Quality Care For Your Loved One Is Backed Up By Elder Law

By Nick Messe

Many senior citizens face debilitating health conditions such as dementia, arthritis, stroke, or immobility. These beloved elders are often the victim of fraud, inappropriate government intervention, financial ruin, inadequate medical care, and nursing home abuse or neglect. They often fail to mention any of these personal problems to family members, as they do not want to cause unnecessary worry or seem incapable of handling their own affairs.

Sometimes, even when caring family members make heroic and tireless efforts to help their loved ones, loopholes in the law make the resolution of many situations next to impossible. Thankfully, with a little advice from a competent attorney, supportive family members can close these loopholes, reaching a satisfactory resolution to most of these issues. For those instances where family members cannot fight these battles alone, a trusted attorney who specializes in elder law can be the hero of the day.

If your elder is placed in a hospital or nursing home without adequate insurance or savings to pay for their care, their assets can liquidated by the court. As a caring family member, you must take immediate steps to secure these assets from liquidation. Recent changes in the law have created new requirements for the payment of elder medical care, including rapid seizure of physical property. This includes financial assets, home furnishings, and all other possessions – including life insurance policies and joint bank accounts held with healthy spouses.

While your family member may allow you to handle their affairs while they are physically healthy, they might change their minds if they become ill, are hospitalized, or enter a nursing home. If you do not have a legally binding, signed and notarized agreement between the two of you granting guardianship or Power of Attorney, you may find yourself unable to help them during critical decisions.

Without these documents, bank accounts cannot be accessed, mortgages or other property payments cannot be made, the finer details of various personal matters or accounts cannot be discussed, and end-of-life decisions cannot be made. Instead, these important matters will be decided by a government-appointed elder liaison, who acts on the behalf of everyone other than your loved one. Therefore, it is imperative to make these arrangements well in advance. Ensure that you know your rights and the rights of your loved one by speaking with an experienced, professional elder law attorney.

Elder care law is of great importance for those who are already institutionalized. Nursing homes are often operated on an extremely tight budget, with less than adequate staffing levels or inexperienced nurse’s aides. In fact, in many states only one certified nurse could be present in an entire facility. In some cases the majority of nursing home care is conducted by people who were hired straight off the street, without any prior elder care experience whatsoever.

When elder care abuse or neglect is discovered, nursing homes quickly jump to their defense, making logical excuses for bruises, bed sores, or psychological trauma. In some cases, documentation of care or treatment schedules are doctored in order to appear legitimate and within the letter of the law. Add to this fact that nursing homes are required to provide, on average, only 45 minutes of care per day per patient, and it quickly becomes obvious that legal help is not only desirable, but necessary.

If you or someone you know are facing an elder care issue or have questions about elder law, contact a competent attorney right away. Remember, in many cases timing is of the essence. Neglecting to take critical steps could make all the difference. After all, you’ll want to shield your elder from harm rather than relinquishing all rights and responsibilities to an uncaring government.

About the Author

If you are in the Chicago or Morris Illinois areas be sure to contact Fitzpatrick & Harrop, experienced Grundy County personal injury lawyers and LaSalle County personal injury attorneys for the best possible representation when you are injured.