Minnesota Facility Licensing changes

hkuchera

Hi everyone, it's been a good long time since I last posted/read. 

I finally got my mom moved to a memory care facility near my home in December of 2019 and she settled in pretty well. 2020 wasn't fun (was it for anyone?) but she made it through the year without getting sick and her facility had 0 deaths and very few cases. She declined some due to the isolation, and now has declined more due to the progression of dementia, but we take it one day at a time and enjoy the good days whenever they happen.

Now to the reason for my return.  Minnesota passed a new law in 2019 to make long-term care facilities "better" and it is just now hitting the facilities, which means ALL residents have to sign a new lease agreement. 

That includes residents of memory care. 

I was told (via email) the only way a resident of memory care would be exempted from signing the new lease is if the family has a court document declaring the resident incompetent, or a note from their doctor. The doctors note would be given to the licensing board for review and approval/decline.

I do not have a court document. My mom's doctor is through the facility.  There is no way my mom will sign as she barely knows where she is or who she is most days. We have til August 1st to get the new lease agreement signed.

So.... am I in for a long persuasion to get mom to sign (and hope she can physically sign her current name as she no longer uses her right hand due to a shoulder injury and some days she is her unmarried child self in her head) or am I, as her financial, medical and durable POA, going to be allowed to sign for her?

I have my meeting with the facility to sign the new lease tomorrow morning and have been stressing out about it since I received the notification last Thursday (yeah, they didn't give us much time!) Any info anyone has would be helpful.

Sadly, I didn't think of asking on this forum til I was reading an article this morning regarding the new licensing and alz.org was mentioned. Then I remembered, "Hey. They were a great resource when I needed help at the beginning of mom's dementia journey.... why not go there and ask!"

I hope everyone is doing at least "ok" and I offer virtual hugs to anyone that needs one. Thanks.

-- Holly K.

Quilting brings calm

I would think your POA grants you the authority to sign leases as her agent.  I would make sure you sign with that word agent so that you don’t make yourself legally responsible for payment.

MN Chickadee

I am also in MN. The facility emailed me (via an encrypted Docu-Sign app thing) the new lease agreement. Just as the first time I signed a few years ago, it has the language for a representative of the resident to sign. I don't have any fancy guardianship or doctor's note or anything, just a regular old POA on file with them. The new lease states : 

 …..this agreement between __name_____(herein referred to as “Resident”) and if applicable __name______, Resident’s duly authorized guardian, conservator, or attorney in fact on behalf of the Resident (herein “Legal Representative”) authorized to make financial and/or health care decision on behalf of Resident.

Then every line where I have to sign says Resident or Designated Representative.

I would think they would have a big problem getting all their MC residents to sign. That doesn't make any sense, most are completely unable. Surely there is something missing here and they just failed to mention the POA component. I would bring copies of your POA documents and just insist on signing it yourself as that is your legal right. There is no reason your mother should have to be involved. 

hkuchera

Yeah, anything I sign for her has POA added. Except when I sold her house; then it was this long sentence that ended up being a scribble by the 50th signature.

-- Holly K

M1

You might be able to look up the law online.  As dense as state legislatures can be, most people in memory care are by definition not going to be able to sign for themselves and there might be some language in the law about proxy rights.  I agree with QBC though that your POA gives you authority.

[Deleted User]

The user and all related content has been deleted.

hkuchera

MN Chickadee wrote:

I am also in MN. The facility emailed me (via an encrypted Docu-Sign app thing) the new lease agreement. Just as the first time I signed a few years ago, it has the language for a representative of the resident to sign. I don't have any fancy guardianship or doctor's note or anything, just a regular old POA on file with them. The new lease states : 

 …..this agreement between __name_____(herein referred to as “Resident”) and if applicable __name______, Resident’s duly authorized guardian, conservator, or attorney in fact on behalf of the Resident (herein “Legal Representative”) authorized to make financial and/or health care decision on behalf of Resident.

Then every line where I have to sign says Resident or Designated Representative.

I would think they would have a big problem getting all their MC residents to sign. That doesn't make any sense, most are completely unable. Surely there is something missing here and they just failed to mention the POA component. I would bring copies of your POA documents and just insist on signing it yourself 

Whew. So it's sounds like I've been freaking out for nothing! They didn't mention anything about POA but did specifically say memory care residents had to sign.... so that's why I've been freaking out. 

Thank you for letting me know your experience. They have MULTIPLE copies of our POA documents, but I will bring in another copy just in case they can't find them (again)

 - Holly K

hkuchera

UPDATE: Had my lease signing meeting this morning. It went pretty much as i expected. I had to sign a bunch and turn over a copy of the POA (again, cause they couldnt find it) and then we went to try to get my mom to sign. She was required to sign in 5 places and initial twice.  Nope. Nope. And nope. So I ended up signing everything for her anyway AND I need to get a note from her doctor stating she was unable to sign due to physically not being able to sign and/or not understanding what she was signing.

In reality she was being asked to do something and in a particular way and she bawked.... big time.

And.... her doctor is on vacation this week! Fortunately the facility doesn't need that note exactly by the 1st of August when the new lease goes into effect.

AND....Mom was upset enough with me that she proceeded to completely shut me out by feigning sleep. So no real visit with her today for me.

All in all a sucky experience. Working with government is no fun... and the people who put this new law together the state health board should know better than trying to get dementia patients to sign things like this.

Oh well... i bought myself comfort food and some sunflowers to help cheer me up for the rest of the day.

Thanks for reading,

-- Holly K