美国国家公共电台 NPR As Nursing Homes Evict Patients, States Question Motives

 

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People complain about nursing homes a lot - the staffing, the food. The list goes on. But this story is about the top complaint, involuntary discharge - people getting kicked out. NPR's Ina Jaffe covers aging. She brings us this look at two states working to hold nursing homes accountable.

INA JAFFE, BYLINE¹: Maryland Attorney General Brian Frosh says that in his state, more than half of all involuntary discharges have come from just one small chain of nursing homes run by NMS Healthcare.

BRIAN FROSH: Your odds² of getting evicted⁴ from an NMS nursing home are about a hundred times what they are of any other nursing home in the state.

JAFFE: So Maryland is suing NMS for Medicaid fraud, alleging⁵ the company charged the state for services it didn't deliver, specifically discharge planning. Nursing homes are supposed to make sure a resident has a safe place to go. But according to the complaint, NMS sent residents with complex medical needs to a homeless shelter or to unlicensed board-and-care facilities. Frosh says a woman with severe dementia was dropped off in front of her son's home.

FROSH: Her son found her wandering around several hours later when he came home from work.

JAFFE: According to Frosh, the company's motivation was purely⁷ financial. To understand this, you just need to know two things. First, Medicare pays nursing homes a lot more than Medicaid does. But second, Medicare only lasts a hundred days. Frosh claims that NMS evicted hundreds of residents just as they were transitioning from Medicare to the lower-paying Medicaid.

FROSH: We cite emails in the complaint that offer a bounty⁸ for getting patients out quickly. A hundred bucks⁹ is offered for somebody who can make a bed vacant within two hours.

JAFFE: Attorneys for NMS did not make anyone available for an interview. But in court documents, they call the state's charges false, reckless and inflammatory. Now, nationwide complaints about involuntary discharges have risen just slightly, but in Illinois, those complaints have more than doubled over five years, says State Senator Daniel Biss. He sponsored legislation to crack down on nursing homes that improperly¹⁰ discharge residents.

DANIEL BISS: We're seeing nursing homes that have made a financial decision that they would like a certain type of resident.

JAFFE: One that is compliant¹¹ and doesn't require too much staff time. Biss says when a nursing home has a resident who doesn't fit the mold...

BISS: They're able to essentially¹² drop them in the hospital and walk away.

JAFFE: That's what happened to a 57-year-old Chicago man named Vincent Galvan. He thinks he was evicted because he complained too much, starting with the nursing home administration.

VINCENT GALVAN: They didn't pay no attention. So I learned that they had a hotline to call the corporation they belonged to. I called them also, and nothing really happened.

JAFFE: Galvan first went to the nursing home in 2012 after his right leg was amputated. His left side was already messed up from an earlier accident. As he tells it, one day, without warning, the paramedics showed up and took him to a hospital psychiatric unit.

GALVAN: They were actually accusing me of being aggressive and that I was a schizophrenic, that I had manic depression. And none of that was true.

JAFFE: His hospital progress notes confirmed that he did not have a serious mental illness, but the nursing home wouldn't take him back. It took the hospital 102 days to find another nursing home for Galvan. All that time, he remained in the psych ward¹³.

GALVAN: It was crazy. It was really crazy. It was one of the worst experiences of my life.

JAFFE: Now, there are legal reasons to evict³ someone - for example, if a resident is a danger to other people. But in Illinois, even if the nursing home is found to have wrongly discharged someone, the Department of Public Health can't force the nursing home to take the resident back. That's what State Senator Daniel Biss' legislation would change.

BISS: It gives the department the power to order a resident readmitted.

JAFFE: And failure to do that would result in a fine of $250 a day. That could add up quickly, which is why Matt Hartman says it goes too far. He's vice⁶ president for public policy at the Illinois Health Care Association which represents nursing homes. He says that nursing home problems shouldn't be measured by complaints but by verified wrongdoing. And Hartman says raising fines on nursing homes won't help the residents.

MATT HARTMAN: Anything that takes that much money away from resident care and away from staffing and medical equipment is just not the correct approach.

JAFFE: Hartman has been making that argument in negotiations¹⁴ with Illinois lawmakers who could vote on the bill before the end of the year. Ina Jaffe, NPR News.

1 byline   

n.署名；v.署名

参考例句：

• His byline was absent as well.他的署名也不见了。
• We wish to thank the author of this article which carries no byline.我们要感谢这篇文章的那位没有署名的作者。

2 odds   

n.让步，机率，可能性，比率；胜败优劣之别

参考例句：

• The odds are 5 to 1 that she will win.她获胜的机会是五比一。
• Do you know the odds of winning the lottery once?你知道赢得一次彩票的几率多大吗？

3 evict   

vt.驱逐，赶出，撵走

参考例句：

• The lessor can evict the lessee for failure to pay rent.出租人可驱逐不付租金的承租人。
• The government always says it's for the greater good when they evict farmers from their land.当政府把农民从他们的土地赶出去的时候，总是号称是为了更大众的利益。

4 evicted   

v.（依法从房屋里或土地上）驱逐，赶出( evict的过去式和过去分词 )

参考例句：

• A number of tenants have been evicted for not paying the rent. 许多房客因不付房租被赶了出来。
• They had evicted their tenants for non-payment of rent. 他们赶走了未交房租的房客。

5 alleging   

断言，宣称，辩解( allege的现在分词 )

参考例句：

• His reputation was blemished by a newspaper article alleging he'd evaded his taxes. 由于报上一篇文章声称他曾逃税，他的名誉受到损害。
• This our Peeress declined as unnecessary, alleging that her cousin Thornhill's recommendation would be sufficient. 那位贵人不肯，还说不必，只要有她老表唐希尔保荐就够了。

6 vice   

n.坏事；恶习；[pl.]台钳，老虎钳；adj.副的

参考例句：

• He guarded himself against vice.他避免染上坏习惯。
• They are sunk in the depth of vice.他们堕入了罪恶的深渊。

7 purely   

adv.纯粹地，完全地

参考例句：

• I helped him purely and simply out of friendship.我帮他纯粹是出于友情。
• This disproves the theory that children are purely imitative.这证明认为儿童只会单纯地模仿的理论是站不住脚的。

8 bounty   

n.慷慨的赠予物，奖金；慷慨，大方；施与

参考例句：

• He is famous for his bounty to the poor.他因对穷人慷慨相助而出名。
• We received a bounty from the government.我们收到政府给予的一笔补助金。

9 bucks   

n.雄鹿( buck的名词复数 )；钱；（英国十九世纪初的）花花公子；（用于某些表达方式）责任v.（马等）猛然弓背跃起( buck的第三人称单数 )；抵制；猛然震荡；马等尥起后蹄跳跃

参考例句：

• They cost ten bucks. 这些值十元钱。
• They are hunting for bucks. 他们正在猎雄兔。 来自《简明英汉词典》

10 improperly   

不正确地，不适当地

参考例句：

• Of course it was acting improperly. 这样做就是不对嘛！
• He is trying to improperly influence a witness. 他在试图误导证人。

11 compliant   

adj.服从的，顺从的

参考例句：

• I don't respect people who are too compliant.我看不起那种唯命是从，唯唯诺诺的人。
• For years I had tried to be a compliant and dutiful wife.几年来，我努力做一名顺从和尽职尽职的妻子。

12 essentially   

adv.本质上，实质上，基本上

参考例句：

• Really great men are essentially modest.真正的伟人大都很谦虚。
• She is an essentially selfish person.她本质上是个自私自利的人。

13 ward   

n.守卫，监护，病房，行政区，由监护人或法院保护的人（尤指儿童）；vt.守护，躲开

参考例句：

• The hospital has a medical ward and a surgical ward.这家医院有内科病房和外科病房。
• During the evening picnic,I'll carry a torch to ward off the bugs.傍晚野餐时，我要点根火把，抵挡蚊虫。

14 negotiations   

协商( negotiation的名词复数 )； 谈判； 完成（难事）； 通过

参考例句：

• negotiations for a durable peace 为持久和平而进行的谈判
• Negotiations have failed to establish any middle ground. 谈判未能达成任何妥协。