legal responsibility for mentall ill mother

[mcdrew]

My mother is a paranoid schizophrenic, but has never had decent treatment. Now I am 32, and my sister is 29. I live out of the country, so my sister is stuck with most responsibility. Recently my mother was hospitalized for one week for being a danger to herself, but now they've let her go home. They told my sister it was her responsibility to get my mother into assisted care. I want to know what is our legal responsibility for our mother? No one ever helped us our entire lives, and now they are putting the responsibility for our mother on our shoulders. What are we legally required to do about her? She lives alone in Maryland and my sister lives in Indianapolis. (I'm living in Italy).