Aging Solutions

Bob was an 82-year-old widower, an insulin-dependent diabetic who lived alone in the same house he had lived in for 45 years. Bob was mentally competent, but he refused to comply with his doctor’s orders and prescription medication instructions. His blood-glucose levels therefore remained in the 600-700 range, more than six times what they should have been. He drank alcohol and ate only processed foods. He drove a car when he shouldn’t have, and had even been threatened with arrest for his public behavior. His son, unable to stabilize his father after months of stress, called ASI.

Red flags

There were dozens of red flags over several months. The real problem was that his family didn’t know that there were services available to deal with such a complex situation.

Aging Solutions Action Plan

The ASI Team met with Bob and his son and negotiated an agreement that would allow Bob to stay in his home—something he was adamant about— in exchange for his giving up driving and complying with his doctor’s orders.

The team brought in a professional service to clean Bob’s home and to make it safe for him to live there.

The team also brought in a non-medical home care agency for 24-hour-day care.

ASI also discovered that Bob was not receiving Veterans Administration benefits he was entitled to, and that his prescription drug plan was not the best one for him financially. We helped Bob obtain a better prescription plan and the additional benefits.

Results

• Bob now complies with his medication regimen and with his diet orders and lives a much healthier life because of it.
• Bob no longer drives his car, and so is no longer a danger to himself or others.
• His isolation is now broken, and he visits senior centers and the public library several times a week.
• His son is able to live his own life without the undue stress of worrying about his father’s behavior and health.

Betty, a widowed 81-year old with no serious health problems lived alone at home when she fell and broke her hip. She was taken to the hospital for surgery and then to a skilled nursing facility to recover. Her attorney contacted ASI. 

Red flags

We went to Betty’s house and found:

• It was extremely unsanitary and unsafe.
• Several non-housebroken dogs and cats lived there.
• Neighbors had noticed and were very concerned, but had no way to contact family members.

Aging Solutions Action Plan

• Because of signs that Betty was in early dementia, we worked with Betty’s attorney to find a younger relative to act as her conservator. Conservatorship gave this person the legal power to make health and financial decisions in Betty’s best interests, with court supervision.
• We cleaned Betty’s house, inventoried her possessions, and put in safety equipment. She returned home after two months in the nursing home.
• We put services into place: 24-hour caregivers from an agency we knew and trusted. The ASI team paid regular visits to Betty, accompanied her to medical appointments, supervised her medication regimen, and supervised the caregivers.

Result

• Betty continues to live comfortably and happily in her own home, still under 24-hour-care.
• Her younger relative/conservator, who lives in another part of the country, spends only a small amount of time worrying about Betty, knowing that ASI is there with her, acting as his eyes and ears.

In our initial consultations, Jonas’s adult children told us he was an 81-year-old diabetic with Alzheimer’s disease, living with his wife in a retirement community. Only one of the children lived in the area; the rest were scattered around the country. After many months of trying unsuccessfully to help him, they were emotionally and physically exhausted.

Red flags

• Their dad’s personal hygiene and personal appearance had declined significantly, although he had fastidious personal habits all his life.
• His memory was worsening very, very quickly; he unable to track simple actions and his demeanor was flat.
• Although Jonas was a diabetic, his wife kept dishes of candy around the house. But she also put padlocks on the refrigerator to keep him from eating unhealthy food. 
• Jonas sat in his lounge chair and watched television all day long—exactly what a diabetic should not do.    
• Although he had been diagnosed with Alzheimer’s disease, his wife was having Jonas sign new estate plan documents, which rescinded some of his rights. She also isolating him, finding excuses to keep his children from visiting.

Aging Solutions Action Plan

• We put together a strategy that included
  • reporting the situation to the appropriate authorities;
  •  documenting the situation meticulously;
  • putting together a proactive care plan;
  • assisting the adult children in filing for conservatorship of their father.
• Jonas’s Alzheimer’s symptoms seemed inconsistent. We arranged for an assessment by a prominent geriatric psychiatrist.
  • He found that Jonas did not suffer from Alzheimer’s but from a serious brain condition.
  • Jonas underwent surgery, which resulted in much improved physical health. Because the condition had been untreated for so long, however, he recovered only some of his previous mental capacity.
• Family members were required to be financially accountable.

Result

• Dad’s health got much better; he is now safe and thriving.
• His $3 million estate was rescued. 
• His adult children took over his care and an extensive care plan was implemented, with measurable outcomes and full accountability.
• His kids quit losing sleep and got their lives back.

Gladys was a widow living alone, 79 years old, who broke a hip. Her conservator wanted her to recover in her own home with 24-hour caregivers. But on investigating her finances, he was shocked to find she had no money to pay for such care. He asked ASI to step in.

Red Flags

We discovered that a few months before, Gladys had fallen prey to a persuasive insurance agent. He had convinced her to invest $1 million, all the money she had, in an annuity that would become payable in 2025 – when Gladys would be 131 years old. (Needless to say, the insurance agent got his substantial commission immediately, and didn’t have to wait until 2025.) Gladys had no access to her own money that she now needed, at least not without paying tens of thousands of dollars in penalties and probably going to court.

Aging Solutions Action Plan

Aging Solutions was long familiar with this type of financial exploitation, which unfortunately still continues: annuities are being sold every day to the elderly with severe penalties for the early release of funds, penalties that would apply exactly during the time when the funds would be needed the most for long-term care.

Aging Solutions referred Gladys’s conservator to a forensic geriatric psychiatrist. He was able to determine retroactively and conclusively that Gladys was incapable of understanding what she was signing. The contract for the annuity was therefore invalid under California law.

With the help of the psychiatrist and a lawyer and another trusted insurance professional, Gladys’s conservator was able to challenge the validity of the contract. However, it still took months of letter writing and arguing with the insurance company before they would agree to let Gladys out of the contract without penalties, and they returned her money.

Results

• 1.3 million dollars were recovered without penalties of any sort.
• Gladys lives comfortably in her own home with 24-hour caregiving, with ASI monitoring.
• ASI reported the incident and the insurance company’s practices to the appropriate authorities.