Judge rules Florida can’t keep kids with medically complex conditions in senior nursing homes

ORLANDO, Fla. — A federal judge ruled the state of Florida can no longer keep kids with medically complex conditions in senior nursing homes.

The judge ruled a child must be cared for at home with family or in an environment catered to the required pediatric care.

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The issue has been a decade-long fight.

Matthew Dietz, one of the attorneys in the case, calls this a “long journey” to get a judge to finally see what these families need for their children.

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But on Monday, Florida’s attorneys appealed the ruling, calling it a federal overreach.

“This is not the quiet back door to put these children like canned goods on a different shelf. These children need to be in pediatric facilities and in their homes with pediatric nurses,” said Kat Sullivan, Orlando registered nurse administrator.

The ruling found the state violated the Americans with Disabilities Act, by denying kids medical services.

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Susan Root moved out of Florida in 2015 because of the barriers she and her daughter Amy faced after Amy was hit by a car and needed round-the-clock care.

“I was encouraged to place my daughter into a facility into a nursing facility, I was encouraged to place her into a pediatric-prescribed daycare,” Root said.

Advocates hope this ruling will finally protect medically fragile children in the state.

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“A nursing home for children. It is no place where a child should be. Children should be with a loving family, a child should be within the community,” Dietz said.

advocates hope this ruling will finally protect medically fragile children in the state.

If a child is already in a nursing facility, the transition planning must start by August to be completed by the beginning of September.

So far the court has not ruled on Attorney General Ashely Moody’s appeal. In the past, the U.S. Supreme Court has refused to take up this case.

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