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Old 11-19-2011, 05:17 PM
 
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I live in NC but my family is in the Pittsburgh area. Can anyone tell me or direct me to resources regarding involuntary commitment of the elderly to nursing home care? My grandparents are in a bad/getting worse situation and they are unable to care for themselves (feed or bathe) but are unwilling to consider nursing care despite months of discussion. Any help would be appreciated.
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Old 11-19-2011, 07:57 PM
 
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I'm pretty sure that they would have to be declared incompetent by a court/psychiatrist first. Then, if they don't have a delegated POA, one would have to be appointed for them, and then the process could be started. Unfortunately, people have the right to make bad decisions, and cannot just be forced into a nursing home.

I'm a hospital social worker, and I deal with this sort of thing almost daily. However, if there's someone that knows differently, please tell me!
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Old 11-19-2011, 08:02 PM
 
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Spoonsrus View Post
I'm pretty sure that they would have to be declared incompetent by a court/psychiatrist first. Then, if they don't have a delegated POA, one would have to be appointed for them, and then the process could be started. Unfortunately, people have the right to make bad decisions, and cannot just be forced into a nursing home.

I'm a hospital social worker, and I deal with this sort of thing almost daily. However, if there's someone that knows differently, please tell me!

Thanks. I was worried this might be the case. It's been a bad situation for a while and just getting so much worse now. They completely refuse any help, even from family.
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Old 11-19-2011, 08:08 PM
 
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Would they be open to having someone come into their home to help out so that they can avoid going to a nursing home? The Area Agency on Aging has some good programs that might be able to help them out.
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Old 11-19-2011, 08:14 PM
 
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Originally Posted by Spoonsrus View Post
Would they be open to having someone come into their home to help out so that they can avoid going to a nursing home? The Area Agency on Aging has some good programs that might be able to help them out.
Absolutely not. They don't want ANYONE in the house. It's not even reasonable. My grandfather has dementia and can't remember necessary things, and my grandmother broke her hip this summer and got out of rehab about a month ago. They have both declined a lot since then. They are very feeble.
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Old 11-19-2011, 08:32 PM
 
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At some point, if they're admitted to the hospital, you can have a doctor perform an evaluation. If he deems that they are unable to take care of themselves, he will declare what I think is called a "Medical 302", meaning that they cannot take care of themselves and require professional care. At that point, they can be admitted to a nursing home with Medicare paying for the first 100 days. This is what we did with my father back in 2006.

In his case, he was barely ambulatory but insisted on staying in his house. We called the local police dept and told them that we had a concern about his well being and that we did not feel he could take care of himself. The police chief came to the home, asked him to perform some basic tasks (he could not), saw the messy condition of the house, the lack of food in the refrigerator, etc. he told my father that he did not believe that he could take care of himself and was empowered to have him admitted to the hospital for evaluation. He summoned an ambulance and had him admitted. After about 3 weeks there, the doctor declared he was "Medical 302" and he was transferred to a nursing home.

That's basically how it happened in our case. I don't really know what the proper methods are for this but this is how it worked for us.
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Old 11-19-2011, 08:42 PM
 
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Are you sure that he wasn't transferred to a psychiatric unit first? 302s are used for involuntary psychiatric treatment.
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Old 11-19-2011, 08:47 PM
 
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You could always try calling the re:Solve crisis lines to see what some other options might be.
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Old 11-20-2011, 05:47 AM
 
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You may want to contact the Allegheny County Area on Aging for advice and resources: Department of Human Services, Allegheny County
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Old 11-20-2011, 06:43 AM
 
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Are you sure that he wasn't transferred to a psychiatric unit first? 302s are used for involuntary psychiatric treatment.
Positive. I was deeply involved in the process. I had POA and was the executor of his will. I'm intimately familiar with what the process was because I had to sign the documents required.
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