Liam Casey, The Canadian Press
Posted Thursday, May 9, 2024 2:36 pmEDT
Last updated Thursday May 9, 2024 3:53 pmEDT
A southwestern Ontario woman received an $8,400 bill from a hospital in Windsor, Ont., after she refused to put her mother in a nursing home she hated, and she says she has no intention of paying it.
Michele Campeau and her 83-year-old mother, Ruth Poupard, are caught up in a relatively new law that allows hospitals to place discharged patients in nursing homes they have not chosen to free up beds. If patients refuse to move, they face a fine of $400 per day while they remain in the hospital.
The bill came from Hôtel-Dieu Grace Healthcare, where Campeau’s mother remains, with instructions to pay at the register, by phone or online. The hospital billed the family for 21 days in March.
“I will never pay it because the law is not right,” Campeau said. “It’s unfair what they’re trying to do to older people.”
Campeau expects an even larger bill to arrive in the coming weeks to account for all the daily fines that have accumulated throughout April.
“We expect another bill for $12,000 soon,” he said.
On Thursday afternoon, Campeau found out her mother was accepted into the nursing home that was her first choice. She is scheduled to move in next week.
“Then we’ll get another $6,000 bill for May,” he said.
The law that allows hospitals to impose these types of fines (known as the More Beds, Better Care Act or Bill 7) was passed by the Doug Ford government in the fall of 2022 in an effort to open up very necessary.
It is aimed at patients in the so-called alternative level of care who are discharged from the hospital, but need a long-term care bed and do not yet have one.
Hospitals can send patients to nursing homes of their choice up to 70 kilometers away, or up to 150 kilometers away in northern Ontario, if spaces open up there first.
Hôtel-Dieu Grace Healthcare said it cannot comment on Poupard’s case due to patient confidentiality.
The last few years have been difficult for Poupard. Dementia set in, she underwent a heart valve transplant and survived cancer. She moved in with her daughter, who took care of her and became her guardian.
Poupard’s most recent health care journey began shortly after Christmas, when he had hallucinations during the night, fell and broke his hip. Campeau rushed her to the hospital, where she underwent surgery. As part of her recovery, Poupard moved to Hôtel-Dieu Grace Healthcare for her rehabilitation.
On February 21, Poupard recovered to the point where his doctor determined he no longer needed the hospital’s specialized care and discharged him.
Campeau and her brother decided that they alone would not be able to meet their mother’s needs if she returned to live in her daughter’s home.
So the family worked with a placement coordinator at the hospital and put five nursing homes on Poupard’s list. But those were full. Discussions then began about adding more nursing homes to Poupard’s list, under the provisions of the new law.
Campeau agreed to include more nursing homes on her mother’s list, and the coordinator added homes until one appeared with an available spot. Campeau then had 24 hours to visit the nursing home and make a decision.
If she refused to move her mother to that long-term care home in downtown Windsor, the hospital said they would start charging her $400 a day. Campeau said she visited the home and found it “disgusting,” refusing to place her mother there.
Several weeks later, the first bill arrived.
The hospital also charged Poupard a co-pay rate (the rate she would pay in a long-term care home) of $653.20 for 10 days in March before she refused to move into the nursing home.
“I paid it like I did in February, which I’m more than happy to do,” Campeau said of the co-pay. “But I’m not going to pay $400 a day because I didn’t follow her plan to put her in a disgusting house.”
The province said it believes only seven people have been fined under the law and that hospitals are responsible for administering the fines. Health Minister Sylvia Jones said the government cannot reveal how much those patients were charged due to patient confidentiality.
Liberal parliamentary leader John Fraser said he supports Poupard and Campeau’s refusal to foot the bill.
“It’s the right thing to do,” he said. “I think the minister should intervene and try to find a solution.”
The family also has the support of the NDP.
“This is a tragedy,” said NDP Leader Marit Stiles.
Stiles said she is also concerned about all the patients who have already been moved to nursing homes that were not of their choice.
“I’m hearing more and more about vulnerable people having to leave their communities to go far away in search of long-term care beds,” he said. “It’s sad.”
Some 300 patients have been moved to new homes they had not chosen.
Campeau is now in limbo, unclear what will happen to his unpaid bill.
“I have no idea what will happen next,” he said. “I really just want my mom to be in a decent place, that’s all.”
This report by The Canadian Press was first published May 9, 2024.