Clearwater Crazy

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.

She is an adult and still living.
She has a choice.
If she doesn't want to be helped, then there isn't a damn thing you can do about it.
Unless she's an immediate threat to her life or others, legally you could not be her "guardian."
Stage an intervention.
Your best intention may not be her best interests regardless of how you feel.
Unless she gets her rights taken away from her, you won't draw out the blue prints of her life.

There is a way that you can take a conservatorship over an adult as a family member. Depending on state laws, I believe all you need is 2 psychiatrists to say that this person is unable to care for themselves and is completely dependent upon you for financial support. The next time she goes to the hospital for an episode, you can have them keep her there until she gets checked into an inpatient program (short or long term). At that point, you get to make most decisions for her until her doctors see remission of her illness such that she could support herself or could function in a group home of some type.

It's not your responsibility to pay to keep her in an apartment. If you care about her (and I know you do), the best thing is to get her into a program and have her treated and watched over a period of time to see if she's not just fooling the one psychiatrist about taking her meds. Even if she is, it may not be the right kind or amount for her illness. She may not tell him/her everything that's going on like delusions, hearing voices, alcohol abuse, etc.

In some states, New York for example, the law would be on your side:
http://mentalhealth.about.com/cs/sch.../commit204.htm
(not saying she's schizophrenic, but bipolar is a serious illness as well)

Oh, and look at this related article. Three paragraphs up from the bottom it describes a program starting up in Florida...Jacksonville that is coming to the rest of the state:
http://mentalhealth.about.com/cs/leg...commitmaio.htm
It continues on to the second page.

Here are by state NAMI centers for support of those who know someone mentally ill:
http://www.nami.org/template.cfm?sec...our_local_nami

Here are some coping tips:
http://www.nami.org/Template.cfm?Sec...ontentID=26499

Hope this helps some. You do have some options. It just takes some time to get educated about the state laws and how much it would cost you to get her into a more structured environment. But I think there are state funded programs that would be free as well.