# Forcing someone to go to nursing home



## euro2000 (28 Apr 2012)

Mods please feel free to move this if it is in the wrong forum

Can anyone please shed some light on the legal position of putting someone in a nursing home against their will?

The person has beed diagnosed with Dementia  and HSE health nurse say they require 24 hour supervision

The person is living alone but refuses to go. Moving in with family is not an option

Can the family force the person to move into a nursing home

We are applying for nursing home care assistance Fair Deal but would like to know the legal status of the persons rights when they have dementia


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## STEINER (28 Apr 2012)

Hi there,

my family are facing the same issue, but have not started the procedures.  I honestly don't know what the process involves.   Someone can be placed in care without their consent.  My relatives's GP advised elderly relative to move into nursing home to no avail.  Dementia is not issue here, rather chronic health/inability to wash/prepare food/go out/use bathroom etc, person should be in 24/7 care.  GP off the record advised daughter to come back to GP when condition detioriates and GP will assist with forced placement in care.

Family should consult with person's GP as first port of call.


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## euro2000 (28 Apr 2012)

Thank you Steiner. I have been looking at nursing homes. All of them have said I have a big problem if they don't want to go. 

Under the Fair Deal a care needs assessment is carried out

The guidance document online has this as their values


Quote 
People should not be admitted to long term residential care
against their wishes, irrespective of the views of carers and
others or of the likely safety of remaining in the community


​


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## Ann1 (28 Apr 2012)

Hi Euro 2000
I think you might need to apply for a Care Needs Assessment for your relative....I recently went through this process with my elderly aunt but that was in the UK and there was lots of help and assistance there. Have a read of this document from the bottom of page 12....
I can't believe the quote above...I wonder who composed it?

http://www.oireachtas.ie/documents/bills28/acts/2009/a1509.pdf


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## mf1 (29 Apr 2012)

An older person can be entirely "compos mentis" whilst equally behaving in an almost irrational way. 

It is not a nursing homes function to restrain a mentally well person against their will. People are entitled to make their own decisions - however bad we may think those  decisions may be. 

The huge difficulty is, however, how do the carers cope? 

I'm at that age in my life where  our family  and many of my friends have had to make hard decisions about care for close relatives. We were (relatively?) lucky with a case of what can only be called   "galloping dementia" - there simply was no choice or option. 
In a second case, we had what the system describes as "the classic route into long term care".  Fall, broken  hip, long term hospital bed blocker, ultimate release into nursing home care. My aunt is now relatively happy with wonderful personal care but slipping into dementia and occasional distressed confusion. She is however safe and will never be found wandering the streets of Dublin looking for her childhood home. 

One of my friend's  mother was actually "expelled" from a nursing home for "bad behaviour" - the family took her home, they had no choice,  and after a year of frequent falls, waits in casualty, she did eventually have a  heart attack - largely 
brought on I think by her wayward temper. 

So what happens if the family feel it necessary but the elder is having none of it? One possibility is Ward of Court - the High Court orders the detention of the person for their own  good. It is extreme but sometimes may be the only way. 

Good luck - it is a hard road. 

mf
"http://www.courts.ie/offices.nsf/0/19111E254B2EF547802573D2006CCF26?OpenDocument"


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## euro2000 (29 Apr 2012)

Thank you mf, much appreciated


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