Medical expenses for those not your dependent are not deductible.

I'd like to bookmark the IRS pub for that, if you have it please. Thanks!

Pub 502, page 10 and bottom of page 3

Cool! Thanks!

However, you still must be able to claim the person as a dependent except for those exceptions.   The requirement that you pay more the  half the persons total support would seem to be the killer here.    Because the parent has $20,000 of his/her own income and the facility cost is $43,000 then the $13,200 that the OP pays is much less than the required "more than half" of support.

Good point. Though, there may be more to the parent's support than stated. Thanks

You can claim her medical expenses if you provide over one half of her support in 2017.

In that event, she would be considered your medical dependent.

Support Includes

·        Food

·        Clothing

·        Shelter

·        Transportation

·        Education

·        Medical/Dental

·        Recreation

See IRS Support Worksheet

There's no such thing (that I'm aware of) as a "medical dependent". Either they are a dependent, or they are not. Is there something I'm not aware of possibly?