Long-term care facilities are in the business of taking in people that require high levels of assistance and providing them with a stable environment for their final years. However, not all patients are the same and a new trend has emerged which sees time intensive and high maintenance patients being evicted. This is done, in no small part, to open up beds for individuals who require less attention and, as a result, cost less money to care for. Those targeted for eviction tend to be suffering from disorders that require high levels of care such as dementia. In addition, residents with family members that are viewed as difficult also tend to be targeted since they often request additional service and attention compared to others. As a result of this eviction trend, advocacy groups are calling for overhauls to state and federal law which dictate the circumstances under which a patient may be forced out of a facility. Until then, however, long-term care facilities will continue to have great leeway when it comes to choosing who gets to stay and who needs to go.
See Matt Sedensky, Nursing homes turn to eviction to drop difficult patients, The Seattle Times, May 8, 2016.
