A colleague recently reported a situation where a family member (a son) signed numerous papers at the nursing home in order to begin the process of admitting his mother to the home. The son had a "power of attorney" (POA) to sign the admission papers on his mother's behalf.
Buried in the stack of "standard paperwork" was a "guarantee of payment" for his Mom's nursing home bill. The problem: he signed so many papers that day that he failed to sign it as POA for his mom. Instead, he inadvertantly signed it in his own name. You can guess what happens from here: Mom dies, there is an outstanding nursing home bill, and now the nursing home is threatening to sue him unless he pays the outstanding balance for his Mom's care!!
WHAT PAPERS ARE YOU EXPECTED TO SIGN FOR ADMISSION TO A NURSING HOME OR ASSISTED LIVING CENTER?
Let's set aside the legalities of enforcing this "guarantee of payment" for the moment. The real problem here is the dizzying amount of paperwork that nursing homes and assisted living centers require the resident or legal representative to sign before admission. Some of it is standard, but there are many other documents that are one sided, and even strip the resident of important legal rights.
Some of the standard paperwork includes:
Medicare Secondary Payor Questionnaires;
HIPAA Privacy Notices;
Resident Handbook;
Facility Admission Agreement; and
Numerous other financial papers and documents regarding payment.
In a recent Ohio case I litigated, the "Resident's Handbook" was twenty pages long, and the "Facility Admission Agreement" was a whopping fifty pages! Now let's put all this paperwork into context. Mom or Dad are going to the nursing home for a reason: they're either sick or frail and traditional treatment or livng at home is no longer an option. The decision to place a loved one in a home or center can be an emotionally wrenching one. Frequently, time is of the essence because of arbitrary hospital discharge rules or the limited availibility of nursing home beds.
So in the rush to get Mom or Dad in a nursing home (if you're even lucky enough to have the luxury to investigate more than one home), what exactly are you signing? In the case I handled, buried in the "Facility Admission Agreement was a "Limitation Of Liability Agreement." In this "agreement," the resident agreed to give up the right to sue in court if injured, and also agreed to waive the right to a jury trial. Also included was a mandatory arbitration agreement, and here's the real kicker: the resident agreed to a compensation cap of $100,000 for any injuries, and a waiver of any potential punitive damages.
The resident in this case was injured by nurses aides who eventually were charged with criminal patient neglect. We ignored the "agreement" and sued anyway and were able to resolve the case (note, however, that The Ohio Supreme Court has upheld these one sided "agreements" under certain circumstances).
The family member who signed all these papers gave a familiar answer:
"We were asked to sign all these papers and nobody went over them with us.
"We were told we had to sign them right away so Dad could be admitted."
"They had me sign so many papers I have no idea what I signed."
This is frequently the "business model" nursing homes employ to get residents into beds AND chop down the resident's legal rights. It is a model that takes advantage of vulnerable families making painful and often sad decisions.
PROTECTING YOUR LOVED ONE (AND POSSIBLY YOURSELF)IN THE MAZE OF PAPERWORK
There is one sure way to protect yourself from all this mess. Ask the facility for some time to take the paperwork home and digest all the information. Twenty four to forty eight hours time to read paperwork, often in excess of a hundred pages, without the pressure of "sign this as soon as possible"--is a reasonable request. After all, if the nursing home/assisted living center is above board, what should they have to hide? If they won't allow this simple request, it may be a sign of things to come: that they value their "business model" above all else--including patient care.
Regarding the "guarantee of payment" the son signed, it is of doubtful validity in Ohio, and I do not think the nursing home will be able to enforce it. But he is now probably looking at hiring an attorney to defend him in a lawsuit if the nursing home sues him for the debt. All the more reason to proceed methodically and take the time to know what your signing...or giving away.
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