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*Chimonger* - Your comment saying "We've got laws protecting elders; now we need laws and agents protecting Caregivers" really hit home with me. I dealt with an episode this summer where my mother (in her 90's and an alcoholic all her life) drank to excess, fell and summoned Life Alert. The EMT's thought she had been injured in the fall and she was too out of it to tell them her condition, so they transported her to the ER. I live in another state and drove the several days to get to her town. She was in the hospital several days and then transported to a facility to give her PT for her "weak knees." I begged both the main hospital and the PT facility to have a social worker evaluate the alcohol issue (this was not her first, other episodes are in her records), and get a social worker involved. When I was enroute and even when I was there, both facilities would not discuss very much with me even though I have Medical POA for her. They said that HIPPA protected her as long as she could say she was "ok" and wanted to just go home. I begged the Social worker, please -- you are just sending her home to get back to drinking and she will likely be back after another drunken fall! Isn't this the time that the medical profession could send her to an addiction rehab facility because she is a danger to herself? Isn't that a part of this equation??? She put on her best behavior and did the minimum required to pass the PT requirement and said she wanted to go home. So, with me there in town they said she could go home. I begged them, please, I do not think I can pick her up if she falls (I have sciatica and cannot pick up more than 25 lbs), plus I cannot stay more than a few days. She needs a longer-term solution! They told me they'd make an appt for her to go to a counselor and that was it. I think it was cruel on their part to disregard what I was trying to tell them, beg them to please listen. The social worker wrote things down, but I've not idea what was noted. HIPPA policy! So, I took her back to her home and called Adult Protective Services from my cell phone outside. I said that I believe she is a danger to herself. I've not heard anything from their agency although I've been told that it's a slow process in her state. If they did visit, they likely saw things all neat and tidy because her weekly care-aide keeps things tidy. Also, she can sugar-talk her way through a short interview. Why can't the ER reports raise a red flag? Why doesn't my POA have any strength? I'm absolutely amazed that the docs and nurses can look me in the eye and say, "she wants to go home, you can take her home now" and they don't hear the panic in MY voice????? Decades of this, all the way back to when I was a child and she would disappear for the afternoon and go drink only to be too tipsy to drive home -- the policeman would bring her home, in the door, and say, "take care of her." Good grief! I'm AARP age myself! Help! There are no other family members left alive. I'm "only one Holly."
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Holly, your mother, not having been declared incompetent, has the right to go home. And YOU have the right to resign your POA and not have to show up the next time she falls down. Just make sure you notify your mom and APS that you are no longer POA.

I know, I sound cold and hard. But I do believe that this is what it's going to take for people to regain their sanity.
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That's right-that's all they do. Please contact Reformers Unanimous-a bible-based addiction support group at 866-733-6768.
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