"Other than getting old, what crime did they commit?"

That's a quote from Richard Iannella, the Suffolk County Register of Probate, speaking of the practice of appointing guardians for old people who have no family or friends but have had the misfortune to be in a hospital or nursing home. In Massachusetts and many other states, if a nursing home or hospital in which you happen to be a patient applies to the courts to appoint a guardian for you(if you are considered an "unbefriended elder", that is, you are alone, without family or friends to help you).

The problem is that very often the courts do appoint a guardian although the patient does not have a right to an attorney (although those charged as criminals do) and most often cannot even object to the appointment. Furthermore, this decision is usually made without the proper medical documentation required by court rules, without asking about the patient's long term prognosis, without appointing an independent fact finder. It gets worse. Guardians are required to file an inventory of the patient's assets and to report annually on their management of the patient's finances; this they seldom do.

Here's one patient's experience as reported by the Boston Globe:

Dawn Cromwell dares not leave her building. If she tried, a device girding her ankle would sound an alarm. For over a year, she has had to use store-bought reading glasses because her pleas for a prescription pair have gone for naught. She is given medications, but, she says, no one will tell her what they are.

For 20 months now, Cromwell's life has been defined by a 10.5-by-12.5-foot living space at North End Rehabilitation and Nursing Center. In her tiny closet, there are virtually no clothes, and she has no idea what's become of the cherished possessions in the Boylston Street apartment where she lived for years.

An estimated 2,000 elders find themselves in this situation each year in Massachusetts. How many are there across the country?