Nursing homes are supposed to be places that will take care of people who are otherwise unable to care for themselves. One would assume that means homes have to take patients in varying states of health ranging from those who need a minimal amount of assistance to those that require round the clock attention. But the reality is that a nursing home does not have to take any patient even if the person had previously been a resident that had briefly departed for treatment elsewhere. In such situations a patient, and their family, may face few options when it comes to getting back into a facility. State law usually dictates the readmission requirement for nursing homes and those laws can be complex to work through without professional assistance. But in some states, such as California, the regulatory system is split between entities with the group that rules on admission not having the power to enforce a ruling. This can result in a person being denied the right to go back to what became their end of life home despite following the regulatory requirements for readmission. Due to the vast number of retirees that will soon enter the assisted living system it is imperative states take action to address this issue, and others, so the rights of the infirm are not infringed at a time when a human is most vulnerable.
See Anna Gorman, The Agonizing Limbo of Abandoned Nursing Home Residents, Next Avenue, March 4, 2016.
Special thanks to Brian Cohan (Attorney at Law, Law Offices of Brian J. Cohan, P.C.) for bringing this article to my attention.
