When most people think of hospice care, they think of a person in the very last stages of life going home to die in peace and reflection with the comfort of family and friends around them – as the benefit was originally intended. The reality is that many hospice patients spend difficult and agonizing years “dying” in institutional nursing facilities under the profit-driven watch of dispassionate corporations.

Inspector General Warnings About Fraudulent Nursing Homes & Hospices

The Office of Inspector General of the Department of Health & Human Services (HHS-OIG) recognizes and warns that the intersection of nursing facilities and hospice care raises serious concern for fraud and elder abuse. According to a report by HHS-OIG a number of “potentially illegal practices” have been identified in “a hospice’s access to nursing home patients,” including circumstances where “nursing home operators or hospices may request or offer illegal inducements to influence the selection of a hospice.”

Hospice Care in Nursing Homes: the Double-Billing Conundrum

While it may seem counterintuitive that federally and state-funded healthcare would pay a for-profit corporation simultaneously to provide institutional nursing care and hospice care – that is exactly what happens in many cases. For duel-eligible (Medicaid and Medicare) patients who are certified as terminally ill with less than six months to live, corporations are permitted to bill the taxpayers twice: first for 95% or more of the cost of staying in a nursing institution and second for a flat daily rate for hospice care – even on days where no hospice nurse visits the patient. The patients targeted by such arrangements comprise the nation’s most disenfranchised and most vulnerable citizens: the elderly poor, the category of patients who qualify for both Medicare and Medicaid. » Read more: Nursing Homes and For-Profit Hospices: Potential Partners in Crime

Until relatively recently, I was unaware of how rampant elder abuse is within the legal court system. For almost the last two decades, my life has been consumed by helping as many people as I could in a different way than most give help. I have informally counseled and helped thousands of people through the publishing of my book, as well as in private sessions as a medium/psychic. It was not until my good friend started to share her story with me that my eyes were opened to something far more prevalent than I was cognizant of; at least on a conscious level.

I have been privileged to know Diane for over five years. During that span, she has never been anything but helpful, loving and compassionate to everyone. Doing what I do for a living generally makes me able to be a pretty good judge of character. Ironically, it is a judge and his decisions that prompted me to write this article. The choices and attitude he has expressed have been protected by legal statutes. While they might be legal, they are far from moral, ethical or compassionate.

This all began approximately two and a half years ago. Diane’s mother had given her power of attorney and named her the healthcare proxy. Like many families, there were disagreements with the siblings. Diane was being told that her brother and sister wanted to sell their mother’s home and place her in a nursing home. While this elderly woman, Dorothy, had some early dementia and knee problems, she was still a vibrant, cognizant person. She had no interest in being displaced so that those two could have her money. Diane’s family suggested she file for legal guardianship to protect her home and to protect her mother’s life as well. It seemed to make an abundance of sense.

To tell the events of what unfolded quickly is really an injustice to the elder abuse that has incurred since. The siblings contested the petition for guardianship. Instead of reaching a mediated agreement, the judge listening to the case decided he would be better at making decisions for everyone. » Read more: A Heartbreaking Story of Elder Abuse