A minimally demented man tells his guardian ( POA) he's going to dinner w/his sister. His nurse aide packs his bags and he winds up 100 miles away in his sister's house. Aid tells guardian late that night where he is an doesn't know when he'll return.
Guardian calls sister and she will not let him speak to guardian.
Question:
1. Should the aide get paid now in his absence...or fired?
2. Is taking man unannounced kidnapping?
3. Is refusal to let him talk with guardian abuse?
Note: Sister has been elimiated from his Will twice.
Aide surrupticiously took man to another lawyer and had herself made executor then said he was nuts and wanted to put him away. She did this without anyone's knowledge...but guardian saw to it was reversed. (Aide did this 3 weeks after she was hired to care for man...they knew each other for years and why she was hired).
Is there any legal action that can be taken against the sister or the aide at this time. Man is still hostage at sister's. State of Massachusetts. First, I'll answer your questions, then, I'll give you my "two cents."
1) It depends upon whether the aide is with the man or not, whether or not the aide should be paid. If s/he's with the patient, then absolutely.
2) You say "taking" as if it's not something the man wanted to do . . . as though his actions were made under duress. It's only kidnapping if he HAS been adjudicated incompetent by a probate court (which, if he has a guardian -- a LEGAL guardian, with guardianship papers . . . THEN, that may well have happened -- if he just has a POA . . . then, not so much, no).
3) Refusal to allow him to talk with the guardian isn't abuse.
It doesn't matter whether or not the sister has been eliminated from the will, or at whose decision the elimination occured.
A CNA can't have herself made executor -- in order to be made executor of a will, the will has to be re-drafted with the new executor's name -- then, it has to be signed -- in the same manner that the first will was (usually by two wittinesses, not party to the will, which attest to the testator's capacity to enter into contracts).
If the CNA was made the executor of the will, it's because the man made her the executor -- not because she did it, herself -- she can't.
A CNA isn't able to determine anybody's mental status -- in order to admit somebody forcefully against their will to a psychiatric facility, you'd have to have the order or a medical doctor, and then the order of a probate judge.
The man is still a hostage? Maybe he's there because he wants to be.
Can you take any legal action? Sure -- you can file a kidnapping claim -- but, you probably won't avail -- a POA doesn't take effect until the person is permanently unconscious, as determined by physicians as enumerated in the POA, or until a probate court has adjudicated that person incompetent.
Having POA doesn't make you a guardian -- having been granted guardianship by a probate court does. . . and that doesn't happen unless the person has been adjudicated incompetent.
It sounds almost like you're jealous. You've not given reasons why you think that the man is being FORCED to stay there, nor why the sister was removed (twice from the will -- nor by whom), nor why the CNA was hired. Even beyond that -- aside from making comments on the will, you've not expressed concern for the elder gentleman's well-being.
If you're THAT concerned -- go visit him, and see that he's alright . . . but, you cannot force him to leave . . . you can't make him come home.
You could check with your long-term care ombudsman, or adult protective services who would investigate to see if the elder is being taken advantage of.
Aside from that -- it seems you have more interest in the will than in the person. |
