Family refuses to pay massive hospital bill as part of LTC law
Ontario law allows centres to move patients against will, issue $400 fines
A southwestern Ontario woman has received an $8,400 bill from a hospital in Windsor, after she refused to put her mother in a nursing home she hated — and she says she has no intention of paying it.
Michele Campeau and her 83year-old mother, Ruth Poupard, are caught up in a relatively new law that allows hospitals to place discharged patients in nursing homes not of their choosing in order to free up beds. If patients refuse to move, they face a fine of $400 per day as they remain at the hospital.
The bill came from Hôtel-Dieu Grace Healthcare, where Campeau’s mother remains, with instructions to pay at the cashier’s office or by phone or online. The hospital charged the family for 21 days in March. “I’m never paying it because the law is wrong,” Campeau said. “It’s unfair what they’re trying to do to seniors.”
Campeau is expecting an even bigger bill to land in the coming weeks to account for all the daily fines that have racked up for April.
“We’re expecting another bill for $12,000 soon,” she said.
On Thursday, Campeau found out her mom was accepted into the home that was her top choice. She is set to move next week.
“Then we’ll get another bill for $6,000 for May,” she said.
The law that allows hospitals to issue such fines — known as the More Beds, Better Care Act, or Bill 7 — was passed by the Doug Ford government in the fall of 2022 in an effort to open up much-needed hospital space. It is aimed at socalled alternate level of care patients who are discharged from hospital, but need a long-term-care bed and don’t have one yet.
Hospitals can send patients to nursing homes not of their choosing up to 70 kilometres away, or up to 150 km away in northern Ontario, if spaces open up there first.
The last few years have been tough for Poupard. Dementia set in, she underwent a heart valve transplant and survived cancer. She moved in with her daughter, who took care of her and became her power of attorney. Shortly after Christmas, Poupard hallucinated at night, fell and broke her hip. Campeau rushed her to hospital, where she had surgery. As part of her recovery, Poupard moved to HôtelDieu Grace for rehabilitation.
By Feb. 21, she recovered to a point where her doctor determined she no longer needed the hospital’s specialized care and discharged her. Campeau and her brother decided that they alone would not be able to manage their mother’s needs if she returned to live with her.
The family worked with a placement co-ordinator at the hospital and put five long-term-care homes on Poupard’s list, but they were full. Campeau agreed to put more homes on the list and the co-ordinator added homes until one that had a spot available came up. Campeau then had 24 hours to visit the nursing home and make a decision.
If she refused to move her mom into that long-term-care home in Windsor, the hospital said they’d begin charging her $400 a day. Campeau said she visited the home and found it “disgusting,” refusing to place her mother there.
Several weeks later, the first bill landed. The hospital also charged Poupard a co-pay rate — the rate she would pay in a long-term care home — of $653.20 for 10 days in March before she refused the move into that one nursing home.
“I paid it ... which I’m more than happy to do,” Campeau said of the co-pay. “But I’m not paying $400 a day because I didn’t go along with their plan to put her in a disgusting home.”
The province said it believes only seven people have been fined under the law and that hospitals are responsible for the administration of fines.