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Imagine if you had no control over where you live, what job you had, or even who your friends were. For most people, this ends when we turn eighteen and become legal adults. But many people in Michigan with disabilities spend their entire lives under these restrictions, severely limiting their freedom.  

This is because of a legal concept called guardianship. A judge names one person to make decisions on another person’s behalf. The first person, called the second person’s guardian, makes all -- or almost all -- of their significant life decisions for them. They can even control the second person’s finances.  

Anyone can request a guardianship for another person. Many people with developmental disabilities in Michigan live under them. But a growing movement of disability advocates believes that they often aren’t necessary.  

Michigan State Representatives Sharon MacDonell and Douglas Wozniak agree. They have written House Bills 4676 and 4677, which would give people with disabilities more freedom of choice. Under these bills, judges would have to consider other options for people with disabilities and use guardianships as a last resort. The bills would also let people with disabilities use “supported decision making.” This is when friends and family help the person with disabilities understand their choices without making decisions for them.  

These bills are needed because disability is not “one size fits all.” Every person with a disability is unique. Not everyone needs to be put under a guardianship where they lose all their rights. If you agree, please write to Matt Hall. Matt Hall is the Speaker of the Michigan House of Representatives. Please ask Speaker Hall to give the bills a vote in the State House to bring freedom to Michiganders with disabilities.

This legislation creates a patient surrogate consent statute to help families make health care decisions and reduce the need for hospitals to go to court. This legislation comes out of a subcommittee of the Elder Abuse Task Force.  The primary purpose is to reduce the number of emergency guardianships by granting the legal authority to approve treatment to family members in the absence of any legal documents. 

Specifically, HBs 4418-4419 amend the Estates and Protected Individuals Code (EPIC) to add a new Part 6 to Article V (protection of individuals under disability and their property) to enable certain individuals to make healthcare decisions on behalf of a patient when the patient is unable to do so on their own behalf and does not have a patient advocate designation in place, or the designated patient advocate is unavailable to fulfill that role. The legislation also does the following: 

• Authorizes a surrogate to make medical decisions in certain circumstances;
• Identifies the classes and priority of persons that can serve as a surrogate medical decision maker and guidance in the event there are multiple people of equal priority that qualify;
• Permits a patient to either designate or disqualify individuals from serving in that role;
• Imposes several requirements on healthcare professionals, including an obligation to communicate to the patient, when possible, what decision was made by a family member/surrogate and who made the decision; and,
• Provides protection from civil/criminal liability to healthcare providers, patient advocates, guardians, or surrogates that act in good faith