The US Department of Justice has launched a civil rights lawsuit against Florida, accusing the state of treating vulnerable children with “deliberate indifference”, by “unnecessarily segregating” them from their families.
The grievance, filed on Monday, says that nearly 200 minors —
many of whom need round-the-clock observation – remain cooped up
in institutions (often geriatric nursing homes) as financial and
bureaucratic constraints prevent them from receiving sufficient
care in the community.
“As a result of the state’s actions and inaction, the state
has forced some families to face the cruel choice of fearing for
their child’s life at home or placing their child in a nursing
facility,” said the DOJ statement.
The legal proceedings follow informal consultations last year,
which the DOJ says Florida willfully ignored, placing it in
violation of the Americans with Disabilities Act, which prevents
discrimination against the disabled, and entitles them to life in
their communities.
Community care is generally more expensive than institutional
care, and the Tea Party-led Florida legislature has cut its state
healthcare budget every year since 2011 in real terms.
The removal of community provisions appears to be a calculated
policy. $6 million was recently slashed from the state
private-duty nursing policy, while the amount of money the state
budget provides for institutional care has gone up to $550 per
day. The number of children in nursing homes is now 50 per cent
higher than ten years ago.
And the DOJ believes the policy goes beyond money.
“The state’s screening and transition planning processes have
been plagued with deficiencies. Some children have spent
years in a nursing facility before receiving screening required
under federal law to determine whether they actually need to be
in a nursing facility.”
In 2011 Republican governor Rick Scott rejected a $40 million
federal grant “specifically to support individuals
transitioning from nursing facilities and other institutional
settings to the community.”
In the eyes of the Department of Justice, Florida’s policies have
resulted in egregious outcomes for the “fragile” minors,
who commonly suffer from developmental disorders and traumatic
brain injuries.
“In one instance, the state cut one child’s in-home health
care in half. Her family could not safely provide care
themselves to make up for this reduction in services, and they
felt they had no choice but to place her in a nursing home.
Another child who entered a nursing facility as a young child
spent almost six years in a facility before the state completed
her federally mandated screening,” says the DOJ.
Elizabeth Dudek, who was appointed by Scott in 2011 to head the
Florida Agency for Health Care Administration, which manages the
state Medicaid program, has batted away the DOJ claims. She says
the state has “made improvements”, and accused the
Department of Justice of making a power grab.
“Washington is not interested in helping families improve but
instead is determined to file disruptive lawsuits with the goal
of taking over control and operation of Florida’s Medicaid and
disability programs,” said Dudek’s statement released on
Monday.
In the past four years, the Department of Justice has filed
lawsuits against 11 different states, accusing them of
discrimination against the disabled.
Republished with permission from: RT