Push to ban paid carers from holding power of attorney

There are new calls to ban paid carers from taking on legal responsibilities for their clients over fears it leaves the door open to abuse.

Ann Marie Smith’s death was declared a major crime, leading to the arrest of her carer.

Paid carers must be banned from having power of attorney over their clients in South Australia as an important safeguard against disability and elder abuse, lawyers say.

Their concerns over financial abuse echo those of the family of the late Annie Smith, whose shocking disability neglect case involves allegations of draining of money from her bank account and missing jewellery and property.

Ms Smith’s carer, Rosemary Maione, who faces a manslaughter charge, is among those being investigated over the financial irregularities.

Maione, who was employed by Integrity Care, has not been charged with financial abuse.

Rosemary Maione leaves the Adelaide Women’s Prison with her son after being released on bail in August. Picture: Brenton Edwards

As there is no register in SA, it is not known who held power of attorney for Ms Smith. Maurice Blackburn Lawyers has raised fresh concerns over the state’s power-of-attorney laws following a South Australian Law Reform Institute report, released last month, recommended strengthening the regulatory framework, including banning paid carers.

Attorney-General Vickie Chapman is considering the report.

Andrew Simpson, MBL’s national head of wills and estates, said: “Giving a paid carer power over the affairs of the vulnerable person they are paid to look after is, in our view, a dangerous blurring of professional and personal lines that increases the risk of financial abuse.”

An enduring power of attorney is a legal document in which a person appoints someone to make financial and personal decisions on their behalf.

Law Society of SA president Rebecca Sandford said the legal body supported banning paid carers from appointment as power of attorney.

She said family members receiving a government benefit to care for a loved one should be excluded from a ban.

“Consideration, however, should still be given to the fact that some people have very limited choice when it comes to appointing an appropriate power of attorney, and it is important that these people are not forgotten about in the process of taking appropriate steps to strengthen safeguards against exploitation,” she said.

New laws in Queensland came into effect three months ago, prohibiting a person being appointed an enduring power of attorney to someone for whom they have been a paid carer in the past three years.

In Victoria, paid carers cannot have power of attorney for a current client.

Ms Chapman said power of attorney was an issue being tackled at state and federal levels, with a national working group looking into a national register.

Maione, 69, Ms Smith’s carer of seven years, was a key witness to her will, prompting her family to question financial safeguards for the vulnerable.

Ms Smith’s entire estate was left to former carers – but Maione was not among the beneficiaries – and friends.

Maione is next due to appear in court in April.

Ms Smith died in her Kensington Gardens home last April from septic shock, multi-organ failure, pressure sores and malnutrition. Police described the conditions as “disgusting and degrading”.