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NURSING HOME HOSPITAL DUMPING A New Form Of Elder Abuse?

The Law Office of Kevin P. Kane, ESQ.

AT THE LAW OFFICE OF KEVIN P. KANE, WE TAKE A STRONG STANCE AGAINST ELDER ABUSE. This abuse can take many forms – including hospital dumping, an alarming trend among California nursing homes.

IN THIS PRESENTATION, YOU’LL LEARN: • What hospital dumping is and how it

affects vulnerable elders

• Why nursing homes are evicting seniors for unlawful reasons

• What you can do about it

NURSING HOME RESIDENTS HAVE RIGHTS: • They can’t be evicted without a valid reason.

• State and federal law give Medi-Cal patients important bed-hold rights when they have to go the hospital or ER.

WHAT IS HOSPITAL DUMPING? Put simply, it’s an underhanded approach that some nursing homes use to get rid of undesirable patients. It happens when seniors make a trip to the hospital or ER, only to find that they find they aren’t allowed back to their nursing home. Effectively, they’ve been evicted.

WHY ARE VULNERABLE ELDERS BEING SHUT OUT OF THEIR NURSING HOMES?

FINANCIAL MOTIVES Nursing homes have a financial incentive to get rid of Medi-Cal patients and free up beds for higher paying Medicare and private-pay residents.

SILENCING THE SQUEAKY WHEEL Nursing homes also dump patients who complain too much or have squeaky wheel relatives.

WHY CHALLENGING THE EVICTION RARELY WORKS Even though hospital dumping is illegal, many nursing homes refuse to budge, even after residents file administrative appeals – and win. Approximately 95 percent of evicted patients in these situations win their appeals. Yet hardly any get to take back the bed that’s rightfully theirs. The administrative appeals process simply has no teeth.

FIGHTING FIRE WITH FIRE There’s another way to hold nursing homes accountable. The answer lies in California’s elder abuse law.

WHAT IS ELDER ABUSE? The law defines financial elder abuse as any action that deprives an elder of a property right. Illegal evictions deprive elders of important property rights – namely, their right to reside in the nursing home.

For hospital dumping to qualify as financial elder abuse, the nursing home must also know that it’s likely to cause harm. The trauma of an unlawful eviction takes a physical and emotional toll on seniors. For many, their nursing home is the only home they have. Losing their home often leads to a downward spiral of declining health.

A CLAIM THAT HAS TEETH Framing illegal evictions as elder abuse opens the door to real financial consequences for nursing homes. A successful claim could result in:

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© 2015 by The Law Office of Kevin P. Kane, Esq. All rights reserved. Design and editorial services by FindLaw, part of Thomson Reuters.