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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE |
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MEDIA
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State Rep. Don Walko |
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House passes Walko bill to close legal
loophole on criminal neglect of long-term care patients
HARRISBURG, April 24 – State Rep. Don Walko, D-Allegheny, today won House passage of his bill (H.B. 642) that would allow prosecutors to file criminal charges of neglect against owners or staff of personal care homes that have three or fewer adults unrelated to the owner. Current state law does not allow criminal charges in such cases.
Walko has been seeking to tighten laws on small personal care homes in Pennsylvania since the 1996 death of 86-year-old Goldie Scherlacher in an unregulated personal care home in Allegheny County. The home was unregulated since it had fewer than four care-dependent residents. Ms. Scherlacher lost 36 pounds in the month she resided there and weighed only 76 pounds when she died. However, the small number of residents kept the district attorney from bringing charges against the home’s owner.
“If the Senate joins the House in passing this bill, we can prevent that kind of outrageous injustice in the future. In addition to punishing abusers after the fact, this legislation is also intended to have a deterrent effect.”
The inadequate law again became an issue after the closing of five private care homes in Lebanon County in 2005. Authorities closed the homes, all owned by the same person, after doctors at a veterans’ hospital reported one resident’s injuries. In all, 20 people living in the homes were relocated, including 12 who lived in homes the state was unable to inspect since the facilities housed three or fewer people. The owner and her husband pleaded guilty to abuse and neglect charges and were sentenced to prison.
Walko also has reintroduced three bills designed to protect patients, particularly those in long-term care, because current state law lacks protections for many care-dependent people in small personal care homes.
The other bills are:
- House Bill 695 would require all private care residences to register with the state and would give the state Department of Public Welfare the authority to inspect them. A private care residence would be defined as a private residence that by contract or agreement provides room, board and personal care services to three or fewer care-dependent persons unrelated to the owner.
Under H.B. 695, criminal background checks would be required at the initial registration for the owner and any adult living in the home who is not care-dependent. The background checks would have to be updated at least every five years.
The bill would give DPW the authority to visit and inspect the residences to determine if they have complied with the registration requirements and fine an owner $500 for failure to register. Failing to submit accurate information to DPW could also be subject to a civil penalty.
Walko first introduced similar legislation in 1997 after the death of Goldie Scherlacher.
- House Bill 692 would regulate individuals and agencies involved in making referrals to long-term care facilities and preparing assessments for people needing long-term care services. The bill is designed to ensure that people who have chronic, functional impairments requiring long-term care services would be referred to facilities that meet their individualized needs.
The state Department of Aging would establish standards for the licensure of long-term care placement services and individualized-need assessment services where reimbursement is provided for the cost of those services. Licenses would be annual. The requirement would apply to long-term care services and nursing facilities, domiciliary care, home health agencies, older adult daily living centers, private care homes, and any home where personal care services are provided to care-dependent people who are unrelated to the provider.
- House Bill 693 is designed to clarify for the patient, family and provider any services the patient may continue to need after leaving a hospital or nursing home. It would require health-care facilities to develop, implement and administer physician-approved discharge plans for patients based on the individual patients’ assessed needs, regardless of the setting to which a particular patient is being discharged.
Walko serves as majority chairman of the House Judiciary Subcommittee on the Courts, as well as a member of the Appropriations, Insurance, Professional Licensure, Urban Affairs and Majority Policy committees. He represents the 20th Legislative District, which includes several neighborhoods in Pittsburgh, as well as West View Borough and parts of Reserve and Ross townships. He was first elected to the House of Representatives in 1994.
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