NC Hospital sues for trespassing an 18 year old quadriplegic effectively raised in the hospital for refusing to go into a nursing home in another state

[Jwheel86]

A hospital is suing a quadriplegic 18-year-old to make her go to a nursing home

WWW.NPR.ORG

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A young North Carolina woman has refused to go to a nursing home in another state. While she wants to leave the hospital, she asks to live in her own home, close to family and her school.

 

Cliff notes:

• Quad since she was a young child in a car accident, raised by her grand father until she was 13.
• Has been in the hospital since she was 13 years old.
• She's graduated high school with a high GPA and has been admitted to a small liberal arts college in her home town.
• Hospital wants send her to a nursing home out of state away from family. 
• Hospital threatened to not let her return if she left to attend her high school graduation, a judge had to issue a order letting her attend graduation.

[CitizenVectron]

Fuck hospital administrators.

[TUFKAK]

5 minutes ago, CitizenVectron said:

Fuck hospital administrators.

Hospitals shouldn’t be long term care solutions, I just have no clue what a feasible option here is.

[Slug]

It sucks, but I kinda get where the hospital is coming from.  She's been occupying an ICU room for going on 5 years.

 

"...a nursing home it found in Virginia after no nursing home in North Carolina would take her."

 

^^^ Why won't places in NC take her?  I wasn't clear on this.  It seems like payment isn't a problem.

[CitizenVectron]

38 minutes ago, Slug said:

It sucks, but I kinda get where the hospital is coming from.  She's been occupying an ICU room for going on 5 years.

 

"...a nursing home it found in Virginia after no nursing home in North Carolina would take her."

 

^^^ Why won't places in NC take her?  I wasn't clear on this.  It seems like payment isn't a problem.

 

If I had to guess, because there simply aren't enough beds/rooms? Long-term care is basically maxed out continent-wide right now...it's going to be a disaster over the next 10-20 years as boomers all start needing places to go.

[Jwheel86]

1 hour ago, Slug said:

It sucks, but I kinda get where the hospital is coming from.  She's been occupying an ICU room for going on 5 years.

 

"...a nursing home it found in Virginia after no nursing home in North Carolina would take her."

 

^^^ Why won't places in NC take her?  I wasn't clear on this.  It seems like payment isn't a problem.

 

28 minutes ago, CitizenVectron said:

 

If I had to guess, because there simply aren't enough beds/rooms? Long-term care is basically maxed out continent-wide right now...it's going to be a disaster over the next 10-20 years as boomers all start needing places to go.

 

It's this. Likely contributing is they couldn't find a nursing home in NC that's contracted with NC Medicaid, a problem that's going get worse as states (which NC has ~90% completed) privatize their Medicaid programs with much more limited networks of providers (NC Medicaid has gone from basically one easy state ran fee for service model to 6 different private plans each requiring contract negotiations with providers, that'll be increasing to 10 different plans this summer, as a result a bunch of big providers are refusing to sign with all 10).

 

The demographic cliff is already hitting, untrained caregivers are already demanding $20-$25/hr starting wage and I don't think $30-$40 is going to be crazy in the next decade. All that boomer wealth is going to be sucked up by long term care costs. 

 

2 hours ago, TUFKAK said:

Hospitals shouldn’t be long term care solutions, I just have no clue what a feasible option here is.

 

In her case the best option would be Medicaid Private Duty Nursing combined with a Medicaid Home and Community Based Services waiver living in a college dorm. That'll give her the skills to manage her independence while surrounded by college kids who can jump in to help. That's basically what the Muscular Dystrophy community does along with older quads. 

[TUFKAK]

That’s fine in theory but how’s it paid for? What providers are gonna do it? It’s like saying my ER needs more nurses when nobody is applying and nobody is staying.

[Jwheel86]

5 minutes ago, TUFKAK said:

That’s fine in theory but how’s it paid for? What providers are gonna do it? It’s like saying my ER needs more nurses when nobody is applying and nobody is staying.

 

Same payer that's covered her hospital stay, Medicaid. That's a huge issue and if it isn't addressed the acute care hospitals are going to be the long term care providers of last resort. This girl's care in the hospital likely cost NC Medicaid several million dollars over 5 years. The money is there, and the service models within Medicaid are there, the trick is untethering it from the most expensive service models while drastically raising rates for those community based service models to get the work force. Maybe I'm wrong but I'm betting that hospital nurses would rather do Private Duty Nursing and CNA in nursing homes would rather do home care. The problem is wages and benefits are under the community models. 

[CitizenVectron]

At this point I fully expect that we will drain the Philippines of 50% of their pop over the next 20 years just to fuel long-term nursing and care needs.

[Remarkableriots]

A hospital is suing to move a quadriplegic 18-year-old to a nursing home. She says no

WWW.NPR.ORG

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The young North Carolina woman has refused to go to a nursing home in another state. While she wants to leave the hospital, she asks to live in her own home...