Threat of eviction silences complaints.
South Florida Sun-Sentinel.com has an article from Violette King, president of Nursing Home Monitors, a non-profit, all-volunteer advocacy group for nursing home safety about improper discharges and evictions of residents from nursing homes. She encourages the media to put a spotllight on the injustices that occur daily in nursing homes throughout the country because the exposure will hurt the profits and therefore will deter bad behavior.
Long-term care facilities spend a lot of money to make sure that their beds are full. They know very well that bad publicity translates into the anathema of empty beds. Legislation to require facilities to give a reason for discharge should be spurred on by the media to add more protective measures. Legislators are under immense pressure from the many long-term care lobbyists who swarm their offices.
Involuntarily discharging a resident can lead to serious setbacks and even death from what is known as "transfer trauma." There are only three acceptable reasons for evicting a resident: The facility can no longer meet the resident's needs, the resident or Medicaid has failed to pay the bill, or the resident is a danger to him/herself or to others. The burden of proof should always be on the facility to prove its case, which should be done at a proper hearing where legal assistance is provided for residents who cannot afford an attorney.
Good profits and lack of oversight lead to far too many unscrupulous characters going into the nursing home industry. When a resident or the family complain about needs that are not met as agreed, the facility all too often asks them to leave. Threat of eviction has a chilling, silencing effect on families who usually have no other choice for placement.
