My grandfather is in a rehab facility and is supposed to get discharged Tuesday. He is in control of all his medical decisions, and is in need of his liquids being thickened due to a stroke. He doesn't like his liquids thickened, and doesn't want them to be once he is at home. His wife want to honor his wishes after being told he has 6 months left to live if that. The facility told his wife his liquids needed to be thickened still at home, and she told them she wouldn't do that because that is not what he wants, and wont drink anything thickened. They are now threatening to delay his discharge and call APS on her if she does not thicken his liquids, but HE is in charge of his own medical decisions and is well aware of the dangers of not thickening his liquids. I want to know if the nursing home has any legal standing to call APS on them. The social worker called my mom threatening to call APS out of "moral duty" but last time I checked if the patient doesn't want something and is legal making decisions, then the patient doesn't have to comply with their recommendations.
By the way, they might both change their minds after he chokes a few times.
I told the speech therapist flat out we would not be following the diet. His doctors knew and supported his decision. I would gladly have taken on the APS if they thought they had any business coming in. No one even mentioned that.
An adult who has not been found incompetent by the state may make is own medical decisions. A person can decide not to have chemo even if 50 people assure him it would be the best thing. A person can reject advice about exercising and sleeping and medications. And a person can eat and drink as he sees fit.
I don't know the circumstances your grandparents are facing, Finn33, so I don't feel qualified to urge them to follow the official medical advice. Maybe that would be best, or maybe not. I would make sure that Grandpa clearly knows the risks, and let him make up his own mind.
(My husband said he would rather choke to death than to continue with the diet. I believed him. He became increasingly depressed on it.)
Apparently he has some dysphagia so he might need a more specialized diet. If he doesn't follow some advice on this issue, he may find himself back in the hospital. But it sounds as if he and his wife are going to do what he wants.
They should at least try various thickened liquids; they're not all the same. It might even be that his wife could make something like the popular smoothies and those would be more palatable than nursing home thickened liquids.
I think the facility is concerned for their liability even though they've advised him strongly enough what precautions to take. And it may just be that they're especially concerned and don't want him to develop additional problems, which he just might if he can't swallow thin liquids.
As to "legal standing", I think anyone who feels he/she has information on abuse COULD have legal standing; the question would be whether the information and the evaluation support and bear out the accusations. I'm not really sure "legal standing" is necessary to report someone to APS; however, the threatened abuse hasn't yet occurred.
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