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She keeps getting lost and we have to go find her. We took her car away when she ended up two states and 4.5 hours away. She had no idea where she was or how she got there.

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Mom definitely should no longer drive. Getting lost is the least of the risks.

Giving up driving is extremely traumatic! It is terribly inconvenient and also limits independence so much. But causing someone's injury or death would be traumatic, too.

So you have done the right thing. Whether it is technically legal or not I don't know. Is your mother threatening to call the police over this?

I think it would be a good thing to get her license revoked. I guess that is harder in some states than in others. My husband's geriatrician simply notified the DMV that he was not capable of driving safely and he got a letter saying his license was invalid.
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I don't blame you for your frustration. Please don't give the car and keys back, though. Other lives are at risk when she drives.

I think I would send a copy of the letter and an expression of your concern to the DMV of the state where she has a license. If they revoke it Kansas will not issue her a license.

I think that I would also explain the situation to her local police or sherriff's office, and show the letter and your POA document there so they don't waste manpower on the complaint if she does report it stolen.

Does your mother live alone?

You are in a very difficult spot. Know that many caregivers before you have gone through this and survived, but taking away the car may be one of our least favorite memory.
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Va DMV renewed my 90 yr old mom's licence to 2021!!! without any driving, vision or written test. I couldn't believe it if I didn't see the new driver's lisence myself. I wrote the DMV (which all DMV sites have a "medical" form you can fill out -- in state of Va -- they keep your request anonymous if it is family.
I would follow jeannegibbs advice and notify local police/sherriff and advise them of situation so they will ignore her stolen property claim.
Probably not much you can do about her persistant calls to you; just say -- we sold the car; and leave it at that.
You could lie and tell her you took it to get fixed and its in the shop and repeat everytime she asks and tell her its not ready yet.
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We have a letter from her dr stating she shouldn't be driving, and yes, she is threatening to report her car stolen. Luckily we have the letter from the dr and her power of atty. She has a valid driver's license from another state and it isn't up for renewal for a while. I guess I can tell her she has to get a valid license in the state she now lives in and if she doesn't pass the test, she no longer gets to drive. I'm at my wits end. She calls me and my niece everyday and is angry and ugly to us. So much so that my niece is refusing to take her calls and I'm at a point where I want to give her keys and car back to her and take my number out of my phone so she can't call me when she's lost.
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