The Times Record > Opinion > Editorials > A chance to do what’s right

The Times Record > Opinion > Editorials > A chance to do what’s right


As lawmakers and Gov. Paul LePage begin deliberations on a new two-year state budget, they’d be well-advised to take into account a Jan. 31 federal court ruling granting more than 40 plaintiffs with cerebral palsy, epilepsy and other related conditions the right to join in a class-action lawsuit against the state of Maine.

At issue is whether Maine’s Department of Health and Human Services is doing all it can to enable people with cerebral palsy or epilepsy to live as independently as possible.

Attorney Jeffrey N. Young of the McTeague Higbee law firm in Topsham alleges that for at least 20 years the state has failed to fully meet federal requirements to accommodate many such people who are capable of living in their own homes or in an integrated community setting, if appropriate support services were provided.

As a result, he said, the plaintiffs he represents “have been forced to live in the most restrictive settings — nursing facilities both in and outside Maine.”

The state’s failure to provide the support that would allow the plaintiffs to move from institutional care to less restricted environments, the lawsuit alleges, is a clear violation of the Americans with Disabilities Act, the Nursing Home Reform Act and the Rehabilitation Act of 1973.

Judge John A. Woodcock Jr., chief federal judge for the United States District Court of the District of Maine, in his ruling rejected the state’s bid to limit the scope of the lawsuit, concluding “the class is probably larger than the 40-member figure ...”

Woodcock’s ruling also gives credence to Young’s contention that a class-action lawsuit is necessary to force DHHS to correct a “systemic problem” with its procedures and also change its “conduct on an agency-wide basis.”

Woodcock, incidentally, is a 2003 appointee of President George W. Bush.

Obviously, the expense of defending against the threatened class-action lawsuit could be avoided entirely. Presumably, all it would take is for Gov. Paul LePage and the new DHHS Commissioner Mary C. Mayhew to commit themselves to changing any and all state Medicaid and MaineCare practices that might be keeping people with cerebral palsy and other disabilities from living as independently as possible.

Doing so would demonstrate decisively that our governor is as committed to helping Mainers with disabilities live full and productive lives as he has been to paying a good chunk of what the state owes Maine hospitals for past Medicaid services.

If the impediment to fully meeting our responsibilities toward some of our most vulnerable citizens is inadequate funding, the remedy is no different than what

LePage already has done with respect to paying down the debt owed to the hospitals.

It simply means making it an equal priority to evaluate the needs of people with disabilities in Maine and then fund fully the programs that would enable them to achieve their fullest potential as productive and independent citizens.

In the long run, says Young, the state would spend less money taking that course of action than if it continues paying for people to live in expensive nursing homes.

“Our immediate goal is to assist our clients and enable them to live in settings more integrated in the community,” Young says. “The broader goal of the suit is that by integrating people with disabilities into their communities, they will become more independent and productive citizens. They need to be given the opportunity to live in less restrictive settings.”

Our suggestion, then, to the governor and lawmakers: Besides doing everything you can to make our state more “business friendly,” how about making sure the needs of our most vulnerable citizens receive equal resolve and attention?

Don’t wait for a court ruling to force you to do what’s right.

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