My sister and I have a POA for our mother that has Alzheimer's. Her mother and siblings are in denial and we are afraid they will take her to get the POA rescinded. My aunt just tried today to get information from Mom's doctor by saying "She's a mutual patient". My aunt is a dentist! She didn't get any info since we had already served the POA to the Dr. We don't trust anything now.
Have you shared the diagnositic workup with your aunt, who has medical training and may be of enormous help to you in navigating understanding what the docs are telling you? I'm going to assume that mom has had extensive neuropsych workups, blood work, brain scans and the like and that all other possible explanations for her behaivors have been ruled out, ie treatable ones like UTI, brain tumor, metabolic/blood sugar problems and the like. I'm going to assume that it's not like her GP said, "oh, your mother has dementia, better get POA".
Unless there are ong standing problems with your Aunt and her relationship with you and your mom (the kind of complete dysfunctionality that makes one walk on eggshells because every single d*mn thing you say gets taken the wrong way) I would share all the information about mom's diagnosis and treatment plan with her sister. If she thinks that more tests should be run, where's the harm in that?
I totally agree that what she did was unethical, but in certain circumstances, it could be understandable. Try to keep the family on the same page. And if I'm totally out of line, I apologize for misunderstanding a situation more complex than was originally written about.
The first thing to remember is that a person must be "competent" in order to sign a POA — that includes both the one your mother gave you and your sister and any subsequent one she might make that removes you all and/or names someone else. I assume that your mother signed a POA prior to any medical finding that she was incapable of making medical/legal decisions for herself AND that she has, in fact, been medically tested and diagnosed with dementia. A person with Alzheimer's may or may not be mentally competent to make such a decision — it depends on how far advanced is the disease. However, since Alzheimer's cannot be truly diagnosed except with an autopsy, the convention is for a physician to diagnose "dementia consistent with Alzheimer's" or such terminology, or simply "dementia" unless an MRI etc. shows vascular or frontal lobe or some other sort. However, the issue for competency is the dementia, not the underlying cause for the dementia.
I suggest you ask your mother's physician (hopefully a neurologist rather than a general practitioner/family medicine doc — and better yet if it is a neurologist with definite expertise in diagnosing and treating dementia) if he/she will provide you with a letter stating that in his or her medical opinion your mother is (or has been since at least such and such a date) incapable of making medical/legal decisions for herself. You would need such a medical evaluation/opinion anyway in order to establish a need for guardianship if you go that route. But at this point, you could share this written opinion with your aunt/other family members which MAY help them come to grips with this awful, sad reality. It may or may not persuade them that you and your sisters are appropriate to serve in that capacity, but that is legally irrelevant if that was your mother's decision and they are not prepared to demonstrate that you are presently unfit to so serve. If there is any way for the entire family to be "on the same page" it will save untold heartache and difficulties further down the road.
If that's not possible, such a medical opinion will also put them — and possibly any attorney they seek out — on notice that your mother is not competent to rescind the existing POA. In the face of such an opinion it would be the rare attorney (we would hope not one!) who would permit your mother to sign a new POA. I think that if your aunt/grandmother FAILED TO DISCLOSE the existence of such an opinion to the attorney that attorney would be very unhappy with them bamboozling him and quick to agree that the subsequent POA was no good. The client in this situation is the person signing the POA and NOT the person/persons designated to have the POA. Consequently, the LAWYER'S ETHICAL AND LEGAL DUTY IS TO THE CLIENT — YOUR MOTHER — NOT HER FAMILY. And the client's interests (your mother's) are clearly NOT served by someone who attempts to secure her consent to something she is incapable of consenting to. The attorney must protect HER, not them. And, tho' the lawyer will hate to have been fooled, I can't imagine any attorney arguing that his or her assessment of your mother in his office is superior to that of her attending physician. We all love to beat up on lawyers, but it's also possible that the lawyer won't even be told there IS an existing POA.
I want to add just another note here, SwampRat2 — and this is actually for everyone who posts a question. The people who respond to questions on this forum are very protective and caring of caregivers; all or most of us have ourselves been on or are on the same journey in caring for people with this bloody awful disease and we empathize so much with others in the same boat. We want to support and care for the caregivers who are asking questions and we definitely tend to take the person and the question at face value, believing in the integrity and honesty of the caregiver and, almost by reflex, siding with them "against" the family member, doctor, nursing home administrator, agency or aide who prompts the questioner's complaint. My goodness, some sympathetic souls even suggested you sending Adult Protective Services after your aunt AND accusing her breaking the law. Not true and not called for, especially based on the limited information we have. Notice that you see lots of responders saying, "if you haven't…" or "I assume that..." or "I don't know if…" or "Unless you have...'". We know none of the backstory here. I'm very sure that people who invest the time and concern to respond can be of the most help to questioners who provide quite a lot of information in the first instance or, at least, provide some clarification and additional information along the way. I hope you will do that, SwampRat2. If nothing else, you can "practice" making your case with us as it will be important for you to be able to set out all the facts in support of your position in the event your aunt/grandmother really do challenge your exercising POA. For example, if your mother signed the POA naming you and your sister AFTER she began to be treated for/diagnosed with dementia, you might get considerably different — but nevertheless helpful and supportive — responses. In my own experience dealing with a particular family member is at least as challenging as dealing with my loved one's disease; I really wish you and your sister and all the family success in caring for your Mom and for each other.
GoMelGo, what are you waiting for - file that complaint to the bar association, and get the guardianship. I don't think it is extreme at all, when someone's judgement is that far gone and you have full documentation. You can still respect her choices as fas a reasonably possible after you have it, but she could try and at least temporarily succeed in giving POA to the next lottery scammer that calls if you don't. You seem to have the equivalent of the incapacity letters required for most POAs to be in effect and not revokable unless you fail to perfom the specified duties and act in the best interest of the person, but that did not stop a lawyer who found Mom convincing enough. I think your new lawyer might be ethically and technically correct and competent.
Swamprat, I did not catch it at first, but your phrase "served the POA on the doctor and the bank" is not quite right. Read the document carefully. The doctors and hospital should share medical information with you now, since you have the HIPAA release and medical POA on file, no question; *you now need to ask them for documentation of her incapacity.* The bank may absolutely require that for any significant actions you need to take with her finances without her being present or consenting. My mom's specified two letters; one I got form her PCP, the second from a geriatric psychiatrist I took her to. Given that, I never needed a guardianship, but in your situation it may be the safest thing.
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