Filial Responsibility: Breaking the Backbone of Today's Modern Long Term Care System

Authors

Twyla Sketchley, The Sketchley Law Firm, P.A.
Carter McMillan

First Page

131

Document Type

Article

Abstract

This article will briefly discuss the development of filial responsibility in the United States, the government programs that have displaced it, and its modem day application, including the ambiguity that creates problems for indigent elders' family members and care providers. This article will outline the current long term care system, including its costs and the government and private programs that primarily assist consumers with these costs. It will end by arguing that enforcement of filial responsibility unfairly targets the informal caregiving structure that is the backbone of today's modem long-term care system, which is why filial responsibility is unsustainable today. Because the growing costs of long-term care have created, as some describe, "a national crisis"' in need of a solution, this article will end by proposing some solutions that support the informal caregiving system to create a more sustainable modem long-term care system.

Recommended Citation

Twyla Sketchley & Carter McMillan, Filial Responsibility: Breaking the Backbone of Today's Modern Long Term Care System, 26 St. Thomas L. Rev. 131 (2013).
Available at: https://scholarship.stu.edu/stlr/vol26/iss1/8