Nursing Home Sues Resident’s Daughter For $15k

“It won’t happen to me” is something I hear too often from family members of nursing home residents. Neighborhoods are full of stories of families that intentionally (or unintentionally) acted outside the boundaries of Texas Medicaid law and have so far gotten away with it. Nobody talks about the disaster that unfolds when they get caught, and sometimes they do get caught. Let’s take a look at the case of Mrs. Morin and how her daughter ended up getting sued by a nursing home for what many people would consider a relatively small amount of unpaid nursing home bills (I’ve seen much worse bills).

Mrs. Morin was a resident at a nursing home. The Probate Court determined she was unable to manage her assets and appointed her daughter, Mrs. Tracy, as Guardian of the Person and Estate for Mrs. Morin. As a result, Mrs. Tracy was responsible for managing her mother’s assets and accounts and had a legal responsibility towards her mother.

With money running out quickly, Mrs. Tracy applied for Medicaid to help pay for her mother’s nursing home bills.

Unfortunately, Mrs. Tracy took too long and did not act as quick as she should have. As a result of her delay, there was a gap between when her mother’s money ran out and when Medicaid nursing home benefits started paying her mother’s costs.

Unable to receive payment from Mrs. Morin or from Medicaid, the nursing home filed a lawsuit against Mrs. Tracy to recover $15,879.

Mrs. Tracy thought she would never be sued by the nursing home for the relatively small amount of $15,879. She was, and you can be too if the nursing home has any potentially valid theory of liability (usually found in the admission agreement). If you want to avoid mistakes like this that lead to family members being sued for unpaid nursing home bills then speak with a Woodlands Medicaid Attorney today and get on the right track.