Geriatric Care Managers of New England

Guardianship Update

 

By Frank Baskin, LICSW, BCD - GCMNE Board of Directors

 

Some individuals with mental impairments require assistance from others with everyday decisions making. The Commonwealth of Massachusetts has laws to determine when judgement is severely impaired.

These laws are designed to establish if someone is or is not competent and if another person should be assigned to make decisions for him/her. An individual assigned by the court system to make decisions for someone who cannot is then ruled a guardian. These laws have the effect of removing all the rights of any American citizen. For that reason it is very difficult for an individual to be judged incompetent.

We have discovered that when elderly people cannot make appropriate decisions about washing, dressing and eating the current laws about competence and guardianship are inadequate. At the present time, laws address mental illness and not functional breakdowns.

Several bills have been introduced to the 1999 Massachusetts Legislature which modify some of these competency guardianship procedures. HR 3691 recognizes the process of diminished capacity experienced by elders and requires an assessment about which specific ways a particular individual elder is impaired. S 786 creates a Public Guardianship Commission which provides greater access to a guardian when one is needed.

Both bills were written to enhance protections for the impaired individual. They are each currently in the Judiciary Committee.

GCM New England will track these two bills and will keep you informed of their progress.