Problem
Sheila lives in Idaho with her son, Simon, and husband, Walter White. Simon has a serious disease. Simon's physician encourages Sheila to go to a conference at the Mayo Clinic in Dallas, Texas, for caregivers of persons with the named disease so she can learn how to better take care of Simon. Sheila takes the advice and flies to Dallas. Besides the cost of the plane ticket, Sheila incurs the following types of expenses: meals, lodging, phone calls home, dry cleaning (she dumped her taco salad on her lap at lunch), and conference registration fees. The leading speaker at the conference suggested that caregivers take their patients to destinations in warm climates to improve their state of mind and general condition. When Sheila returns home, she arranges a two-month trip (January and February) to Bali for Simon and herself. One week after they arrived in Bali, Simon's father, Walter, arrives and stays for a couple of weeks. Advise Sheila as to whether any of these expenses are deductible as medical expenses.