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legal guardianship and antipsychotic medication

My patient resides at a nursing home and has a legal guardian, but no rogers guardianship at this point. Can the legal guardian allow antipsychotic medication to be used while the court papers are pending for the rogers? The patient has severe dementia, but is accepting medications that are given to her.

Rogers Guardianship

Consult your facility's legal counsel before taking any action on this issue.  Typically, Massachusetts law requires the guardian to obtain judicial consent before anti-psychotics can be approved on behalf of the ward.  This is the so-called Rogers guardianship.  Your legal counsel may want to research whether the situation you face with the patient constitutes an emergency that would justify giving the patient anti-psychotics without court approval.  Even in emergency situations, however, if the patient will need to be medicated beyond ten days, judicial consent must be obtained.  Good luck.

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