Elder Law

Trial Begins in Federal Lawsuit Similar to Recent Illinois Nursing Home Settlement

By Levin & Perconti

TampaBay.com published a story this morning on a high profile federal nursing home lawsuit that questions state practices overemphasizing the use of nursing homes for injured and debilitated citizens.

Specifically, advocacy groups, including the AARP, filed suit alleging a state Medicaid program was in violation of the Americans with Disabilities Act. They claim that state practices force certain injured people into nursing homes instead of providing services at the individual?s home. The federal act mandates that states integrate people into their communities?a duty that advocates claim is being ignored by the state.

Blog readers will recall that a settlement was reached in our state following a similar Illinois nursing home lawsuit. Disability rights activists had sought changes in the way certain disabled nursing home members were treated, and the group filed a class action lawsuit against the state in 2005 claiming that the state care of these individuals was lacking. The basis of the charge was the then inability of residents to live in an integrated living environment. The claim was rooted in the American with Disabilities Act and its rejection of undue segregation.

If approved by a judge, the agreement decree will allow much greater flexibility of living conditions for developmentally disabled residents. According to the agreement, all 6,000 residents of these special facilities are able to move out of the nursing home and into a small group home.

The agreement remains flexible in that only those individuals who chose to leave the larger facilities are able?instead of forcing all in the group to move to smaller group homes.

Full post as published by Illinois Nursing Home Abuse Blog on February 08, 2011 (boomark / email).