What can I do if my Father was misdiagnosed for five years?
My father was diagnosed from an Doctor and wrote a letter saying it he would never be able to reverse back to normal.
Turns out he is not Demented nor has alzheimer's disease. Just old age at 89 years old. He almost died in Hospice from my mother who had a brain tumor and we didn't know it. She was over medicating him with many drugs. Was from rehab to assisted living and then lock down memory care units. Didn't like any of the Lock downs and voiced his opinion. They would keep drugging him to the point he was so confused.
Now he is out of all the memory cares and in my home and doing wonderful. Took him to a Neurologist and he is doing some more test and from what he has done so far he said he is not sick at all. He knows what he wants and knows where he wants to live. Big problem is that he lost everything to my mother. She only sends some money to help for him. Not enough clearly since caregivers charge $18-$22 and hour. I was told to get a lawyer for all his loss and pain and suffering. Pus to try to get guardianship away from ill mother. Please give me some feed back. Doctor already said he would back me up...Thank God there is a light at the end of the tunnel for my father. No other family siblings care for my father. It is sad, Because they side for my mother since she has control of the money.
Your mother was appointed (by a court?) his guardian.
This would have been fine, except that unbeknownst to anybody, Mother had a brain tumor and was a very unsuitable guardian-- perhaps even needed a guardian herself. She (presumably inadvertently) screwed his medications up royally, making his cognitive problems worse.
Father was placed in hospice care, where she continued to mess up his medication. He was also placed in a Memory Care facility. (I don't know what order these events happened in.)
You have somehow managed to bring your father into your home. A neurologist is performing more tests but says that your father "is not sick at all."
Your mother is sending you "some money" for your father's care. Presumably your father also has at least SS and maybe a pension (?) But this is not enough to care for him. You want your father to have more money from what your mother is now controlling.
Your father needs in-home medical care of some kind, but not, presumably for dementia.
Whew! Have I got this all straight? The details are a bit confused in my reading. Feel free to correct from anything I've misunderstood.
First of all, congratulations to Father for getting the diagnosis corrected!! Unless there was immense neglect or poor procedures with the original diagnosis, I'd forget suing over it. Dementia can never be absolutely diagnosed except after death by autopsy. Even now, the fact that a neurologist says he doesn't have dementia doesn't "prove" that he doesn't have it.
You know the disease that Robin Williams had -- Lewy Body Dementia? A huge percentage of people who wind up with that diagnosis were diagnosed incorrectly at least once and sometimes 2 or 3 times before someone finally got it right.
If it will make you feel better, check this out with a lawyer who specializes in malpractice suits and get a more learned opinion on your chances of winning.
As for the present situation, do consult an attorney about how to revoke Mother's guardianship (if it was indeed granted by a court) now that she is no longer competent herself. If Father isn't really incompetent now that he is no longer being drugged, he won't need a guardian at all. An attorney can advise you on this as well as how to see that both of your parents benefit from their finances.
Good luck, and keep us informed.
You'll probably need an attorney for this; it's generally not a DIY legal project.
My apologies for missing that point.
1. Are your mom and dad divorced?
2. You did say your mother has guardianship over your father, correct?
3. You did say your mother has a brain tumor, correct?
4. You did say your mother is ill correct? Clarify her medical issues.
Now, assuming she has guardianship, there are at least 2 issues:
A. If she has a brain tumor or is incapacitated in some other way, if she will not cooperate with you in petitioning the court to remove her from guardian over your dad and be replaced by you, you should petition the court to have her removed arguing her brain tumor or other incapacitation prevents her from adequately handling his affairs and healthcare needs. You will have to present evidence to support this assertion. The attorney will advise you on this. You would ask to replace your mother as guardian.
B. You may want to consider a second alternative: If the current guardianship was deemed needed by the courts due to evidence presented to the court about his condition that you can show was either incorrect or has now resolved due to appropriate care and intervention, you may want to consider petitioning to the court To vacate the guardianship altogether. If he is not cognitively impaired and does not wish to have his rights taken away to make decisions, he and you both can file a joint petition to vacate. Again advice from an attorney is important.
You instead can have your dad name you as DPoA for health care and finances so you can help him. In those papers, assuming the guardianship is vacated, your dad can name you as the person he wants as his guardian should a guardianship be needed in the future.
1. The state in which this occurred might require that a physician support the diagnosis of malpractice, which means that the physician would have to be willing to testify if the case went to trial.
2. The age of the individual would be considered, what was lost, and what the compensatory damages might be based on actuarial scales. Thus, you would have to identify and list all the ramifications that occurred because of the diagnosis, and it seems as though there are some serious ones that occurred beyond the initial diagnosis, especially with the overmedication and apparent either collusion or failure to confirm the diagnosis by the subsequent facilities that "treated" him.
Lacking legal action though, you can file complaints with oversight agencies.
3. It seems as though the financial abuse which occurred because of the erroneous diagnosis, as well as pain and suffering of your father, would be the primary losses to be considered, as well as any lingering side effects from the erroneous administration of medications.
4. Litigation does not take years in courts managed well. In my experience, courts attempt to push the cases along, establishing deadlines for discovery, pretrial hearings, etc. and trying to keep the case on schedule. There's no question that attorneys can seek to delay with numerous motions, but it's also possible that the opposing party can counterfile on the basis of frivolous complaints. If ordered to pay the plaintiff's (you or your father) court costs, that tends to have a dampening effect on defendant's friviolous motions and attempts to delay.
On the other hand, you would be suing a physician and possibly some facilities. Their insurance defense attorneys do NOT want to drag out cases; it's to their benefit in representation of cost conscious insurance companies to resolve these cases quickly, and they will file the necessary motions to move the cases along.
5. Attorneys look at the bottom line of potential recovery just as businessmen do. An attorney skilled in med mal cases would know the mood of the local courts and judges, and could guesstimate and predict generally whether or not the case would have sufficient merit to make it worthwhile to sue.
People often threaten to sue someone, but it's not that easy or simple. I think the real question might whether or not you want to put your father through a deposition and trial, and the likelihood of what is to be gained. Granted, med mal insurers might settle for nuisance value, so there could be some financial compensation gained from that.
There's also the possibility of filing a complaint with the appropriate medical associations against the doctor who made the erroneous diagnosis.
The second issue is your mothers control of the money. I didn't see that any DPOA is mentioned and therefore assume that your father hasn't created one or that your mother has that designated legal control.
I'm not sure what you mean that your father lost everything to your mother. If there was financial abuse, and it can be documented, it could be that criminal action could be taken against her, with sufficient proof. You'd have to confer with law enforcement on this. In some states, elder abuse is subject to separate statutes, so that's something else to be investigated.
But I would first find a competent and respected elder law or estate planning attorney and discuss your father's financial situation, what he has that can be protected against her, and ask that a DPOA be prepared, presumably appointing you to act in his stead legally and financially. Also discuss what she has confiscated and get recommendations on whether or not the funds are retrievable, as well as how to change co-owners, beneficiaries and any other way to protect the assets from her.
He "lost everything to your mother"? What does that mean? Did she spend all the money or is she controlling all the money or something? Surely, he gets at least social security every month.
At 89 years old, I wouldn't bother with getting a lawyer or anything else. Litigation takes years, and I doubt you'd even find an attorney to take a case like this. It is an unfortunate situation, but if your mother had a brain tumor & her thought process was messed up, she didn't know what she was doing when she was medicating your father.
Guardianship might be something you want to look into. Otherwise, keep him living with you where you can take care of him.
Daisylady had a good suggestion if your dad was in the military - at his age it could have been during WWII. He'd likely benefit from some services.
It's so sad that your ill mother has caused this issue with money. However, as you say, the gift is the neurologist that sees that dementia is not the issue. Drugs can cause "false dementia" so this is something that everyone has to know about. It's too bad other doctors didn't catch this sooner.
Whatever could have been, you are having to live with what it is right how. An attorney may be the only way for your father to get his share of the money. Since the doctor can back up the point that he does not have dementia, you should make certain the the DPOA is moved to your name if you haven't already done so. The see an attorney to try to get his share of the money.
Thanks so much for joining the community. I hope that you will keep updating us.
Carol