Watch: How Nursing Homes Put Friends and Families on the Hook for Residents’ Debts
Barbara Robinson was simply attempting to assist her mom’s pal join Medicaid and transfer into the Monroe County nursing dwelling in Rochester, New York. However as a result of Robinson signed the admissions type, the nursing dwelling thought-about her financially accountable for the lady’s care, Anna Werner reported for CBS News. After the lady died, the county sued Robinson for $21,000 in unpaid payments.
This report was accomplished in partnership with a KHN-NPR investigation of America’s medical debt crisis. Noam N. Levey, KHN senior correspondent, wrote about Lucille Brooks, one other lady sued by Monroe County, this time over her brother’s nursing dwelling invoice.
Pursuing unpaid payments, nursing houses throughout Rochester have been routinely suing not solely residents however their mates and households, a KHN evaluate of court docket information reveals. In most of these circumstances, the individuals sued didn’t have an legal professional. In almost a 3rd, the nursing houses received default judgments as a result of the defendants by no means responded.
Shopper attorneys in California, Illinois, Kentucky, Massachusetts, New York, and Ohio instructed KHN they commonly see such lawsuits towards household and mates.
Choose Debra Martin dismissed the case towards Robinson. She admonished the county, saying its case, introduced with out documentation, “doesn’t meet the naked minimal necessities.”
Brooks is now within the clear, too, after the county dropped its case towards her.
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