I have a sister who is 56 years old, has been diagnosed with Bipolar Disorder
by various psychiatrists over the years. She's been withdrawing from family
members since she was 23, now doesn't have any relationship at all with her
two (adult) children. Here is a set of symtoms/historical performance
surrounding my sister over the past several years;
1) She cannot "live within her means," balance a checkbook, always seems
to want more money.
2) I can document that she has had over 10 accidents while operating a
motor vehicle, seven of which she was listed as at fault. She has totaled
three vehicles in the past four years and miraculously, no one was
seriously injured, including my sister.
3) She feels "everyone's out to get her," is very protective of her right to
make her own decisions, even though historically she makes very poor
decisions, and she absolutely will not cooperate in terms of obtaining
family support or local community support (mental health).
4) Since 1990, she's been total reliant upon my family providing the
necessary funds for her to live a "reasonable" standard of living but
she's belligerent, argumentative, controlling and totally uncooperative,
especially when it's suggested by myself that she needs a tighter,
more structured living environment.
5) She's been evicted twice now, over the past five years for Health Code
Issues (unclean apartment, dog feces/stains in the apartment, spoiled
food in the refrigerator, litter/clutter in her apartment etc...)

The psychiatrist make statements that she's taking her medication as
prescribed, and that she's perfectly capable of handling her day to day
affairs, yet I can show a pattern of irrational behavior that has existed
for many years.

My problem is that the legal system hides behing the HIPAA Laws to not
allow someone in a position to design a more "controlled" living environment
for her that might provide monitoring that she's taking her medications,
keeping her apartment clean etc...

Any suggestions out there as she is totally reliant upon my financial
support and I'm losing my patience.

It's like I'd just as soon let this "family problem" become of "State of
Florida" problem and stop supporting this irrational behavior with my financial support, no matter how well intended.

If she's unwilling to give me the authority to do what is in her "best interests" the problems only continue.

How can the laws allow someone that's known to be mentally ill still be
able to make independent decisions especially since Bipolar can make
a person lie, manipulate, controlling, huge temper tamtrums when they
don't get what they want etc......

I need some sound, rational advice on what steps to next take.