Southeast ADA Center
2021
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Ivanka Talevski, on behalf of her husband, Gorgi Talevski, sued Valparaiso Care and Rehabilitation, the Health and Hospital Corporation of Marion County, and American Senior Communities, LLC. Talevski claimed the facility violated 42 U.S.C. §1983 and the Federal Nursing Home Reform Act (FNHRA).
Ms. Talevski believed her husband’s medical provider, Valparaiso Care, violated the FNHRA when it gave him powerful and unnecessary drugs as a chemical restraint and discharged and transferred him to other facilities without the approval of his family or guardian and without his dentures. Valparaiso Care also refused to fulfill an order given by an administrative law judge to return Mr. Talevski to Valparaiso Care. Ivanka Talevski also claimed Valparaiso Care did not provide an environment that maintained or enhanced the quality of life of residents.
Mr. Talevski entered Valparaiso Care in January 2016. In August 2016, his wife noticed a rapid decline in his ability to think or care for himself. Talevski could no longer eat or speak English. His wife became suspicious when Valparaiso Care told her this was due to a natural advancement of dementia, a general term that means being unable to think, remember, make decisions, or care for oneself.
She asked for a list of her husbands’ medications in September 2016. When she got the list, she noticed that it had ten medications. Six of the ten were drugs that affect behavior, mood, or thoughts. Ms. Talevski sued Valparaiso Care in September 2016. Before the end of 2016, Valparaiso Care tried to move Mr. Talevski to a facility over an hour away. Then, Valparaiso Care tried to discharge him, without his consent, to an all-male dementia facility more than 2 hours away. An administrative law judge stopped the move, but Mr. Talevski was never returned to Valparaiso Care.
In January 2019, Ms. Talevski filed a lawsuit with the claims listed above. The lower District Court dismissed the case because it believed that FNHRA does not provide a way for someone to sue for damages under 42 U.S.C. § 1983.
The case was appealed to the Seventh Circuit Court of Appeals that said the District Court was wrong. The court ruled that the questions to consider should be:
1). Did Valparaiso Care violate Mr. Talevski’s right to be free from drugs to restrain him for purposes of discipline or staff convenience?
2). Was Mr. Talevski denied his rights to remain at Valparaiso Care and to be told when he would be transferred or discharged?
The Court of Appeals said it was wrong to dismiss the case.
https://adasoutheast.org/court/talevski-v-health-and-hospital-corporation-of-marion-county/
Keywords: Federal Nursing Home Reform Act, civil rights, dementia, nursing facility, statute of limitations