Hawaii Nursing Home Abandons Resident at Local Hospital
Florence Ko and Maria Tseu
Florence Ko had no idea she was being evicted from Nu'uanu Hale, a Honolulu nursing home, or why. On Decemer 17, 2008 - only one week before Christmas, she returned from physical therapy and found her personal belongings piled on a gurney and people cleaning her room. Ko, who is 81 years old and confined to a wheelchair due to polio-related ailments, had nowhere to go. The nursing home apparently did not care - they dropped Ms. Ko off at Straub Clinic & Hospital's Emergency Room wearing only a hospital gown and left. She had less than $3 in her purse and had only a cell phone - without a charger. Her belongings were placed under a tarp outside the facility, where members of Ms. Ko's church retrieved them later.
Ms. Ko, who had been a resident of the facility since July 2007, was caught in the middle of a financial tug-of-war between the facility and Medicaid. While she received a regular income from Social Security and an annuity, the amount was not enough to cover her nursing home costs. Family members tried to get Medicaid to cover her long-term bills, but her application had been rejected twice. Her application for Medicaid was affected by her former home, which had been demolished in 2007. The property, valued at more than $1 million, remains in a family trust, but is deeded to Ms. Ko's daughter. Ms. Ko thought her financial situation was going to be resolved, but the caseworker assigned to her recently was laid off and apparently she fell through the bureaucratic cracks.
The facility alleges that Ms. Ko's family stopped paying the bill. The facility Administrator, Gayle Lau, said the facility was cooperating with investigators, but cautioned the Honolulu Advertiser about writing a story about the incident stating "It is one-sided at this point."
The Department of Human Services called the drop-off inappropriate and was referring the matter to the Department of Health, which is the licensing agency for Hawaiian nursing homes. Nu'uanu Hale received one out of five stars on the new rating system instituted by The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid, which is the poorest rating available.
