https://lasvegassun.com/news/2023/oct/10/guardianships-are-elder-abuse/
By Poppy Helgren, Henderson
Tuesday, Oct. 10, 2023 | 2 a.m.
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Separating families is traumatic and unless there are extenuating circumstances, such as abuse, should not be done.
Just as taking children from their parents is abusive, so is snatching the vulnerable elderly from their loving families.
Our country stands by idly allowing large-scale human rights abuses by allowing court-appointed guardianships of vulnerable elderly people, supposedly to protect them. Often these folks have advance directives, powers of attorney and family trusts, which end up disregarded by the courts. Many times those placed in guardianships have substantial assets. After the guardianship is placed, no longer does the ward or their family have any say in health care, personal or financial decisions.
Frequently, property is sold off to pay guardianship fees and attorneys’ fees. Nest eggs saved over a lifetime no longer remain for heirs. Sometimes professionals exploit their position to ransack the life savings of the elderly.
Even worse is the isolation that can occur when guardians use their power to keep wards away from their families. This happens every day in all 50 states.
While we won’t forget the horror of child separation, we also must pay attention to family separation that can easily occur with an unnecessary guardianship.
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