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LOUISIANA RECORD

Friday, March 29, 2024

Disabled man tries to keep from entering nursing home

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A disabled man is asking the court to help him keep his home-based Medicaid services.

Thomas J. Smith, 21, filed a complaint May 27 in U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Louisiana against Kathy Kliebert, secretary of the Louisiana Department of Health and Hospital, and the Louisiana Department of Health and Hospitals, the Easter Seals of Louisiana, South Central L.A. Human Services Authority Developmental Disabilities and LaFourche Arc.


Kathy Kliebert

This is a civil rights action to keep the plaintiff, an African-American with "profound mental and physical disabilities," from going into a nursing home or ICF facility to get the same Medicaid services he was receiving at home, where he's been recently denied access to medically necessary services, the lawsuit states.

The plaintiff seeks a declaratory, preliminary and permanent injunction to keep the defendants from ending Smith's Medicaid Community Home-Based Waiver Grant. 

The plaintiff is represented by his tutrix, Carolyn Smith.

U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Louisiana case no. 2:15-cv-01775.

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