Can I force my mom's doctors to put her in a nursing home and stop her drug addiction?

As you know too well, it’s very difficult to get a person involuntarily admitted to a care facility—especially without good information and the strong support of medical practitioners who are See also:
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See all 63 questions about Addiction & Alcoholism involved.

The overriding rule in the medical world is supposed to be that doctor or hospital staff cannot release a person to go home if he or she is unable to get the needed care there. It’s mystifying why they are choosing to ignore this wisdom in your mother’s case. It could be that she’s become pretty cagey at convincing people to do her will and is able to put on a good show—at least for brief appearances—that she is able to care for herself.

Try to get the ear of someone else involved in her care who may not be so easily blindsided. Since your mother has had frequent hospitalizations, seek out the hospital’s Patient Representative, Ombudsman, Social Worker, or Family Services staffer and ask for an appointment to discuss the situation. Emphasize that your prime concern is your mother’s safety and well-being—and come to the meeting equipped with the strong evidence you have already described here.

If this meeting does not produce a solution, consider contacting the local Adult Protective Services Agency. Most have confidential counseling services and will be willing to discuss options that may be available locally.

Finally, while it’s a rather drastic option, you and your brother may want to consider securing a guardianship or conservatorship for your mother, in which another person would be appointed to ensure her safekeeping and medical needs. In some complicated situations such as yours, it is sometimes easier and more effective to get someone outside the family involved in the task. For more detailed information, see Caring.com’s Adult Guardian and Conservatorship page at www.caring.com/adult- It’s mystifying why they are choosing to ignore this wisdom in your mother’s case. It could be that she’s become pretty cagey at convincing people to do her will and is able to put on a good show—at least for brief appearances—that she is able to care for herself.

Try to get the ear of someone else involved in her care who may not be so easily blindsided. Since your mother has had frequent hospitalizations, seek out the hospital’s Patient Representative, Ombudsman, Social Worker, or Family Services staffer and ask for an appointment to discuss the situation. Emphasize that your prime concern is your mother’s safety and well-being—and come to the meeting equipped with the strong evidence you have already described here.

If this meeting does not produce a solution, consider contacting the local Adult Protective Services Agency. Most have confidential counseling services and will be willing to discuss options that may be available locally.

Finally, while it’s a rather drastic option, you and your brother may want to consider securing a guardianship or conservatorship for your mother, in which another person would be appointed to ensure her safekeeping and medical needs. In some complicated situations such as yours, it is sometimes easier and more effective to get someone outside the family involved in the task.

For more detailed information, see Caring.com’s Adult Guardian and Conservatorship page at www.caring.com/adult-guardianship.

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Thank you for your reply! It is very helpful information. I did contact the ombudsman and got an obra evaluation and they concur with me. They are puzzled also by the doctors in this case. The doctors and social workers were pressuring me to take her, they just didn't want to have to do the paperwork. I refused to pick her up if they discharged her and they were forced to place her. OBRA recommended to the State of Mich that she be placed in nursing care until her hip is better. Then they strongly suggest she be moved to an assisted living facility and never be allowed to administer her own meds again. I just searched her apartment and found the meds she was hiding. They are cards with pills you punch through the other side straight from the last stay at the nursing home. At that time she had them convinced she needed all these, Suboxone, Klonopin, Seroquel, Doxopin, Celexa, in huge doses. They were dispensed 7/21/10. She was home 2.5 days. There were 18 doses missing of each one. It's almost suicidal. Certainly negligent on the hospital, at best. She's really mad at me and now I have a ton more work to do (disposing of her apt. and all her stuff by end of this month), so it's not been easy for me, especially since I am the only one in my family doing anything for her and I am disabled. I've lost 26 pounds in 2 weeks and I'm exhausted. Thanks again for your advice.

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