My sister has severe dementia, which has been confirmed by the Public Hospital where she has been receiving care for the Flu.
Her husband was admitted at the same time for chest pains, and Flu which has escalated to pneumonia. He is also on dialysis do to kidney cancer.He is being placed in Hospice.
I am 70 years old, live out of state, and cannot provide the 24 hour monitoring that my sister needs.
My niece, their only child, is a teacher, also from out of state, and has taken time off to try and arrange care, but she cannot take my sister with her when she returns to her home.
My sister's apartment is in a terrible state, and the power is about to be turned off, because she is incapable of performing billpaying, and her husband has been too ill.
We are trying to get the husband to sign a power of attorney so the daughter can access the funds they do have, and make arrangements for gaining access to their Social Security to pay for a long term care facility.
In the meantime, the hospital wants to kick my sister out, with no care plan in place. Can they? Or do they have to find a care facility to take her?
Discharge planning is part of hospitalization. They will threaten. Important to tell them that any "unsafe discharge" will be returned "BY ambulance IMMEDIATELY to the ER and that JCAHO (Joint Commission on Accreditation of Hospitals) will be contacted re 1. Unsafe discharge knowingly done
2. Early return to hospital.
These are two things that can ding the licensure of a hospital and that they must keep track of and report and that can lose them Medicare funding.
That's her power.
BUT if she says she is home and mom can temporarily come home, then she's DONE.
And where is this Hospice? Is this in facility? Because if Dad is home then they will expect there to be 24/7 caretakers, and that mom will be cared for by them as well.
Good luck.
You need to talk to an Elder lawyer about splitting ur parents assets. Sister can be transferred directly from the hospital to a Long-term care facility. Its called an "unsafe" discharge to send Mom home with no care in place.
From what you described she most
likely will be placed in nursing home.
You have the right (POA) to change
nursing homes if you don’t like it for
some reason. It’s stressful.
I know. Good Luck.
As for her Dad, many hospitals have notaries on the premises. She can download a PoA template for her state from Legalzoom.com, Rocketlawyer.com etc. and he can check whatever boxes to grant her the authority to act on his behalf. She doesn't need an attorney. It just needs to be notarized. There is a type of PoA that is active the minute it is signed. This is what they need.
Be aware that each bank is different. PNC bank in FL (where I am currently) insisted I bring in my 105-yr old Aunt who was just out of the ER for CHF in order for her to cash in mature EE bonds to pay for her care (she was so old she was running out of money, but she was still living in her own home and had all her mind). Even though its a small branch and I'd been in there *with my Aunt* on several occasions and they literally knew both our faces they would only perform the service if I brought her in. This is after I had already submitted my PoA forms to them 2 years prior.
So, she should talk to his bank to see what they require in order for her to perform financial management on his behalf. At least she can open up an online portal to put Billpay in place. But any of his investment companies (like pensions, annuities, etc) may require a more rigorous submission process. She should work on this sooner rather than later considering his condition. She needs to go to their house and round up as much critical financial info as possible, location of house & car titles, etc.