Any of u help take care of the elderly

I kind of got a question. My neighbor she fell down a few day's ago. Her husband called the ambulance and they took her to the hospital. I know she has some health problems. Her kidneys and heart are not doing to good at all. Also she doesn't get around good because of her hips and she can't get surgery to fix that. She really wants to go home.

I think they want her to go into a home close to her daughter. She does have home care for like 12 hours a week or something like that. I'm just kind of curious what is legal. Her nurse doesn't want her to go home. Because there isn't someone with her 24/7 what if something would happen with her. Would they just put her into a home against what she wants.

This page is a permanent link to the reply below and its nested replies. See all post replies »

swirlie · 31-35

The legal answer to your question is NO, they cannot just put her into a home against what she wants.

Anyone who attempts to put her into a home AGAINST her will can be sued for violating her civil rights, meaning her right to choose what's best for herself.

What someone else thinks is good for her... versus what SHE thinks is good for herself, might be two different things entirely, but who gets to make the final choice is the elderly lady, not her caregiver!

But therein lies the fine line between sensibility and stupidity.

Even if a person chooses to live alone and starve to death on the floor in the middle of their living room, they have a legal right to do that in their own home.

The ONLY time that a person cannot choose for themselves is if a Physician of Psychiatric Medicine deems that person INCOMPETENT to make decisions for themselves. If a Physician makes that declaration for a person, then someone else gets to make her life-choices for her on her behalf.

That "someone else" is typically a Power of Attorney who she's pre-assigned to be her PofA before she got to the point where she needed one on record.

Even if the elderly woman had pre-assigned a Power of Attorney for personal care for herself, that Power of Attorney CANNOT put her into a home UNLESS a Physician declares the elderly woman to be incompetent.

If the Physician does NOT declare the elderly woman to be incompetent, then her Power of Attorney has absolutely NO authority to make decisions for the elderly woman, which means we are back to the beginning of where we first started.... the elderly woman has a legal right to live by herself and live her life as she sees fit for herself, even if her choices look very bad.