Joan Bennett Kennedy Follow-up
Joan Bennett Kennedy is back in the news after she was found unconscious on the street. I wrote about her guardianship a few weeks ago, here.
Having a guardianship doesn't necessarily mean you are under "house arrest" -- the amount of supervision provided by a guardian to a ward will vary on a case by case basis. The question of supervision becomes more difficult when the ward is the guardian's parent -- you want to respect your mother or father's independence while also acknowledging that your parent may need some extra care. It sounds like Mrs. Kennedy's son, U.S. Representative Patrick Kennedy, is struggling with this issue right now:
"You want to make sure there is someone there for her all the time ... but at the same time you don't want to encroach on her privacy too much. When things like this happen, it makes you feel as though maybe you should have done more to make sure there is someone with her 24/7 and perhaps that might become necessary."
The Kennedys may have more money and celebrity than most families, but with respect to issues like this one, they're no different than any other family.
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