By CK Wilde for 3GenFamily Blog
Have you been following the trial in Delaware between eBay and Craigslist?
eBay claims that the officers of Craigslist are trying to reduce eBay’s percentage of ownership of Craigslist and change voting rights. Much of Craig Newmark’s (the founder of Craigslist) testimony centers around what Meg Whitman, former CEO of eBay, did or did not promise them before he signed the agreement to sell part of Craigslist to eBay.
The attorneys for eBay have gotten Craig to admit in court that the promises were not in writing and “if it is not in writing it doesn’t exist.”
Get Promises in Writing
The same rule applies to agreements for assisted living centers and in home care providers. Get all promises in writing.
When my Dad and I toured a senior care facility that had both independent and assisted living, the marketing director reassured my father that they rarely kept the security deposit when a person moved out.
When my father moved into independent living after being on the waiting list for several months, he didn’t pay attention to the stains on the vinyl floor in the kitchen. He didn’t cause the stains so he was certain that he was not responsible to pay for them.
I visited him a few weeks after he moved in. Of course, I notice the big orange blotch on the floor. No amount of scrubbing got it out. So, I took pictures with my camera phone to record that the stains were there at the time he moved in.
A year later when my Dad was no longer able to remain in independent living, I helped him move to the assisted living side. That meant paying all fees for his previous apartment in independent living.
Have you already guessed that the company tried to charge my father for the damage to the vinyl that was there when he moved in?
You are right! To get the charge removed, I had to make a complaint with the NJ department that oversees assisted living facilities.
What you won’t be able to guess is the major complaint I had with this assisted living facility. I did not get the agreement to move my Dad to the assisted living side until 2 months after he died! I kept politely asking for it and kept getting excuses. But, I trusted the managers. They seemed like such caring people.
Business Is Business
Well, they were caring people.
But, this was a business. They expected me to pay the bills even before knowing what the rules were. Any and all bills.
The facility had new owners who were intent on having the business make money. You can figure out the rest.
Fortunately, the State of NJ took a dim view of this type of behavior after I made that formal complaint. I might not have made the complaint, though, if my father was still living, for fear of being rejected by other facilities.
Avoid Surprises
The best way to avoid having a problem is to get all promises in writing. You should get a copy of any agreement before you have to sign it. Take time to read it and get help understanding it, if necessary. A geriatric care manager or an elder care attorney can explain things to you. It is well worth the cost.
This advice applies to doctors, clinics and other health professionals, too. Get all fees and charges in writing, in advance if you can. Medicine is a business, too.
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© 2009 CK Wilde. All Rights Reserved. Please feel free to link to this post but you must have prior written permission (please use the comments) to reproduce this post either whole or in part
Imagine that “The facility had new owners who were intent on having the business make money”.
Hi T Kin,
Certainly, it is the goal of a business to make money. What the State of NJ discovered when they researched my complaint is that this facility did not have any procedures in place to document the condition of the apartment when a new tenant moved in. Without documentation, they had no legal ground to stand on. But, they billed me anyway.
I did not get these bills until two months after my father died. As the executor of the estate, it was my responsibility to pay not just any bill, but the bills that I determed to be correct and accurate. It was my fiduciary responsibility to pursue all appropriate action.
It was a real surprise to discover as an executor that over a third of the hundred bills I received were wrong. Most of these were from doctors but also from rehabilitation facilities and labs as well as the assisted living facility. While many of them were honest mistakes, I also found several where the medical biller was intentionally trying to take advantage.
In the movie, “You’ve Got Mail” Tom Hanks tells Meg Ryan that “It’s just business” when his giant company puts her small bookstore out of business. She finally tells him, “It’s not just business. What your company has done has hurt people.”
Families need to watch out for caregiving and medical businesses that use the elder’s or his family’s ignorance of the rules to make money.