The Toughest Issue for Protective Service Agencies? Self Neglect…

Boy, did this New York Times piece by always interesting Paula Span resonate for me.  I spent several years serving as designated counsel for individuals who were facing unwanted intervention by Adult Protective Services. The issue of self-neglect is just plain tough — and it doesn’t get any easier with age.  From the article:

[T]he state adult protective services agency sent a caseworker to the man’s home. She found an 86-year-old Vietnam veteran in a dirty, cluttered house full of empty liquor bottles. His legs swollen by chronic cellulitis, he could barely walk, so he used a scooter. He missed doctor’s appointments. He had the medications he needed for cellulitis and diabetes, but didn’t take them. Though he had a functioning toilet, he preferred to urinate into plastic gallon jugs. He didn’t clean up after his dogs. He wasn’t eating well. . . . 

 

In the Texan’s case, “he wasn’t happy that A.P.S. was there, and he denied that he was being exploited,” said Raymond Kirsch, an agency investigator who became involved. “He also denied that he had a drinking problem.”

 

Grudgingly, he allowed the agency to set up a thorough housecleaning, to start sending a home care aide and to arrange for Meals on Wheels.

 

But on a follow-up visit a month later, the caseworker found her client markedly deteriorated. His swollen legs now oozed. He’d become personally filthy and was ranting incoherently. She returned with an ambulance and a doctor who determined that the client lacked the capacity to make medical decisions.

 

Off he went to a San Antonio hospital, under an emergency court order. The caseworker locked up the house and kenneled the dogs. . . . 

Our special thanks to University of Illinois Law’s Professor Dick Kaplan for pointing us to this article.  For the outcome of this particular case, read to the end of the full article, Elder Abuse: Sometimes It’s Self-Inflicted.