Nursing Home Resident Evictions Rising

 Posted on February 27, 2018 in Nursing Home Abuse

Imagine you are a resident in a nursing home. Perhaps you are recovering from an invasive surgery, have had limbs amputated, or are elderly and suffering from other ailments. Now imagine that the place you have called home during your recovery no longer welcomes you and you are forced to pack your things and leave. This is the reality for many nursing home residents who are evicted from nursing homes every year. Unfortunately, many nursing home residents and their families are unaware of the rights which residents have.

Changes in Insurance Leave Some Residents Unable to Pay Nursing Home Costs

About 14 million people are currently living in nursing homes across the country. Many of these residents are ill or injured and others have mental incapacities such as dementia with disallow them to care for themselves. These individuals require round-the-clock care and supervision. Unfortunately, nursing homes often evict residents for unjustified reasons. Sometimes, it is because a change in insurance, such as switching from Medicare to Medicaid, means that the resident can no longer afford to stay at the nursing home. Discharges and evictions have been the top-ranking category of grievances brought to state long-term care regulators programs in recent years. Unfortunately, many nursing home residents are unaware of their rights and leave without challenging an eviction or discharge.

Tony Chicotel, a lawyer at California Advocates for Nursing Home Reform, explains “The nursing homes, they know the system and they really game it to where they maximize their advantage.” Federal regulators are now looking for ways to enforce federal laws which protect nursing home residents. Evictions or discharges can greatly damage a resident’s well-being. Because nursing home residents are already ill or elderly, moving them against their will can be dangerous to their physical health as well as their psychological health.

Some residents are forced to move out of a nursing home into a lower level of care, which can be deadly. Nursing home residents who are not properly cared for are at risk of falling, or otherwise injuring themselves as well as misremembering things like when they last took their medicine. Uprooting residents from the familiar environment of a nursing home can be deeply traumatic and even exacerbate mental conditions in some residents.

Call a Chicago Nursing Home Neglect Lawyer

If you or someone you love has been mistreated by a nursing home, the compassionate Illinois nursing home abuse attorneys at Schwartz Injury Law are ready to help. To schedule a free, confidential consultation of your case, contact us today by calling 312-535-4625.

Sources:

http://theconsumervoice.org/uploads/files/issues/involuntary-transfer-and-discharge_-final.pdf

https://www.nytimes.com/2018/02/22/business/nursing-home-eviction-regulators.html