Our relative paid thousands of dollars for aids to sit in her room. Mrs. Rose had hospice which should have covered her care under medicare. Our relative lost her liberty over the telephone with no legal representation, no evidence and no notice. Just so you know, a landmark legal case Grant vs. Johnson (Federal Court Oregon) makes it a civil rights violation to do a temporary guardianship/conservatorship with no notice.She was drugged with anti psychotics to chemically straight jacket her. And she never did make it home. She died in state custody, state confinement and involuntary incarceration. The family was bypassed to act as conservator and nobody listened to Mrs. Rose when she said she wanted more than anything to be with her family and they won't let me go. How does this happen? Elders need to live close to their family, if they have family, or to friends. Put your children or close friends or relatives on your bank accounts and deeds to homes. Our relative retired in Carmel, CA. She died skin and bones with open lesions and severe bruising looking like a POW in her board and "care" in Carmel. She, a woman of means, became a ward of the state. The county conservator even sold her personal property and our personal property while she was alive--furniture, pots and pans, even her shoes for about $2. And the county public conservator placed an obituary in the paper and charged the estate. (no such request was made from Mrs. Rose in her will). Not anyone's idea of freedom or respecting old age. Write your senators and congressman and news stations. Boomers watch out or maybe c-span and public tv. These scams are getting worse, not better. Johnny

We have friends who actually take care of their parents and inlaws and that should be the model, not some assisted care warehousing the elderly. They may be pleasant to look at but all the people are so quiet and they don't talk.It is very sad. In Monterey County CA, (our relative retired to Carmel, CA located in Monterey County) there is, we allege, racial and ethnic profiling as to who gets conserved: white women. Boomer women, we really need to get the message out that we do not want to be dumbed down with drugs and we don't want to be "conserved". How many minorities get conserved? How many poor? In Monterey County probably few, if any. This terrible trend needs to be made more and more open in the media. Once a person is labeled incompetent and is conserved it is hard to undo though not impossible. Thanks for helping to get the message out. Johnny

Johnny and all, are there any good books on this? I'd love to learn more. I've learned what I know in these forums. I need to learn more.