturbing sameness between definitions of evil and definitions of elder abuse. It is hard at times to see how or if there is any line of demarcation between the subjects. Two modern-day philosophers, Paul Ricoeur and Simone Weil have delved particularly into the concept of evil. The symbolism Ricoeur analyses in depth is that of defilement, sin, and guilt and the concept of the servile will. Integral in Weil's description of evil are the concepts of suffering and the special situation of extreme suffering, termed affliction. Grounded in the writings of Ricoeur and Weil, this paper is a series of reflections on the intersection of evil and elder abuse as exemplified in the narrative of an abused older woman. This woman provided around the clock care at home for her husband who had vascular dementia. She was also abused by her husband. This was witnessed by both family and others but no one intervened. In her narrative there were indications of defilement, sin, guilt, and true affliction as a servile will. This paper illuminates the evil of elder abuse that is harm and suffering, and the challenge of untangling issues of blame, free will, responsibility, and self-determinism. When engaging with abused, older persons it can be worthwhile for nurses to enter the encounter with non-judgemental compassion founded on the human to human connection and recognition of our mutual fallibility and potential for evil that is part of our human fragility.
作恶总是会间接或直接地导致他人受苦。这就是恶的对话结构，它似乎也是虐待老人的对话结构。恶和虐待老人的定义之间存在令人不安的相似之处。有时很难看出它们之间是否有任何界限。两位现代哲学家保罗·利科（Paul Ricoeur）和西蒙娜·薇依（Simone Weil）特别深入地研究了恶的概念。利科深入分析的象征主义是玷污、罪恶和内疚以及奴隶意志的概念。薇依对恶的描述中包含着苦难和特殊的极端苦难情况，即苦难的概念。本文以利科和薇依的著作为基础，对恶与虐待老人之间的交集进行了一系列思考，以一位受虐待的老年妇女的叙述为例。这位妇女在家中为患有血管性痴呆的丈夫提供 24 小时护理，同时也受到丈夫的虐待。她的家人和其他人都目睹了这一切，但没有人干预。在她的叙述中，有玷污、罪恶、内疚和奴隶意志的真实苦难的迹象。本文阐明了虐待老人的恶，即伤害和痛苦，以及厘清指责、自由意志、责任和自决等问题的挑战。当与受虐待的老年人接触时，护士可以基于人与人之间的联系和相互的易犯错性和潜在的恶，以非评判性的同情进入相遇，这种恶是我们人类脆弱性的一部分。
