[nfbmi-talk] MPAS Lawsuit

Tue Nov 19 16:32:29 UTC 2013

Precisely! And I will write more abut this whole thing later. But part of 
there funding comes directly from RSA both for the PAIR program and for the 
CAP program.

They do have other funding and other requirements.

And I'm not knocking them at all for this case which is one of them.

But, they should be doing both!
----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Terry D. Eagle" <terrydeagle at yahoo.com>
To: "'NFB of Michigan Internet Mailing List'" <nfbmi-talk at nfbnet.org>
Sent: Tuesday, November 19, 2013 11:24 AM
Subject: [nfbmi-talk] MPAS Lawsuit

> That is nice of MPAS to sue over access to information from two private
> entities, after the death of two persons, however it raises questions for
> me.
>
> 1.  Is it not true that as I thought, the purpose and mission of MPAS is 
> to
> protect and advance the civil rights of persons with disabilities
> encountering barriers to equality?
>
> Now I would agree that in the true sense that death may qualify as a
> permanent disability, however, it strikes me as rather strange that MPAS 
> is
> the entity that is seeking information to "investigate" the death of two
> persons.  So it is not perceived that I do not care about the cause and
> responsibility for the avoidable loss of life of two persons, I do in fact
> believe that is important, however, I believe that limited resources of 
> MPAS
> could and should be better utilized, and suing to get access to 
> information
> would be more useful to persons with disabilities who are living and being
> denied services as a result of violations of our civil rights under 
> various
> laws.
>
> I know for a fact that Joe Harcz and I, and perhaps others within the 
> blind
> community have presented much information and documentation to MPAS
> regarding the denial of fundamental civil rights, namely, equal access to
> our system of justice, through the state administrative hearing process 
> and
> the courts, involving the state of Michigan, and the state's denial of a
> fair and accessible system for blind persons, to achieve equality and
> justice free of conflict-of-interest and non-discriminatory fundamental
> access.
>
> Given that background, it leads me to ask my second question:  How many
> deaths of blind persons must it take for MPAS to take action against the
> State of Michigan for the denial of fundamental rights to equal access by
> blind persons?  And my third question:  any volunteers here who will give
> their life for our cause?
>
> Of course and indeed, I make light of the extent to which it takes for 
> MPAS
> to take substantive action on behalf of persons with disabilities to 
> attempt
> to secure our civil rights, however, to me, I believe it says more about 
> the
> politics and gamesmanship  that are played by those who are supposed to
> promote equal justice and access by persons with disabilities, as well as
> the general public.  This point is best demonstrated by the recent
> legislation to move the Michigan Court of Claims for the Circuit Court to
> the Court of Appeals, and whereby the Michigan judges' association feeling
> it could not take a position and speak the truth about the new law, simply
> because it just might, and most likely, would cost the state judges an
> increase in pay.  I believe MPAS is likely in a similar position when it
> comes to taking on the State of Michigan to comply with the law of equal
> access to programs, services, and facilities by the blind and other 
> persons
> with disabilities.  MPAS likely believes, and rightly so, that to take on
> the state to comply with accessibility law, MPAS would likely jepordize or
> lose at least a portion of their operating budget funding.
>
>
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: nfbmi-talk [mailto:nfbmi-talk-bounces at nfbnet.org] On Behalf Of joe
> harcz Comcast
> Sent: Monday, November 18, 2013 3:00 PM
> To: nfbmi-talk at nfbnet.org
> Subject: [nfbmi-talk] mpas sues two nursing homes
>
> I know how they feel.And note Mike Pemble cof BSBP fame came out of the 
> LARA
> oversight division which isn't fully accessible to this blind man having
> several image based pdf files on its web site.
>
> Joe Harcz
>
> MPAS Sues Two Michigan Nursing Homes for Failing to Comply with Abuse and
> Neglect Investigation
> Image of Medical Records
>
> Novi, Fenton facilities failed to disclose requested documents and
> information
>
> (LANSING)- Michigan Protection & Advocacy Service, Inc. (MPAS) filed suit 
> in
> federal district court today against the owners and operators of Whitehall
> Healthcare Center of Novi and Fenton Healthcare challenging their failure 
> to
> disclose documents and information related to the abuse and neglect of
> patients
> residing in their nursing home facilities.
>
> The case of abuse and neglect being investigated at Whitehall Healthcare
> Center of Novi stems from an incident in which staff did not provide
> life-saving
> measures to a resident who suffered a cardiac arrest despite having
> documented authorization to do so. This lack of intervention violated the
> patient's
> plan of service as well as the policy of Whitehall itself. The patient
> subsequently died. Similarly, Fenton Healthcare failed to immediately
> initiate emergency
> medical services leading to the death of one resident and a risk of 
> serious
> harm, injury or death for many others.
>
> "The failure of these two facilities to provide our organization with the
> needed documents has interfered with our investigative duties," said Mark
> Cody,
> Legal Director at MPAS. "Under federal law, MPAS acts to protect and
> advocate for the rights of individuals with disabilities and our ability 
> to
> do that
> is being hindered."
>
> Both instances of potential abuse and neglect were brought to MPAS'
> attention through surveys conducted by the Michigan Department of 
> Licensing
> and Regulatory
> Affairs (LARA) Bureau of Health Care Services. MPAS opened an 
> investigation
> and sent letters requesting records to Whitehall and Fenton Healthcare.
> Whitehall
> replied two months later with a letter of denial while Fenton has yet to
> acknowledge the records request for approximately three months. Letters to
> legal
> counsel for both facilities, indicating that a complaint would be filed if
> they did not comply with MPAS' requests, were responded to with a brief
> reiteration
> of their denial.
>
> "This lawsuit should not come as a surprise to the owners and operators of
> these facilities," said Brad Dembs, MPAS attorney. "They were given ample
> time
> to respond to our requests and avoid this particular course of action. Two
> people have died and many others were put in harm's way. It is our federal
> responsibility
> to investigate the causes of these incidents in order to prevent such 
> tragic
> outcomes in the future."
>
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