Evicted Hospital Patient To Lose Home

KTVU 2 - Fox ^ | 10/8/7

[SmithL]

SAN ANSELMO, Calif. -- The home of a woman who refused to leave her hospital bed will be auctioned Tuesday to pay for the cost of her 14-month stay.

Kaiser Permanente patient Sarah Nome racked up a $1.4 million dollar bill when she refused to leave her hospital bed for more than a year, arguing she couldn't walk and it was the health-maintenance organization's responsibility to find her an appropriate care facility.

She'd been admitted after she broke both her legs while living alone.

A Marin County judge eventually put the now 84-year-old woman in the county's care. She was transferred to a Lafayette Convalescent Hospital in Contra Costa County in March 2005.

The value of the house hasn't yet been determined because officials haven't had access to it, but the property is believed to be in poor shape.

Kaiser had to spend substantial time and money just to pay mortgage bills and prevent foreclosure while legal proceedings were pending, Kaiser's attorney said.

[CodeToad]

I am totally baffled how such an organization could allow this to continue for as long as it has.

[muawiyah]

Kaiser-Permanente obtained it's permit to mail at the special (nonprofit) rates of postage on the basis that they would provide medical aid to people even if they weren't members.

That meant "free medical assistance" BTW.

Someday somebody's going to take this and other stories like it and approach USPS with the idea that KP's qualification for special rates is long over and time to pay up!

[ClearCase_guy]

Under Hillarycare, I believe that it would be my house that would be auctioned off to pay this woman’s bill.

[Tennessee_Bob]

Under Hillarycare, I believe that it would be my house that would be auctioned off to pay this woman’s bill.

Your house, your first born child, and any royalties they could get from the use of your name.

[George from New England]

Can’t happen here in Florida. Your home is your castle and no medical conglomerate can take it.

[Red Badger]

Until they pass a law.............

[Kozak]

Can’t happen here in Florida. Your home is your castle and no medical conglomerate can take it.

So Kaiser owe's the woman a permanent bed in a hospital, is that it? So don't bitch about the cost of healthcare, ever.

And that "your home is your castle law" sure worked out great for a scumbag named OJ. Lovely. Screw people over and retreat to your "castle".

[iowamark]

I doubt that very much. If you go to a nursing home permaneantly and have no assets to pay for it besides your home, are you going to be able to keep your home?

[isrul]

Some day you may hear “all your homes are belong to us.”

[goldstategop]

I doubt Kaiser will recoup the costs from the sale of the home.

"Show me just what Mohammed brought that was new, and there you will find things only evil and inhuman, such as his command to spread by the sword the faith he preached." - Manuel II Palelologus

[weegee]

First thing to disappear will be private medical practice.
Next thing to disappear will be private property.
Next thing to disappear will be political dissidents.

Just like Russia. What a country!

[IronJack]

A Marin County judge eventually put the now 84-year-old woman in the county's care Bay.

[Publius6961]

I can totally understand this apparent contradiction.
At a certain age (not the same for everyone), older people become irrational to the point of self-destruction.
Being faced with a similar problem currently with an older relative, I am convinced it's a lose/lose situation. I have been driven to paralysis between doing what is right for her ealth and comfort and enrage her, or doing what is possible and allowing her to spend her few remaining years in self-imposed misery.

[weegee]

But it’ll make others think twice before running up a bill...

[Publius6961]

I doubt Kaiser will recoup the costs from the sale of the home.

In San Anselmo? Sure they will. If not entirely, it will be close.

Remember, that total cited total bill includes at least a 50% inflated "cost" to take care of undocumented aliens (literally), and Marin County was, for the longest time, the highest housing cost in the entire US of A...

[SmithL]

Nonsense! This has absolutely nothing to do with her membership status.

She made a conscious decision to abandon her home and move into hospital instead. She deserves absolutely no sympathy.

[JDoutrider]

Bet they do...

San Anselmo is nestled in the Ross Valley of Marin County...

A cardboard box pitched on a small lot there could be worth MUCHO dinero...

[untrained skeptic]

So you're saying she shouldn't have to pay for medical care, and the rest of us should have to pay for it?

It is very likely that the reason she refused to leave the hospital is because she didn't have any money to pay for extended care somewhere else, so it really didn't effect her that the hospital bed cost several times what a bed in a more appropriate facility would cost.

She is unable to care for herself, and she apparently had no savings, or medical coverage for long term care. So she just stayed in the hospital because she is ENTITLED to have someone pay for her care.

[dit_xi]

Here’s a basic question, where are her family? It is sad that many people in our society shirk the responsibility of caring for their elderly parents.