Bill to Bar Evictions at Nursing Homes OKd

An Assembly bill designed to prevent the unexpected eviction of nursing home residents in the event of the home’s bankruptcy won the final approval Tuesday of the state Legislature.

Assemblyman Robert M. Hertzberg (D-Van Nuys) drafted the measure after a bankrupt Reseda nursing home evicted 63 residents without warning late on a Friday night last fall, frightening patients and panicking their families. Most families had to scramble to find other housing, particularly for elderly relatives with special needs.

Although California law requires 30 days’ notice before the closure of any health facility, it applies only to licensed health-care operators and not to trustees acting in a bankruptcy, said Paul Hefner, spokesman for Hertzberg.

The new measure requires that steps be followed in all closures, and specifically includes bankruptcies. It also charges the state Department of Health Services with the responsibility of preventing sudden evictions, Hefner said.

It has been passed by both houses of the Legislature but must be signed by the governor to take effect.

The new law requires that health-care operators notify state health authorities if a trustee is appointed. The state then is required to contact the trustee to explain the procedures for closing a facility and transferring clients.

“Removing or disrupting patients in a disorderly manner can actually endanger their lives,” Hefner said, although no serious health problems were reported from the Reseda incident.

“Bankruptcy law is a separate cat,” Hefner said. “A trustee has some discretion in how to proceed on the liquidation of assets. But what we have to make clear in specific instances is that the trustee is not exempt from state law.”

Evictions at the Reseda Care Center were ordered by trustee Alfred Siegel on Sept. 26, two days after he was appointed to the position by a federal bankruptcy court. An attorney representing Siegel told the court that the nursing home lacked food and supplies to meet immediate needs and was woefully behind in paying employees and its bills.

Siegel was not aware that the state has an emergency fund that could have been used to stave off the evictions for several days until suitable housing was found in an organized fashion, according to a summary of the legislative measure.

The state Department of Health Services reportedly learned of the evictions only a few hours before they began, after 9 p.m. on a Friday. Several friends and family members of patients, many of whom were ill or bedridden, said they were given no warning and only learned of the action from television news reports.

The Reseda home was being operated by Phoenix Health Group of Scottsdale, Ariz., which also filed for bankruptcy at three other nursing care facilities in Southern California. The 99-bed Reseda facility reopened under new management earlier this year as the Center at Parkwest Inc., operated by The Chase Group of Thousand Oaks.

The new facility has since operated without incident, state and county health officials said Tuesday.