Despite federal laws limiting the eviction of nursing home patients, difficult patients who suffer dementia or have guardians who are critical of care at the home find themselves turned away, according to elder law advocates.
The Seattle Times reports in "Nursing homes turn to eviction to drop difficult patients" federal data support the claims by the advocates who cite the fact that complaints to the Long Term Care Ombudsman Project are up 57% since 2000.
This is a big problem for nursing home residents and their families because most of the time there are few other options for the evicted residents other than staying in a hospital.
While residents have the right to appeal the evictions it is costly to do so. Sometimes, even when the resident wins the appeal, government agencies still do not require the nursing home to take the resident back.
To make matters worse, nursing homes found to have acted improperly are rarely, if ever, punished or fined.
Nursing homes themselves disagree with the advocates.
The American Care Association claims that the evictions are proper, but does agree that a national policy discussion is necessary to come to terms with the increasing number of nursing home residents who are difficult to care for.
An elder law attorney can guide you should you have any concerns.
Reference: Seattle Times (May 8, 2016) "Nursing homes turn to eviction to drop difficult patients"