ATTORNEY NEWSLETTER
Senior citizens in nursing home can leave a California nursing home or skilled nursing facility of their own volition. Or they can be illegally evicted, something California nursing homes and skilled nursing facilities do far too often. Senior citizens and elderly residents may be evicted in one of two ways:
- Inform the seniors they have to leave because their Medicare coverage is/will end and there are not enough long term care beds to house them; or
- Refusal to readmit a senior after hospitalization, effectively leaving the senior citizen in the hospital.
Aside from the obvious, there are multiple problems with these reasons by nursing homes and skilled nursing facilities reasoning. First, every bed in a nursing home or skilled nursing facility is a long term care bed. After all, nursing homes and skilled nursing facilities were designed with the prospect of long term care of elderly in mind.
Second, a senior citizen’s Medicare coverage running out is not a valid reason for nursing homes and skilled nursing facilities to evict the resident. California nursing homes and skilled nursing facilities are also required to provide the seniors with 30 day advance written notice of eviction and notice of the right to appeal.
Finally, California nursing homes and skilled nursing facilities are required to hold onto a resident’s bed for up to seven days while the senior is in the hospital. If the senior is in the hospital for longer than seven days, the senior citizen has a right to return to the California nursing home or skilled nursing facility. If a California nursing home or skilled nursing facility refuses to readmit the senior, the senior may request a readmission hearing with the state Department of Health Care Services (DHCS) and obtain an order to be readmitted. Unfortunately, even this may not be enough because nursing homes and skilled nursing facilities may ignore the order and the DHCS has no compliance enforcement authority.
Nonetheless, senior citizens and the elderly have one last venue for readmission – file a petition in court and obtain a court order. Although the likelihood of obtaining a court order is slim, the resident may still claim money damages and, by pursuing such claims in court, hold the nursing homes or skilled nursing facilities accountable for their actions.
If you or someone you know has been a victim of nursing home or skilled nursing facility abuse, contact The Evans Law Firm, Inc. for a free and confidential consultation via email at info@evanslaw.com or by phone at 415-441-8669. The Evans Law Firm handles physical and financial elder abuse, personal injury, banking/insurance fraud, consumer fraud class actions, and qui tam (whistleblower/false claims) litigation.
