Volume : II, Issue : VIII, August - 2013

Adult Guardianship In Seniors With Mental Disorders – Example from Central Moravia, Czech Republic

Luzny Jan

Abstract :

Background: Guardianship is a legal measure to protect individuals with demmaged capacity to manager their own affairs. As the population is getting older all over the world, increased incidence of dementia and other chronic mental disorders leading to the loss of competence is expected. As a consequence, guardianship and its ethical, juridical, social aspects remains a challenge for near future. Aims: Main aim of the study is to determine prevalence of juridical incompetency in mentally ill seniors hospitalized for any mental disorder in Mental hospital Kromeriz, Central Moravia, Czech republic, and to study circumstances and outcomes of the process of deprivation of legal capacity which has been inicialized while hospitalization of seniors in Mental hospital Kromeriz. Subjects and methods: retrospective analysis of medical records and written court records in patients older than 65 admitted to Mental hospital Kromeriz from January 2011 to December 2011. Results: Incompetency in seniors when coming to the mental hospital was detected in158 admitted seniors (15.6% from all patients) , compared to 233 seniors (23.0% from all patients) when leaving the mental hospital. The most common inicializers of the process of deprivation of legal capacity before hospitalization in Mental hospital are the patient relatives. The most common mental disorder leading to incompetency in studied sample of seniors was schizophrenia followed by dementia of Alzheimer´s type and other organic disorders. As for type of guardians appointed by the Court private guardians formed the majority (61.8%) compared to public guardians (38.2 %). Conclusion: schizophrenia and dementia have a potential to change competency in seniors and are the most common mental disorders leading to senior incompetency. In clinical practice this may lead to difficult situations especially in individuals who still remain officially competent althought their actual competence status is just being seriously altered (decision making in financial cases, informed consent, inheritance affairs). The process of deprivation of legal capacity by Court and appointment of a guardian to protect patients affairs stay both ethical and juridical problem to be solved.

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Article: Download PDF   DOI : 10.36106/ijsr  

Cite This Article:

Luzny Jan Adult Guardianship In Seniors With Mental Disorders – Example from Central Moravia, Czech Republic International Journal of Scientific Research, Vol : 2, Issue : 8 August 2013

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