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QUESTION: A terrible, terrible story that rings many bells with me.
I forget the buzz words but there are some forms you simply must get signed as
soon as possible. She is well on her way to be declared incompetent and then it
will be too late. "Vulnerable adult" is an ominous phrase. There is one form
which essentially delegates her medical care to you. With that you can place
her where you want to; I think there is a good likelihood that she may be in a
nursing home in a few weeks. This form has nothing to do with finances. All
this form needs is her notarized signature. I was unable to convince my
friend to sign. She is paying the price now and will pay it every day for the
rest of her life. She was just a friend though, not a relative so you at least
have *some* leverage. A power of attorney would be nice too, but that would
seem even more threatening to her. My friend was put in a place chosen by a
some functionary at a local hospital. Which just happened to be one of the few
for profit nursing home chains, Beverly Enterprises.
I didnt really have a problem with the police but you are quite likely to
find that the legal system in general is *not* your friend.
There will be an Alzheimer's support group of some sort, nearby if you live in
small town. They can give you a better description of the forms required.
You can buy the forms in a place that sells legal forms. No, I didn't used to
know there were such places either. Call today!
ANSWER: >A terrible, terrible story that rings many bells with me.
>I forget the buzz words but there are some forms you simply must get signed
>as
>soon as possible. She is well on her way to be declared incompetent and then
>it
>will be too late. "Vulnerable adult" is an ominous phrase.
Who would assign it and what does it mean legally?
>There is one form
which essentially delegates her medical care to you. With that you can place
>her where you want to; I think there is a good likelihood that she may be in
>a
>nursing home in a few weeks. This form has nothing to do with finances. All
>this form needs is her notarized signature. I was unable to convince my
>friend to sign. She is paying the price now and will pay it every day for
>the
>rest of her life. She was just a friend though, not a relative so you at
>least
>have *some* leverage.
Well, I will try. She simply won't sign anything. She believes she's fully in
charge, fully competent, and ready to take on the world.
>A power of attorney would be nice too, but that would
>seem even more threatening to her. My friend was put in a place chosen by a
>some functionary at a local hospital.
Ah, that happened to my step-aunt earlier this year. She was living alone, fell
down, the apartment super called 911 and the paramedics found edema in her legs
and a low oxygen count. At the hospital they discovered she was in heart
failure. My step-aunt's son lives in Florida, so I acted as a temporary
go-between until he was able to catch a flight. My aunt had decided years ago
that her (very wealty) son was after her money so she wouldn't give him power
of attorney. I didn't want to take on another LOL myself, so I just worked with
the hospital's exit nurse (or some such term--I think she was a social worker)
who was to transfer my aunt into long term care facility. My aunt had no say
about where she was going--she thought she was going back to her appartment.
When her son got here, she told him to go back to FL. It was heartbreaking. A
magistrate had her declared incompetent. I watched the whole thing realizing
that soon I would be in for much the same thing. I took my mom to visit my aunt
while she was still in the hospital so she could see what was going on
there--how my aunt, by her refusal to let her son help, was being shunted about
by strangers. It made a big impression on my mom, but not enough for her to
make any changes. Actually, she just forgot all about my aunt's situation as
soon as we left the hospital.
Which just happened to be one of the
>few
>for profit nursing home chains, Beverly Enterprises.
>I didnt really have a problem with the police but you are quite likely to
>find that the legal system in general is *not* your friend.
Great. What's the worse case scenario here? I really need to know.
>There will be an Alzheimer's support group of some sort, nearby if you live
>in
>small town. They can give you a better description of the forms required.
>You can buy the forms in a place that sells legal forms. No, I didn't used
>to
>know there were such places either. Call today!
I got in touch with the AD Association about three weeks ago. They have been
super! They sent me a list of activities. I will call again today and see if
they can send the forms. I will get on this right away. Thank you so very much.
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