Reply to How can we avoid getting 'left behind' as the surviving spouse if dementia sets in?

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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]I found this article shocking. This is what I’d be worried about, and taking steps to prevent, if I was the OP.

https://wapo.st/3MsheUE
[/quote]

Chilling. While this is not a new story, glad that WaPo is reporting on it and will continue to do so.[/quote]

Here's the problem:

"Hulse, like most patients over 65, was covered by Medicare. It pays the hospital by diagnosis, not length of stay, an attempt to stop excessive billing. Generally it pays a hospital $23,000 for an elderly stroke patient in Orlando, a sum that assumes a five-day stay. After that, a hospital starts losing money. A new patient in the same bed would bring in thousands of dollars a day."

Hospitals have every incentive to boot a Medicare patient out the door as soon as possible. If you don't have someone fighting to keep you in the hospital if necessary they WILL try to get you out of there.  If they need to get a guardian declared to make that happen, that's what's going to happen.[/quote]

I think the article precisely made the point you are reiterating here.

My point was that abuse and misconduct by guardians is not new, but is not covered with the breadth, depth, and frequency as it should be.[/quote]

Here's another issue to think about. We have someone coordinating care for mom who insists on aging in place and sibling is going along with it. Mom has become paranoid and more agitated and when I pointed out concerns to the coordinator she turned it on me-that I need to to just discuss it with mom and not drag her in. As anyone who works with dementia knows they don't always have self-awareness and become combative. That is out experience. I have to push, push, push to make it clear these are concerns we want evaluated, but I noticed the service offers guardianship. I am starting to wonder if it's in their best interest to play good cop bad cop so the elder no longer trusts adult child and they can be the ones to get guardianship. On the other hand if the elder fires them and distrusts adult child, there is nobody providing care. So....another reason why it may be easier to work with a memory care that has rehabilitation and nursing home care too. If the person  ends up in the hospital-there is a safe and familiar place to go for appropriate care and no need for a stranger to quickly become guardian.[/quote]

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