Beware the Hospital's Authority to Deem You or Your Loved One in Need of a Court-Appointed Guardian
This article is a textbook case for the importance of getting one’s affairs in order to prevent becoming a “victim of the system”
Good estate planning that is kept current, naming truly appropriate fiduciaries, and keeping those fiduciaries up to date on your situation (give them your estate planning counsel info) - and notifying your financial institutions and medical providers of the planning (give them copies), - AND being HONEST with the fiduciaries about your condition … a lot of people don’t want to admit they are losing capacity or ‘bother’ other people with the news of serious medical treatments, etc., etc. - taking these steps goes a long ways toward avoiding the issues highlighted in this article.
Unfortunately U.S. hospitals need to turn beds like restaurants need to turn tables and one way of getting a no-longer-profitable patient out the door without liability is through a court-appointed guardianship, possibly giving a stranger control over the bank accounts of the “evicted”, not yet well, patient when there are family members who might help if only they had been contacted, which can take time and time is money… so not always the best attempts are made to contact relatives/friends. Documents we can help you make will help make your wishes known if you are temporarily or partially incapacitated, including people to call that you trust should any such guardianship need suddenly arise.
Click image to read full article originally published by The Washington Post
“This system trusts a person to be a guardian angel, but people are not.”
