How seniors are forced into involuntary guardianships

Involuntary guardianships are a problem for ANYONE in the 70+ age bracket. But they are even more a problem for:

  • Those living alone — because you don’t have that spouse/partner as a first level of defense.
  • Anyone who appears (to a casual observer or a cyber stalker) to have a nice nest egg.

Involuntary guardianships were established to help people who can no longer care for themselves. But they have become, according to The Con Game — A Failure of Trust, “An open invitation to potential abuse.”

Here are just some of the problems that make this legal procedure unconscionable in how it is administered:

Continue reading “How seniors are forced into involuntary guardianships”

Why I’m picking a fight with Jane Bryant Quinn

Quinn_Jane_Bryant_2_small__400x400

For the most part, I like the woman. I’ve read a number of her books and I’ve read her finance columns in the AARP Bulletin — and learned from them. She seems to be a very smart, very knowledgeable, hard-working, success story. I know nothing scurrilous about her.

However, every once in awhile, I find myself wanting to scream at her.

Continue reading “Why I’m picking a fight with Jane Bryant Quinn”

Your brain is shrinking: How to protect yourself!

Brain shrinkage is normal as we age — it happens to us all. It sometimes correlates with reduced mental faculties — but not always. Despite that, some doctors, hospitals, and attorneys can (and have!) used this normal shrinkage as “proof” of mental deterioration. Here’s how to protect yourself from both the shrinkage and from those who would use it against you.

brain parts shutterstock_554925634-2
Shutterstock

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Assisted Suicide — What are your rights?

By Vallerina F. Day

euthanasia-word-cloud-concept-illustration-id656773480Say you wake up after an accident in the hospital. You slowly realize that you are completely paralyzed and on a ventilator. All your life you have feared this very circumstance. You still have your wits about you and you are filled with revulsion at the idea of living helpless and captive to machinery. You would much rather die than live in this condition, even though the doctors say you could live for years. Is there help for you?  Continue reading “Assisted Suicide — What are your rights?”

NEVER go into a nursing home to recover. You may never escape!

There is a lot written about nursing homes involuntarily discharging “difficult” residents. But nobody seems to be writing about the opposite problem!

My father was admitted to a nursing home (rated best in the area) for “therapy” after a week in the hospital. The nursing home (and his complicit doctor) both turned a functioning attorney into a blithering idiot who saw butterflies buzzing around him. And they threatened his wife when she tried to get him discharged.  Continue reading “NEVER go into a nursing home to recover. You may never escape!”

Are the men in white suits coming for you?

By Vallerina F. Day

The Scream, Edvard Munch, 1893
The Scream, Edvard Munch 1893

If you, like me, grew up watching movies where people were plotting to put away Aunt Sallie or Grampa Bob to get to her or his money; then as we get older and turn into Aunt Sallie or Grampa Bob, perhaps we harbor a certain paranoia.

Will the men in white suits knock on the door and whisk us away, kicking and screaming, to the looney bin because a greedy son or daughter (or spouse, for that matter), has accused us of losing our marbles?  Continue reading “Are the men in white suits coming for you?”