Suppose a veteran has no home of his own, and is being held by the VA against his will. The person has memory loss. What can be done?

Find out if they can transfer him to the VA home in Boulder City. That way he won't freeze to death if he does decide and can manage to leave.

How long has your brother been homeless? If it was a long time, he is trying to adjust to living under a roof and that is a huge challenge for him.

I would encourage you to try and help him accept care. Because he is obviously really out of it or they would let him leave. Taking away someone's right to autonomy is NEVER taken lightly.

If you can get him closer to family, then you can assess his true condition.

Remember though, felons do not get public assistance. What he is getting is VA and that is his only option for help.

This is just in case you find it difficult to accept the other advice for now. Your brother is in NY, you are in Vegas, so your brother must be telling you his story on the phone. You haven’t seen him for some time. DON”T try to move him out of VA care without seeing him and the facility to get a full picture of his genuine physical and mental health.

And remember that if the felony charges go ahead, neither of you may have any choice about where he is sent.

what he 'wants' at this point is irrelevant. It is all about what he 'needs'.

From your profile:

I am 69 years old, the youngest sibling, and have 3 older brothers. The youngest brother is 73 years old and has been diagnosed with Dementia/ ALZHEIMERS, He is homeless and wants to be independent. I am struggling with having placed in a nursing home. He is currently been held against his well at the Veterans Administration medical in New York City. They want documents to be filled out so he can be transferred to out of state to a nursing home. I don’t know what to do.. please help ! 

"Homeless" and "wants to be independent" is an oxymoron, OP. A homeless person with dementia/Alzheimer's is not capable of being independent in the first place, never mind that he's homeless! Are you planning to take him in and care for his myriad issues? If not, stop saying "he's being held against his will by the VA" and count your blessings. Your brother is fortunate that he's being cared for by the VA and safe, not out on the streets with dementia and homeless. How well do you think he'd do in a shelter???????? Even though 'family lives out of state', you can STILL take him into your home if you so desire, and that would solve his problems and yours, too. If you don't intend to do that, then leave him be at the VA & allow them to transfer him to a Skilled Nursing Facility where he'll be safe & cared for.

Is anyone his POA? That person can sign the forms. If no one is POA, no one has the power to sign.

Since he has dementia, he is not competent to make huge decisions like where he should live anymore. If the VA thinks he needs a nursing home, I would follow their lead. He'll get taken care of and he'll have to be put on medicaid to pay for his stay.

Sorry he is not feeling like this is a good decision but most people don't want a nursing home but it can be the only reasonable solution for the person to be SAFE which has to be your number one priority.

They can't release him. Its called an "unsafe" discharge. They cannot release him if he has no place to go. And that place needs to be equipped for his needs. Dementia is not curable. It gets worse with time. Your brother has probably been declared incompetent to make his own decisions.

If your family is not willing to take him in then I would allow the VA to handle the situation. I don't know why they are asking family members to sign for him. I would not sign anything without POA. I would allow them to be his guardian. I would also ask that he be closer to family. Really, he is better off than being on the streets.

You should be doing whatever you can to keep him safe, off the streets and out of a shelter. Be thankful the VA is helping him. A shelter is no place for someone with mental deficiencies, we have enough homeless people as it is. He needs to be in a place where he can have a roof over his head and 3 meals a day. How do you think he will fare released to a shelter?

If he is on the streets, and suffering from dementia, his safety and health will absolutely be in danger -- but then what about the safety of others?

Dementia causes people to steadily lose their abilities of memory, logic, reason and empathy. It's *very common* that they have wild delusions which can lead them to hurt others. Sorry... he needs to be in a facility for everyone's sake.

If the issue is that the only place available is out of state and therefore far from family, I would spend energy working on moving him closer rather than trying to give "independence" to someone who clearly should no longer be able to have it.

Having felony charges makes housing very difficult. With dementia I would let VA assume his care. You're fortunate VA is involved. It may be a case of what he needs versus what he wants,

You are a loving, caring sibling, and you have a brother who has problems that are
serious and sound from your brief description, are quite complicated.

You state that “he is being held by the VA against his will”.

Starting with what sounds as though he’s been DIAGNOSED with dementia, his “will” becomes a far less important consideration than his SAFETY.

IF he has dementia, it is always PROGRESSIVE, so his ability to remain independent will become less and less realistic.

Has any family member attempted to assume LEGAL RESPONSIBILITY for his care? That could be in the form of a POA or guardianship or perhaps another sort of documentation that might help you access a VA representative assigned to his case.

The felony. Is any substance abuse part of his profile?

ALMOST EVERYONE placed in residential care “clearly wants to leave”. His desire or intention to leave may have much less importance than his safety and protection.

As “out of state” family, you need to find out exactly what his circumstances are, and what is really happening with his case.

Listen to what he says he wants, but VERIFY that what he is SAYING is accurately describing what is being done to help him.

This is not a case of “let’s do this right now because he says it’s what he wants”. Think of his care as something that needs to be planned with all the information on the table.

He served his country. He deserves the best situation you can help him find.

Best of luck to you all.