Psych Hospitals, Confidentiality, and Need for Legal Guardianship?

truthinleading

Writing this in part to help others prepare and understand the situations you can end up in due to lack of preparation. Also, to ask for advice.

My parent was admitted to a (very well known) psych hosp. They were transferred from another area hospital. I have been their sole caretaker for the last eight months. I took my parent who has Alzheimer's disease with severe cognitive impairment to the ER due to increasing psychosis with aggressive behavior. They were committed for care on a petition.

The area hospital had no problems talking to me. Hours after arriving in the ER, my parent asked for something to eat and the nurse said I could bring food to my parent. Also, we have a dog that needed to be walked. When I came back to the hospital, I was told that my parent became aggressive with the nursing staff. They had to be put in restraints and sedated. I was told visiting hours were over for their ER unit (do ERs have visiting hours?) and I wasn't allowed to see them.

The following day, I spoke with a psych resident at the area hospital three times. They kept me updated about my parent's transfer. Said my parent was very calm and pleasant that day.

Two hours after my parent left the ER, I called the psych hosp they were sent to and asked if they arrived. Their admissions department is refusing to give me any information. Said they cannot confirm or deny if my parent is there. Said that they will take my contact information to the unit and someone will reach out if appropriate.

My parent had an MMSE of 3 out of 30 at their last neurology visit. Who determines if contacting me is appropriate? It has been 24 hours since I have seen my LO!

I have an attorney and we are working on filing for guardianship and custodianship. He asked if it was emergent and, a couple of weeks ago, it wasn't. Guessing that needs to change? What will happen if my LO doesn't have a legal guardian and they are mentally unable to consent to allowing me to participate in their care? Will I eventually be allowed to see my LO and participate in their care or should I vigorously pursue getting legal guardianship on an emergent basis?

M1

So sorry. Yes you need guardianship on an emergency basis, absolutely.

H1235

You need emergency guardianship. My situation was a bit different my son had mental health issues(no question he could not make decisions for himself). But somehow they still allowed him to make hipaa decisions. They wouldn’t even admit he was in the hospital. Because he was considered a harm to himself or others the treatment was not optional. But doctors could not talk with us until HE gave the ok. We got the same line. We can not confirm or deny he is here. Our mental health system is a mess. Let’s force treatment because they can’t care for themselves then allow them to make decisions regarding hipaa that will allow people that love and care for them to be involved or even aware of treatment. In our case after he was on medication for a few days he agreed to allow doctors to talk with us, that may not be the case for you with dementia. I had assumed that he would be appointed some kind of temporary guardian/advocate while in the hospital since he was clearly not able to make important decisions. There was no such thing. Our government doesn’t want to take anyone’s rights taken away. It is so hard to let go and trust that the doctors are making the best decisions for your lo. No information is maddening. I hope you can figure things out soon.

mabelgirl

Sorry you are dealing with this. Many of us dealing with PWD have had to get things in order. It’s crazy that LO and doctors can see the person is cognitively not there but yet are allowed to make decisions. Hopefully you get the legalities in order quickly.

reny

Like the others said yes emergency guardianship is your option. I couldn’t get my dad’s PCP to talk to me because my dad never signed hipaa. I was HPOA but they ignored me. Once I got the guardianship then they complied.