Here is an amicus brief I wrote some years ago about nursing homes being unconstitutional. Like much of my work, it was ignored by much of Washington.
Nursing Homes are unconstitutional under the 5th and 14th Amendments. People cannot be deprived of life, liberty, and property without due process of the law.
Concurrently,the 13th Amendment entitles all people equal protection under the law.When people are placed in nursing homes, often against their will because they have no other option, the state is depriving those individuals access to both life and liberty.Those living in nursing homes are segregated from greater society,under the guise that this is separate, but equal treatment. In fact, this is a punishment akin to incarceration, though nursing home residents have done nothing to deserve to be institutionalized.
(We can argue prisoners also don’t do things worthy of being institutionalized, but that’s an entirely separate situation I did not address in this brief.)
We know, thanks to Brown vs. the Board of Education that separate but equal i
sn’t truly equal or equitable, at all. Warehousing disabled and older Americans in segregated institutions without regular access and integration to greater societyis inhumane, and denies these individuals their right to liberty. It also limits their life, both in life span and quality.
As such, it is our conclusion that nursing homes are unconstitutional.Those living in nursing homes deserve the right to choose where to live, and have the supports they need to do so while having access to the community.
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