Wednesday, May 28, 2014

Why People Hate Government

From the New York Daily News: A Harlem woman has been hit with a whopping $11.67 million medical bill from a state institution she says killed her mentally disabled brother.
Shaniece Luke, 39, said her jaw dropped when she received the bill from the state Office for People with Developmental Disabilities.
“I thought it was ridiculous. I couldn’t believe it!” Luke told the Daily News Wednesday.
She and her lawyers contend the astronomical bill is in retaliation for filing a wrongful death lawsuit against the agency and the Queens developmental center where her brother, Rasheen Rose, died in 2012.
“It has to be,” Luke said. “But they were the ones who killed my brother.”
The notarized bill, sent to Rose’s estate in March, was for paid Medicaid assistance from August 2002 up to Rose’s death. The state agency is demanding to be paid the staggering amount if Luke prevails in her suit and is awarded punitive damages.
Rose, 33, who was born with severe autism and was never able to communicate verbally, died on Aug. 6, 2012 at the Bernard Fineson Developmental Center in Queens Village.
The city medical examiner ruled the death a homicide in December 2012, citing evidence that Rose died from injuries caused by being physically restrained.
Luke’s attorneys said their investigation showed that the 5-foot-7, 175-pound Rose was restrained in a dangerous prone position for up to 30 minutes by three staffers, including a 275-pound worker who sat on him.
“He was basically crushed to death,” DePass said.
Read more: http://www.nydailynews.com/new-york/queens/family-killed-disabled-man-11m-bill-article-1.1808713#ixzz335FYnYjX
I used to work in state institutions and other institutions (work I said, not live) and for the workers to take down this guy in this manner, especially 3 of them, just is inexcusable.  There are other ways to calm a resident down, including time out rooms, medication, behavior interventions etc.
And then to send the family a bill for $11,670,000 when it doesn't cost that much to house the guy, unless he lived to age 200.

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