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May 28, 2009
Ohio to release some very sick prisoners to nursing homes
Some ailing Ohio inmates going to nursing homes
The Associated Press
May 28, 2009
COLUMBUS, Ohio ‹ Officials say Ohio plans to send as many as 40 ailinginmates to nursing homes to ease prison overcrowding and save money.
Prisons system assistant director Michael Randle says terminally ill orotherwise bedridden prisoners are expensive.
He says the inmates going to homes will be considered released, as if onparole, making them eligible for Medicaid or Medicare.
A law in effect since March allows for early parole for prisoners who meet certain medical criteria.
The head of a group of nursing home operators says the inmates will have to be screened carefully. But Peter Van Runkle of the Ohio Health Care Association says those coming to the homes will essentially be incapacitated, so patients and their families will have nothing to fear.
http://www.daytondailynews.com/news/ohio-news/some-ailing-ohio-inmates-going
-to-nursing-homes-136729.html
Posted by lois at May 28, 2009 11:36 PM