In a rare legal move, Northwestern Memorial Hospital on Tuesday plans to ask a judge to revoke a Chicago woman's power of attorney over her hospitalized mother in order to discharge the elderly woman.The hospital says in court documents that 86-year-old Dolores Bedin, who has inoperable pancreatic cancer, has been medically ready for release since Sept. 18. Her daughter, Janet, strongly disagrees.
"My mother wasn't strong enough to go home, and they wanted to force it," said Bedin's daughter, a businesswoman who is in charge of merchandising for a national retail developer. "She did not want to go home."
In its petition, the hospital is asking that a public guardian be appointed for Dolores Bedin, arguing that her daughter is not cooperating with the hospital's efforts to discharge her mother to a lower level of care and therefore not acting in her mother's best interests.
"Having to advocate on behalf of our patients in the courts is rare, and it is only done after careful thought and team consultations," said Kris Lathan, director of media and public relations. "In the case of Mrs. Bedin, we have filed a petition to seek guardianship for the management of her immediate and long-term care needs. Until the court responds, we are unable to comment any further."
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Hospital Says Elderly Woman Ready for Discharge; Daughter Says No
7 comments:
Funny, the Medical Community does not want advocates for their families anymore.
They want to dictate, if you state you do not want treatment and don't need it, places like Sloan Kettering put into Court papers families are medically harming their family members, if people need care and the hospital is stating no - The Guardianship threat is once again used.
Sloan Kettering stated it was needed, a prominent doctor at the Brighams in Boston said my husband did not need Chemo because his tumor was not growing and provided us the documentation - yet Sloan Kettering put us into the Guardianship/Probate mess ........
and the Federal Government knows they have violated Hipaa and the Office of Civil Rights is not doing their job.
We wish the daughter a kind journey,
Watch your back, daughter. You're about to lose your mother to guardianship if you don't do exactly what the hospital wants -- right or wrong.
I don't think the medical community really ever wanted families advocating, Anonymous.
Here's a considertation....what if the daughter pays for her mother's care out of pocket? Could mom stay in the hospital then?
I will pray for this family and hope things resolve without guardianship.
Several issues are QUITE disturbing...the hospital's risk department's decision to attempt to override a POA is the most disturbing.
Another disturbing issue is why the hospital attempted to proceed with legal guardianship proceedings, rather than to direct the family to Medicaid care that the family could afford.
When cases go thru guardianship proceedings in Cook County, IL, the judges order that estates are placed into OBRA accounts, thereby qualifying the patient for Medicaid, and permitting the lawyers and guardianship companies to drain the estates dry with their "administrative fees" (ie legal and guardianship fees).
WHY IN THE WORLD WOULD A HOSPITAL ATTEMPT TO SEEK A COURT ORDER TO OVERRIDE A POA, RATHER THAN TO STEER THE FAMILY IN THE RIGHT DIRECTION FOR HELP??
I am from Rockford and Northwestern bullied this caring daughter and elderly mother and mentally and physically disabled brother. The hospital turned the tables on the daughter who was too smart for them. She kept asking questions on why they did not give her mother her CT scan report results which showed she had a mass in her pancreas. This is outrageous and the brave daughter spoke in the first court hearing with no attorney. What is disturbing is Northwestern said the daughter did not have her best intersts at heart because she kept her mother in the hospital where there are germs and bacteria. Are these people out of their minds. They are working against their own hospital. probably because this is a Medicare patient and not self pay. I hope these bureaucrats someday have a daughter like this one fighting to the end. She was probably intimidated to go forward since they are bigger and would have gotten Guardinship. YOu pay into the system and work all your life like this family and then Medicare isnt there for you. God Bless this mother and daughter and shame on the hospital for upsetting an old kind lady before her death and upset her Adult Children.
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