What really happens to someone who has no family and alone with Alzheimer’s???

charley0419

White Crane

Charley, that is a very good question. I would think that a friend or doctor would have to step in and that a legal guardian would need to be appointed. Maybe some with knowledge of this will replay.

B2ingua

In my Aunts case she had no immediate family left. So after what looked like some of the relatives taking advantage or her or her funds I had my lawyer intervene. He basically had Dr.'s ascertain she couldn't make decisions and a bank was approved to care for her assets. They stepped in sold the house and car and invested the money. Once she passed I was the executor and passed out what was left per her will.

Carl46

Most of the people who are homeless have severe mental impairments. I imagine some of the people with the cardboard signs have AD.

Dio

I've posted this question before. When there's no family, friends, or neighbors, it's just so sad for a homeless person, period. And to be suffering from a major illness or dementia is catastrophic. As Carl46 said, I would guess that a majority of the homeless have severe health and mental issues. We see them in existence but without anyone who will step in to set up care. How many of them have PTSD or some other debilitating disease such as dementia?

At the onset, my DH was inexplicably fearful that he'd be homeless believing that I would leave him due to his illness. The battle raged on for several months until LBD was suspected and rivastigmine was prescribed. His fear of being homeless disappeared overnight, but other fears, anxieties, aggression and behavioral issues developed. 😢

SDianeL

found this explanation online: The fate of the aging person who is developing dementia depends on who is advocating for them. Society presumes family will take on this role with the best interests of the patient at heart. That’s ideal but not universal. When there is no well intentioned family (or close friend) advocate, the patient either survives horrifically alone until they die alone, or they somehow come to the attention of a government agency which takes over the advocate role and establishes guardianship or the person becomes a ward of the state.

charley0419

https://alzconnected.org/discussion/comment/235885#Comment_235885

perfect ending for a horrible illness

M5M

I encountered that exact situation. The man had two relatives, neither would step up and totally refused his calls. The man seemed to be near destitute, his main diet was Meals On Wheels. He had SocialSecurity less than $1,000 month. A small group of people arranged for some medical care, financial updating, some socialization. There finally was an official diagnosis of Alz. I was able to get a referral for him to county judge who is responsible for guardianships, a guardian was established and he now is in good care in Assisted Living. He had unpaid bills, back taxes, some small income to claim….all kinds of things to unravel. If we had not intervened he would die alone in a hoarders apartment with minimal human interaction. Turns out he did have some financial assets that he had neglected, I got a CPA to straighten out and he has enough assets to pay for his care, which is what his long-deceased father had tried to arrange. I am not the guardian. You can get the situation taken care of but it does take a lot of determination and time to get the process in place.

Dio

https://alzconnected.org/discussion/comment/235905#Comment_235905

Bravo! M5M…this world is a better place with people like you.

Let's not give up hope…not yet.

ghphotog

I've often wondered that about myself. My DW has late LBD, stage 7, lbs. I have no children of my own. I have a brother and two nieces but I seriously doubt they would care for me if I was down. I have some good friends I would trust, I think, that could step in as guardian for my care but by the time I am cognitively disabled who knows where I'll end up. I'm in my early sixties so if I were smart I'd set something up legally for my care but not yet.

wose

I too am terrified of what’s ahead. I’m 66 and have no one other than my HWD. He is 76 and if I die first, everything is in order for him. He has two sons and one would step up for him but I know not for me. It’s heartbreaking and lonely. As I look back now, my Mom’s sister who lived away was found in my Grandmother’s abandoned house, dead on the floor with $25,000.00 cash in her purse next to her. Somehow she made her way from Jersey to Pa and found the house she grew up in and died. No one knew she was there or why. Now I know the why😢 I wish I could have helped💕💙

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Carl46

I think every adult should have medical and financial POA set up. Anyone can become incapacitated at any time. All it takes is a blow to the head, aneurysm, or other insult to the brain. My wife and I set up a revocable trust for our son many years ago, to avoid probate, and set up POAs at the same time. I have since amended mine to remove my wife with AD as my POA and am using the trust company. Not ideal, but my son isn't able to care for himself, much less make decisions for me, and I have no other close friends or relatives I can ask. If I ever move from here, I will change the POA again.

Don't wait to set up a POA. If you become mentally incapacitated, you won't be able to do it and your LOs will have to pursue guardianship.

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Mint

I have experienced the situation in my family. My aunt had lost her husband and she had no children. She had a niece and a nephew in that town, but they said they were unable to care for her. My dad, her brother, was concerned about her. He tried to help her by getting her into an aging in place facility. She agreed to it they made the down payment and then she went back and canceled the contract. So then my father called the area agency on aging where she lived. They did check on her and then called my dad and told him that she said she didn’t need anything.

My dad died and then I started trying to call her several times a week to check on her. I did not know what to do, other than to call for a welfare check if I could not get in touch with her. At some point what happened was it was a small town where she lived and she had worked at the hospital. So a physician in that town recognized her, picked her up and took her to the emergency room. They got a phone number for my cousin who lives where I live and so him and I then went there. I talked with neighbors and they enlighten me on several things. We went into her home and we found lots of things and we started receiving phone calls as we were there. Most of them were collectors she had not been paying her utility bills, etc. My cousin arranged a facility in our town to bring her to when discharged from the hospital.

I’ve often wondered what happens to those that absolutely have no one.

I had an older cousin who, as far as I know did not have dementia, but had a lot of chronic health problems. She lived in a big city about an hour away from me with no relatives at all in that city. She had never been close to anyone in the family and didn’t have contact with anybody. And again the same cousin received a call from the police department in that city that she had been found dead in her house. The police were called because the mailman noticed she had not been getting her mail.

I could end up in this situation someday as I have no children. I have wondered about that. What happens if you lose your mind. I’m going to be seeing a attorney here before too long and I’m going to talk with him about that. Do know that I’ve taken care of people who an attorney was totally seeing to their care. Don’t know how that works, but I’m going to look into it just in case I would ever need that you just don’t ever know. There are some issues with that solution though because it is just an attorney doing a job.

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