The state must take some 45 people with brain injuries and other disabilities off a waiting list, and provide them help to live at home. That was the decision handed down thursday by a federal judge in a class-action lawsuit against the state. NHPR?s Trish Anderton reports.
THE LAWSUIT WAS BROUGHT BY PEOPLE WHO BECAME ILL OR BRAIN-INJURED AS ADULTS, AND HAVE A HARD TIME LIVING ON THEIR OWN. MANY ARE NOW IN INSTITUTIONS LIKE NURSING HOMES OR PSYCHIATRIC HOSPITALS, BUT WITH SPECIALIZED SERVICES THEY COULD LIVE IN ORDINARY HOMES. SHEILA ZAKRE IS A STAFF ATTORNEY FOR THE DISABILITIES RIGHTS CENTER IN CONCORD. SHE SAYS IT?S UNFAIR TO CONSIGN SUCH PEOPLE TO AN INSTITUTION.
003 00 everyone in our class is people who were involved in the community, who had active lives, and since acquring a brain disorder their lives have been restricted, especially if they?ve been living in nursing home
THE STATE DOES HAVE A SPECIAL MEDICAID PROGRAM TO HELP PEOPLE LIVE IN THE COMMUNITY. BUT THERE?S A WAITING LIST TO GET INTO THE PROGRAM. IN HIS RULING,
U-S DISTRICT COURT JUDGE STEVEN MCAULIFFE RULED THAT?S A VIOLATION OF FEDERAL MEDICAID RULES, AND HE ORDERED THE STATE TO TAKE PEOPLE OFF THE LIST WITHIN A YEAR. AGAIN, SHEILA ZAKRE.
The court said medicaid requires that services be provided with reasonable promptness; people had been waiting up to 7 years; that?s not reasonably prompt. //So its wonderful for people who?ve been waiting and wating without services.
ONE OF THE ORIGINAL PLAINTIFFS IN THE CASE WAS CLAIRE SHEPARDSON OF NASHUA. SHEPARDSON MOVED INTO A NURSING HOME IN HER TWENTIES WHEN MUSCULAR DYSTROPHY MADE IT TOO HARD TO LIVE ON HER OWN. SHE SPENT MORE THAN TWO DECADES THERE, LONGING TO GET OUT. IN JUNE SHE GOT OFF THE WAITING LIST AND MOVED INTO A HOUSE OF HER OWN. SHEPARDSON USES A WHEELCHAIR AND HAS A FULL-TIME PERSONAL ATTENDANT. SHE?S REVELING IN ALL THE ACTIVITIES OF NORMAL LIFE.
005 00 I can do whatever I want here. Its my own place, I can get up when I want, go to bed when I want, I can go places I want to go. // thanksgiving I had my family here, 23 people. I couldn?t do that before
STATE OFFICIALS SAY THEY WANT TO PROVIDE OPTIONS FOR PEOPLE LIKE CLAIRE SHEPARDSON, BUT THEY NEED MORE MONEY TO DO IT. JOHN WALLACE IS NEW HAMPSHIRE?S ASSOCIATE COMMISSIONER OF HEALTH AND HUMAN SERVICES. HE SAYS THE DEPARTMENT HAS BEEN MAKING HEADWAY, WITH THE HELP OF AN EXTRA MILLION DOLLARS APPROPRIATED BY THE LEGISLATURE LST YEAR.
we had been making substantial progress at whittling down the size of the wait list. We were moving in that direction, we just don?t have resources to go the rest of the way.
WALLACE ESTIMATES IT WILL COST A MILLION DOLLARS A YEAR TO SERVE EVERYONE ON THE LIST; THAT NUMBER WOULD GO UP IF MORE PEOPLE COME FORWARD. AND THERE ARE LIKELY TO BE MORE LAWSUITS ON THE WAY. THERE?S A SEPARATE WAITING LIST OF PEOPLE WITH DEVELOPMENTAL DISABILITIES WHO NEED SERVICES. THAT CASE COULD INVOLVE HUNDREDS OF PEOPLE. WALLACE SAYS THE STATE HAS NOT YET DECIDED WHETHER TO APPEAL THE U-S DISTRICT COURT?S RULING. FOR NHPR NEWS I?M
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