When the State Takes Over a Life: The Public Guardian as Public Administrator

Public guardians are appointed by the state to meet the needs of incapacitated citizens when no other willing or responsible surrogate decision maker exists. These public administrators, who live the decisional life of another citizen, need meaningful controls and accountability because of the great private and public authority that is entrusted to them. A review of program documents, interviews with public guardians and their program supervisors, and participant observations revealed complex roles for the public guardian: service monitor, service broker, client advocate, surrogate decision maker, and relationship architect. Because of the multiplicity of roles and few controls on their actions, public guardians' accountability should first be drawn from mechanical mechanisms (for instance, thorough audits and sanctions for infractions), but a second and necessary control is the principles of public administration, which are grounded in normative values and democratic governance.