DutchmenSport wrote:
As long as the person still has their own logic and reasoning ability, do not get caught committing any kind of crime where authorities may intervene, or have any health problems where the state or government has to intervene, there's really nothing anyone can do if the person does not recognize his own problem and seek help for themselves, themself.
I went through something like this with my own mother. For the last 3 or 4 years she's been... well, simply put ... behaving badly. Her reasoning and logic, attitude and behavior became more and more isolationist, more belligerent, and more anti-social. The worst part, she pulled stunts that were just plain dangerous for herself. She lived alone, in her 90's, but because I could not get any kind of doctor to intervene, make the call something was wrong so legally I could have done something, or without going to court and spending a lot of $$$ on attorney's to get her delcaired legally incompetent, there was absolutely nothing anyone could do.
A few years ago, my mother gave me power-of-attorney over her health decisions, property, and finances. But, even with that, my hands were tied, because of a clause that said unless a doctor declaired her incompetent, she would retain her own "power".
Well, all that changed on December 25, 2017 when she had an episode. We were actually in South Carolina over Christmas with the Camper and could not reach her on the phone. (in Indiana). We called the county Sheriff to do a welfare check on her, which they did, and found she'd fallen and was delirious.
To summarize the events which followed, the State finally intervened when the Sheriff and EMT's took her to the nearest hospital and admitted her. They went through the process (expedited, and even over the holidays) to get her admitted to nursing home and it was declaired she had had a stroke which threw her into complete dementia. The dementia was slowly getting worse and worse over those years, but nothing we could do get help, until the state intervened, only because no one was there to help her when she really got herself into a pickle.
Long story short, I got full power of attorney, and she's been in a nursing home for a year now. She had dementia and most of the time doesn't know who I am, and thinks it's 1947 living in war torn Germany. It's sad, but that's where her mind has been for months now.
So, I'm sorry about your friend, whoever that may be. But, unless you have some kind of legal authority over the person, like a power-of-attorney, you are pretty much powerless. About the only way for them to get the help they need is to recognize their own problem, which they may never, never recognize themselves, or they do something that will require the State to intervene which will eventually lead to medical care they need.
And one other thing... HIPAA laws absolutely suck! I know they are designed to protect you, but they make it impossible for you to help someone else! Absolutely impossible!
Dutch,I know it's too late for you, but you obviously did the best you could do. So I'm commenting for those in a similar situation if I can help. A power of attorney is helpful, but what you really need is guardianship. With guardianship you have full legal control over every aspect of a person's finances, decision making, everything. To get guardianship, you must have a letter from a doctor, preferably a psychiatrist, that states essentially that the person is mentally incompetent. They just don't take your word for it. The court will also send a social worker to your home to interview the individual to satisfy that the need is just. Then you have an attorney present the evidence to the judge who makes a final determination. Once guardianship is granted, is must be maintained with yearly reports to the court. The reason I know this stuff is I have a mentally incompetent daughter, and I have guardianship. Anything she signs I can declare null and void. If my daughter say " I don't want an appendectomy" I step in and she gets the appendectomy. With guardianship, you can literally force the individual to do what's right. They are no longer considered emancipated adults. As far as narcissism, people are highly attracted to them at first, that is until they get to know them. I'll leave any inferences to you guys.
