I have booked airline tickets back home for her and I but she refuses to go . She is an unable do anything for herself anymore for instance she cannot prepare meals even the simplest ones (bowl of cereal, simple sandwich) and there is no one down here to help her, she is alone . My question is with a Dr note can she be lightly sedated and forced to return to me to my home until I can figure out other arrangements . I have power of attorney. The papers are filed with her doctor's office as well. I have been caring for her for the last three years and we have gone North for the summers in the past but now she no longer wants to make the trip and I have a life and home in the North that I must get back to .
Driving might be easier but that would be a very long trip, unless a relative back at your home could fly down and help you with the trip going back home.
Or would Mom be able to budget having 3-shifts of caregivers come into the house. It won't be cheap, but at least you will know she will be well cared for and safe [that is if she would allow strangers into the house]. But in the end, there is still that traveling back north in the future.
As for being lightly sedated, it would be best to try out the pills several weeks prior to make sure there are no complicated side effects. It's all trial and error when it comes to medicine. Mom might need to try out 3 or 4 different pills before one that works well with no side effects.
A POA doesn't give you the right to force anyone to do anything. You are supposed to be doing what the principal wants. If you were her guardian I think you could. What would you do with a note from her doctor ? What would the note say? The dr has no authority over a patient in the setting you describe. Do you drug your mother enough to "force" her?
I know it's a tough situation you are in. Does she have the funds to pay for care takers? You might be in the position we speak of so often on this site where you have to wait for an " event " that necessitated action by the authorities. I'm sure there are others who have been in this situation. I don't envy you.