Suit accuses FL of trapping sick, disabled kids in nursing homes

[superpatriotman]

http://www.sun-sentinel.com/health/fl-kids-in-nursing-homes-20120314,0,38039.story

The state needlessly and illegally warehouses about 250 severely sick and disabled children in nursing homes rather than pay to help them live at home, families said in a federal lawsuit filed this week.

The denial of home-care services has left the children stuck for years in institutions designed for end-of-life care, even when families want to bring their children home, the suit says. A second group of families filed a separate suit saying 3,300 at-risk children living at home fear a lack of services will send them to nursing homes.

Florida is violating the Americans with Disabilities Act and other federal laws that require state Medicaid programs to offer many services – including home nurses – to keep people in the least restrictive setting, such as at home, foster care or group homes, the suits said.

A spokeswoman for the Agency for Health Care Administration, which runs Florida's Medicaid program, declined to comment. Officials at the state Department of Health, which oversees many of the children, could not be contacted immediately for comment.

[avaistheone1]

1. Florida treats children extremely poorly

in their court systems too.

The conditions for children there border on a third-world country.

Shame. Shame. Shame.

[jillan]

2. .....

I have a daughter with special needs.
These stories make my stomach turn inside out.

[Smilo]

3. We really shouldn't be surprised....

just look at who the governor is how he fraudulently got his money.