Elderly couple removed from longtime home

[R8ers]

Big Gubment at it's Finest... I will never live this long but to those of you blesses with longevity genes ... Keep voting for this shit..



In May 1964, Nels and Irene Highberg bought their first and only home. It was a modest, brick rancher -- no garage -- on a pleasant cul-de-sac on the edge of East Petersburg.
The Highbergs raised two sons there. They entertained neighbors there. They grew old there.
After 48 years at 6312 Miriam Circle, the Highbergs -- Nels is 92, Irene is 89 -- figured they could manage a while longer. Family and friends agreed.
But the county Office of Aging stepped in last summer, saying for safety reasons the Highbergs must move to a nursing home.
"I ain't going to go," Highberg said, according to Erick Highberg, the couple's 54-year-old son.
When a van arrived Aug. 2 to take the couple to Oak Leaf Manor in Millersville, Highberg sat in a chair in the driveway for many long minutes. He got in the van only after a police officer showed up.
"He respected her uniform," said Erick Highberg, noting his father's more than 20 years of service in the Navy and Coast Guard.
Mrs. Highberg said in a phone interview she got in the van to see what the nursing home was like. "I didn't understand we would be locked up here," she said. "They brought us in here, and they kind of disappeared real quick."
Now, after more than three months at Oak Leaf Manor, Mrs. Highberg still wants to return home.
"If I have to be here, it couldn't be better," she said. "It's a very nice place. The rooms are nice and clean, and the food is good, and they have entertainment, and we get out to do some things, musicals and such once in a while. Really, you wonder what the heck I'm complaining about. Well, it's not my house."
What prompted the Office of Aging's action was receipt June 10 of a "report of need" from a party the agency, by law, may not disclose.
The party, according to a court document, said Mrs. Highberg was confused and unable to care for herself, yet she was caring for "her incapacitated husband when she was in all likelihood more confused than he."
The Office of Aging then conducted an investigation that included a medical exam at the Highbergs' home by Dr. Robert M. Howse Jr., a geriatrics specialist. The doctor recommended placement in a dementia unit and appointment of a guardian to oversee the couple's affairs. He wrote that the Highbergs had lost the capacity for sound decision-making as long ago as January 2007.


Read more: http://lancasteronline.com/article/l...#ixzz2Clb3xvOj

[dirk digler]

Originally Posted by Brainiac

The other four pages of the article support the argument that the Office of Aging made an arbitrary decision that went AGAINST the wishes of the family.

I really don't understand why anyone would defend this decision. It sounds pretty ****ed up to me.

From the article a judge made the final decision after listening to testimony.

I agree it is sad and if the family members were willing to move in I don't understand why they couldn't do that.

[dirk digler]

Also this is a perfect example for making sure your parents have assigned someone POA just in case.

[FishingRod]

This is one of those story’s setup to piss me off because I detest Government meddling and knowing what is best for people regardless if they like it or not but, there frankly isn’t enough information to form an intelligent opinion. It is quite likely that this was the best that could be made of a bad situation. If there are living children of these people, shame on them for not taking care of this situation. I’ve been there, and done it, and it sucks but, sometime you have to put you big-boy pants on and take care of business.

[Bob Dole]

Bob Dole can understand why the woman repeatedly asked the caseworker who she was.

"Who are you again? And why are you here? GTFO of my house!"

[Brock]

Hell, it was probably one of the sons who called them in to begin with.

[Cave Johnson]

Originally Posted by mikey23545

"What prompted the Office of Aging's action was receipt June 10 of a "report of need" from a party the agency, by law, may not disclose."


I assume this "Office of Aging" will be working hand-in-hand with the Death Panel...

Death panels are a creation of your and Sarah Palin's overactive imaginations, but hey, keep f'ing that chicken.

[Brainiac]

Originally Posted by Cave Johnson

Death panels are a creation of your and Sarah Palin's overactive imaginations, but hey, keep f'ing that chicken.

True, this is more of an incarceration panel than a death panel.

[Cave Johnson]

Originally Posted by Brainiac

True, this is more of an incarceration panel than a death panel.

News flash: judges decide the fate of incapacitated people on a regular basis.

[R8ers]

Originally Posted by Cave Johnson

Death panels are a creation of your and Sarah Palin's overactive imaginations, but hey, keep f'ing that chicken.

Little by little things change... You won't be exempt just because you agree.

[Cave Johnson]

Originally Posted by R8ers

Little by little things change... You won't be exempt just because you agree.

Slippery slopes, oh noes!!!

[Fat Elvis]

The Olmstead decision guarantees the right of anyone to live in their own home and/or community regardless the severity of their disability.

Moreover, the fact that they have lived in a nursing facility for 90 days (might be 180 days federally) also means that they have the right to have the amount funding that they recieved to live in a nursing facility follow them into the community for at least one year so that they may recieve home and community based services.

[Brock]

Originally Posted by R8ers

Little by little things change... You won't be exempt just because you agree.

"I've fallen on the tub and I can't get up"

[Fat Elvis]

Originally Posted by R8ers

Big Gubment at it's Finest... I will never live this long but to those of you blesses with longevity genes ... Keep voting for this shit..

The Obama administration, contrary to your understanding of this situation, has been the most active administration in enforcing Olmstead--so yes, I will keep voting for "this shit."

You are just another example of the moronic republican echo chamber who does not live in the world of facts and/or has a very limited understanding of the world around them.

[Fish]

Originally Posted by R8ers

Little by little things change... You won't be exempt just because you agree.

You damn whippersnappers and your damn changes and whatnots!

[lewdog]

I deal with Dementia on a daily basis at work and it is amazing/scary it is for many of these people I see to be continuing to live in their houses or drive. Many times family members are so uneducated about the effects of dementia on completing even simple daily living tasks.

To me this sounds like the possibility of the two sons not agreeing on their parents condition and the parents did not have a designated POA. Or it could have been that the family was not providing enough sound care-taking for their parents and neighbors possibly reported neglect.

Without this report telling the "reporting party" I have no idea how you can think this is a government thing? Elder abuse/neglect is very real and you have no idea the circumstances these parents were really in based on this article which only talks to the family.