Fraud and eviction led to death
The Daily Journal of New Jersey had an article about a lawsuit filed against a facility that intentionally misled a resident by promising she could remain in the facility after she depleted her substantial personal savings, and then threatening her with eviction when she did.
The family of the late May Elizabeth Hunish contends in the complaint that the threat of eviction from Maurice House was a factor in her death soon after she received the notice in June 2007. The lawsuit echos the findings of an 18-month investigation by the state Office of the Public Advocate. The results prove that Assisted Living Concepts Inc. involuntarily discharged or threatened with discharge from the company's facilities several elderly residents like Hunish when they drained their personal savings and became eligible for Medicaid.
Wisconsin-based Assisted Living Concepts operates Maurice House and seven other assisted living facilities in New Jersey.
Ronald Chen, state public advocate, said that administrators at the facilities "failed to inform and misled some residents" about their policy for accepting Medicaid. Chen said the problem was caused by a change in corporate policy at the company in 2006, in which it sought to increase profits by reducing its number of Medicaid residents.
The lawsuit was filed in state Superior Court on behalf of Todd and Warren Buirch, the executors of Hunish's estate. Todd Buirch is Hunish's grandson and Warren Buirch is her son. The lawsuit accuses Assisted Living Concepts of consumer fraud, breach of contract and negligence. The lawsuit contends that officials at Maurice House made verbal promises to Hunish's family that she could remain in the facility once she depleted her personal savings and became eligible for Medicaid. But after Hunish did become eligible for Medicaid in March 2007 by spending her savings of $150,000, the facility informed her family that she'd have to move into an apartment at Maurice House with another resident or leave the facility. Two months later, Hunish slipped and fell while she was unattended in her bathroom at Maurice House, shattering her femur. While she was hospitalized, her family told her about a discharge notice issued by Maurice House to her on June 12.
"She grew increasingly distraught and her will to live decreased," the lawsuit contends. "She constantly cried and expressed that life was no longer worth living."
Hunish died on June 16, 2007. She was 84.
Todd Buirch said in an interview Monday his family filed the lawsuit "to prevent any other parents or grandparents from having to go through this with Assisted Living Concepts. It's not about money; it's about stopping this. We want to change the way they do business. We don't want to see any more people being evicted."
