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« Monkhouse Mondays: Cloud 9 (Wolke 9) | Main | Grandfather/Grandson »
October 21, 2008 |Permalink |Comments (4)
Modern Slavery
America has major problems with the guardianship system. Check it out...
Do you think this person lacks "decision making capacity?"
Comments ( 4)
Somehting else must have happened for the court to put him in guardianship, something ... as it is hard to believe he needs it now, seeing the video.
With that being said, I am in support of county paid personnel to be rent payees. I have had the bad luck to take a senior to court as the tenant had money but did not pay his portion of the rent. In working with his church group and Adult Protection Services, we discovered he was being victimized and the senior was giving his money to this "friend". He was deemed competent and he continued to give his money away and the senior suffered. Once his social security check was taken over, his rent was paid timely, he had funds and since he did not have as much funds, his "friend" stopped coming around.
I could not bar the "friend" from the property according to the police as he was invited in by the tenant.
BUT, in the above case, something had to have happened.
I had the same impression as Joe - what happened to cause this gentleman to be placed into a guardianship program? What's the rest of the story???
I'm just recently learning about the guardianship system, so am naive to say the least! Had no idea there were guardianship agencies that charged fees for service - are these contractors of the government? Are they for-profit? If so, it strikes me that they have similar motivators as the nightmare Ruta described in her 10/17 post on Health Care Meltdown!
This video is really disturbing. And it makes me wonder how very limited are the legal protections of elders who've been placed under guardianship? Why does this judge not allow him free legal representation any longer? Surely there must be more to the story??? If not, how can this be?
Posted by
CC Andrews
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October 23, 2008 1:47 PM
Guardianship should only be used as a last resort. Of course this leaves open a lot of subjectivity on the part of the nurse, social worker, doctor, etc. of whom they perceive as competent or incompetent. Even though the court makes the decision of guardianship, the judge generally rules in favor of a medical professional. The cases in which I have been involved usually begin with a local AERS evaluation. The person is found to be a danger to self or others and needs protection from abuse, or is considered to be a vulnerable adult. The case is referred to Adult Protective Services, the client is sent to a physician or ER and two doctors sign that he/she is incompetent. Only a few hours of evaluation sometimes determine whether someone is incompetent. A quick mini-mental, two signatures and off to court. In other cases I have seen guardianship save people’s lives.
It is interesting that a nursing facility will quickly apply for guardianship of property, usually much sooner than guardianship of person.
I have to believe that something is missing. This gentleman appears to have permanent guardianship. This form of guardianship is not usually granted immediately. Permanent guardianship assigned to an outside agency. It is usually initiated by a institution, medical or social or by a family member in response to a petition. Any person who has the ability can contest their guardianship. There has been cases wher Judges will go an institution to interview a person if they are incapaciated and that is the only way to afford them the opportunity defend themselves.
Something is grossly wrong. Shame on the interviewer for not getting the whole story.