GAINESVILLE, Fla., April 14, 2003 (PRIMEZONE) -- Sixteen years ago, Michael Dubois, 35, developed quadriplegia as a result of a diving accident. Today, he does award-winning volunteer work with elementary school children and holds a part-time job at Target Department Store, but is still living in a nursing home.
"For years, I have wanted to get out of the nursing home and be a fully active member of the community. I applied for community-based care services from the State in August 2000, and was put on a waiting list because there was no money," Dubois reports. "It's over two years later and I'm still waiting. No one from the State of Florida has ever told me anything about when I might receive the services that I need to live independently."
On behalf of Dubois and two other named Plaintiffs, Southern Legal Counsel filed a class action lawsuit on April 11, 2003, aimed at obtaining Medicaid-funded, long-term community-based health care services for hundreds of persons in Florida who have suffered traumatic brain or spinal cord injuries.
The lawsuit, filed in the Northern District of Florida, Tallahassee Division, alleges that the segregation, or risk of segregation, of people with traumatic brain or spinal cord injuries in nursing homes in order to receive Medicaid long-term care services, violates the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA), the Rehabilitation Act of 1973, federal Medicaid laws and the U.S. Constitution. In the landmark 1999 Supreme Court case, Olmstead v. L.C., the Court established that the unnecessary segregation and institutionalization of persons with disabilities is a form of discrimination under the ADA.
Andrea Costello, Attorney with Southern Legal Counsel (SLC), is representing the named Plaintiffs and noted, "There are hundreds of persons in the State that are eligible for these services, but have been sitting on a waiting list for years with no end in sight. While they wait, their health and well-being are deteriorating, and soon they will be forced to live in nursing homes, if they aren't having to already. The State is failing to meet its obligation to ensure that people with disabilities can live in the community, rather than having no choice but to live in a nursing home to get the care that they need."
The State of Florida's Brain and Spinal Cord Injury Medicaid Waiver Program was enacted in 1999. Although it is designed to provide home and community based services for eligible persons, due to under funding and poor administration, the State has accumulated a lengthy waiting list of over 226 individuals which continues to grow. The lawsuit alleges that persons are either forced to live in a nursing home, or placed at risk of having to do so, in order to receive the medical care that they need. The Complaint also alleges that individuals on the waiting list are not informed of their rights as required by the federal Medicaid laws and the U.S. Constitution.
Although the government claims that a lack of funding is to blame, the State admits that home- and community-based care costs significantly less than institutional care. For example, Florida's Agency for Health Care Administration reported that in 2002 the yearly per-client cost of non-institutional care was an average of only $21,500. Institutional care was estimated at $36,400 per year. The State would actually save money by providing care to these individuals in the community, rather than in institutions.
In addition to Ms. Costello, Peter P. Sleasman, also an attorney with SLC, is co-counsel in the case. SLC is a public interest law firm founded in 1977. SLC is committed to the ideal of equal justice for all and litigates cases to achieve systemic reform in the areas of disability rights, civil rights and poverty law. For more information about SLC's cases and history, visit: www.southernlegal.org
Jane Perkins, Legal Director of the National Health Law Program (NHeLP) is also serving as co-counsel in the case. NHeLP is a non-profit public interest law firm that works to improve access to health care for low-income persons, the working poor, people with disabilities and children. For more information, visit: www.healthlaw.org
Ms. Costello is an Equal Justice Works fellow placed with SLC for a two-year period to work on litigation to increase access to home and community based services for people with disabilities and the elderly. Her fellowship is funded through the Florida Bar Foundation and Equal Justice Works, the nation's largest organization dedicated to creating opportunities for public interest lawyers and providing legal services for those typically shut out of the justice system. For more information, visit: www.equaljusticeworks.org
Equal Justice Works, formerly the National Association for Public Interest Law (NAPIL), leads the country in organizing, training and supporting public service-minded law students and in creating summer and postgraduate public interest jobs. Through more than eight million dollars in annual donations from prestigious law firms, corporations and foundations, Equal Justice Works funds law students and lawyers in programs that bring justice to millions of low-income persons and families.