<TABLE border=0 cellSpacing=0 cellPadding=0 width="100%"><TBODY><TR class=msghead><TD><TABLE border=0 cellSpacing=0 cellPadding=0><TBODY><TR class=msghead><TD class=msgF width="1%" noWrap align=right>From: </TD><TD class=msgFname width="68%" noWrap>pJUDGE2009 <NOBR></NOBR> </TD><TD class=msgDate width="30%" noWrap align=right>Jun-20 6:31 am </TD></TR><TR class=msghead><TD class=msgT height=20 width="1%" noWrap align=right>To: </TD><TD class=msgTname width="68%" noWrap>ALL <NOBR></NOBR></TD><TD class=msgNum noWrap align=right> (1 of 4) </TD></TR></TBODY></TABLE></TD></TR><TR><TD class=msgleft rowSpan=4 width="1%"> </TD><TD class=wintiny noWrap align=right>15584.1 </TD></TR><TR><TD height=8></TD></TR><TR><TD class=msgtxt>One day's stay, one month's fee
Family of woman who dies in hospital faced with $1,900 nursing home bill. -TNP
Fri, Jun 19, 2009
The New Paper
By: Amanda Yong
SHE spent just one day in a nursing home but her family is being asked to foot the minimum of one month's fees.
The elderly woman had earlier been moved into a nursing home after spending 21 days in hospital.
Madam Tan Kim Hong, 85, was hospitalised when her family discovered she could not swallow food and was suffering from a sudden loss of appetite.
But a day after she was admitted to Orange Valley Nursing Home, she developed breathing difficulties and was hospitalised again.
<TABLE style="BORDER-BOTTOM: #b5d4d8 1px solid; BORDER-LEFT: #b5d4d8 1px solid; BACKGROUND-COLOR: #eeeeee; BORDER-TOP: #b5d4d8 1px solid; BORDER-RIGHT: #b5d4d8 1px solid" cellSpacing=4 cellPadding=1 width=136 align=right><TBODY><TR><TD class=bodytext width=192>Related:
» Most homes have pro-rated charges </TD></TR></TBODY></TABLE>She died about a week later in hospital of pneumonia and kidney failure.
Now, the family is appealing for a rebate on the $1,900 bill for her one-day stay in the nursing home.
Madam Tan's daughter, housewife Ng Lee Yian, 52, told The New Paper in Mandarin: 'That amount was about a month's worth of fees.'
Minimum stay
She said the family was aware of the nursing home's policy requiring residents to pay a minimum of one month's fees even if the resident moves out in less than a month.
'They told us that the policy is that the resident must stay for a minimum of one month. They will still bill us for one month even if the stay turns out to be less (than one month),' she said.
'And if anything happens to the resident after that one month, they will calculate until the day the resident is not there.'
She could not show The New Paper the contract the family signed as they were not given a copy.
'We read the terms and signed it, and the nursing home said they would give us a copy the next day. But my mother was admitted to hospital that day, and things happened so fast,' she said.
'We never got a copy of the contract in the end.'
She also does not know the rationale for the minimum one-month policy. Madam Tan claimed the nursing home did not explain the rationale and her family did not ask.
The New Paper called the nursing home several times yesterday afternoon, but could not get a response. The nursing home also declined to comment when contacted earlier by Shin Min Daily News.
Madam Ng said her family is now hoping for the bill to be pro-rated.
Her brother-in-law, Mr Luo Jin Cheng, 31, an odd-job worker, said: 'We are willing to pay for about 10 or 11 days, which starts from the day she (Madam Tan) stayed in the nursing home till the day she died (in hospital).'
Madam Tan stayed in the nursing home on 23Mar and died on 1Apr.
Mr Luo said he hoped for a pro-rated bill as 'this is an exceptional case'.
Four of five nursing homes The New Paper spoke with yesterday said they allow for pro-rated fees. (See report on facing page.)
'It's not that we wanted to discharge her,' said Mr Luo, 'but she was fighting for her life and... in the end she passed away.'
Speaking to The New Paper at his three-room flat in Jurong West yesterday afternoon, he said: 'We had to split the fee among all of us (Madam Tan's children and their spouses).'
Madam Tan had seven children, aged between 39 and 52. Two of her daughters are housewives and the rest are working.
Madam Ng said when her mother was discharged from the hospital, her family decided to place her in a nursing home because she needed special care.
Madam Ng said: 'None of us (her siblings) was able to take care of her (Madam Tan) and she required more specialised care because she had become bedridden and could no longer take solid food. She had to be on a liquid diet and fed through a tube.
'So we decided to place her in a nursing home because we thought she would get much better care there.'
On the recommendation of a hospital social worker, Madam Tan's family decided to put her in the Clementi branch of Orange Valley Nursing Home.
'We asked for a nursing home with the lowest fee and (one) that is near our neighbourhood. But we ended up paying more than $1,900 just for one day,' Mr Luo said.
They paid $2,610 on 23 Mar, the day Madam Tan was admitted, as required by the home. The amount comprises two months' worth of fees.
But the next day, Madam Tan suffered a relapse.
Madam Ng, who was visiting her mother that afternoon, panicked when she found her mother 'breathless and panting', she said.
She alerted nurses at the home, who then called a doctor. After they described Madam Tan's condition over the phone, the doctor advised that Madam Tan be taken to hospital immediately.
An ambulance was called and Madam Tan was re-admitted. But about a week into her stay at the hospital, she died.
The next day, Madam Ng's husband went to the nursing home to inform the staff of his mother-in-law's death. He also gave them a copy of the death certificate.
Madam Ng's husband, who declined to be named, said: 'I told them she had died so that they would stop the calculation (of the fees) there and then.'
His wife also made a few calls to the nursing home, asking for the fees to be pro-rated.
But both said they were told the same thing - that the home would still charge them for one month's worth of fees.
Refund
On 14Apr, they received a cheque of $667.95 from the nursing home as a refund. But that meant that the total bill chalked up was $1,942.05.
When they tried to appeal again, they said they were told to send the nursing home's management a letter explaining the situation.
The hospital social worker who helped them to write the letter asked that the nursing home consider pro-rating the fees 'on compassionate grounds' and 'in view of the unfortunate circumstances'.
The letter was dated 14May.
They have yet to receive a reply from the nursing home, Madam Ng said.
This article was first published in The New Paper
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Family of woman who dies in hospital faced with $1,900 nursing home bill. -TNP
Fri, Jun 19, 2009
The New Paper
By: Amanda Yong
SHE spent just one day in a nursing home but her family is being asked to foot the minimum of one month's fees.
The elderly woman had earlier been moved into a nursing home after spending 21 days in hospital.
Madam Tan Kim Hong, 85, was hospitalised when her family discovered she could not swallow food and was suffering from a sudden loss of appetite.
But a day after she was admitted to Orange Valley Nursing Home, she developed breathing difficulties and was hospitalised again.
<TABLE style="BORDER-BOTTOM: #b5d4d8 1px solid; BORDER-LEFT: #b5d4d8 1px solid; BACKGROUND-COLOR: #eeeeee; BORDER-TOP: #b5d4d8 1px solid; BORDER-RIGHT: #b5d4d8 1px solid" cellSpacing=4 cellPadding=1 width=136 align=right><TBODY><TR><TD class=bodytext width=192>Related:
» Most homes have pro-rated charges </TD></TR></TBODY></TABLE>She died about a week later in hospital of pneumonia and kidney failure.
Now, the family is appealing for a rebate on the $1,900 bill for her one-day stay in the nursing home.
Madam Tan's daughter, housewife Ng Lee Yian, 52, told The New Paper in Mandarin: 'That amount was about a month's worth of fees.'
Minimum stay
She said the family was aware of the nursing home's policy requiring residents to pay a minimum of one month's fees even if the resident moves out in less than a month.
'They told us that the policy is that the resident must stay for a minimum of one month. They will still bill us for one month even if the stay turns out to be less (than one month),' she said.
'And if anything happens to the resident after that one month, they will calculate until the day the resident is not there.'
She could not show The New Paper the contract the family signed as they were not given a copy.
'We read the terms and signed it, and the nursing home said they would give us a copy the next day. But my mother was admitted to hospital that day, and things happened so fast,' she said.
'We never got a copy of the contract in the end.'
She also does not know the rationale for the minimum one-month policy. Madam Tan claimed the nursing home did not explain the rationale and her family did not ask.
The New Paper called the nursing home several times yesterday afternoon, but could not get a response. The nursing home also declined to comment when contacted earlier by Shin Min Daily News.
Madam Ng said her family is now hoping for the bill to be pro-rated.
Her brother-in-law, Mr Luo Jin Cheng, 31, an odd-job worker, said: 'We are willing to pay for about 10 or 11 days, which starts from the day she (Madam Tan) stayed in the nursing home till the day she died (in hospital).'
Madam Tan stayed in the nursing home on 23Mar and died on 1Apr.
Mr Luo said he hoped for a pro-rated bill as 'this is an exceptional case'.
Four of five nursing homes The New Paper spoke with yesterday said they allow for pro-rated fees. (See report on facing page.)
'It's not that we wanted to discharge her,' said Mr Luo, 'but she was fighting for her life and... in the end she passed away.'
Speaking to The New Paper at his three-room flat in Jurong West yesterday afternoon, he said: 'We had to split the fee among all of us (Madam Tan's children and their spouses).'
Madam Tan had seven children, aged between 39 and 52. Two of her daughters are housewives and the rest are working.
Madam Ng said when her mother was discharged from the hospital, her family decided to place her in a nursing home because she needed special care.
Madam Ng said: 'None of us (her siblings) was able to take care of her (Madam Tan) and she required more specialised care because she had become bedridden and could no longer take solid food. She had to be on a liquid diet and fed through a tube.
'So we decided to place her in a nursing home because we thought she would get much better care there.'
On the recommendation of a hospital social worker, Madam Tan's family decided to put her in the Clementi branch of Orange Valley Nursing Home.
'We asked for a nursing home with the lowest fee and (one) that is near our neighbourhood. But we ended up paying more than $1,900 just for one day,' Mr Luo said.
They paid $2,610 on 23 Mar, the day Madam Tan was admitted, as required by the home. The amount comprises two months' worth of fees.
But the next day, Madam Tan suffered a relapse.
Madam Ng, who was visiting her mother that afternoon, panicked when she found her mother 'breathless and panting', she said.
She alerted nurses at the home, who then called a doctor. After they described Madam Tan's condition over the phone, the doctor advised that Madam Tan be taken to hospital immediately.
An ambulance was called and Madam Tan was re-admitted. But about a week into her stay at the hospital, she died.
The next day, Madam Ng's husband went to the nursing home to inform the staff of his mother-in-law's death. He also gave them a copy of the death certificate.
Madam Ng's husband, who declined to be named, said: 'I told them she had died so that they would stop the calculation (of the fees) there and then.'
His wife also made a few calls to the nursing home, asking for the fees to be pro-rated.
But both said they were told the same thing - that the home would still charge them for one month's worth of fees.
Refund
On 14Apr, they received a cheque of $667.95 from the nursing home as a refund. But that meant that the total bill chalked up was $1,942.05.
When they tried to appeal again, they said they were told to send the nursing home's management a letter explaining the situation.
The hospital social worker who helped them to write the letter asked that the nursing home consider pro-rating the fees 'on compassionate grounds' and 'in view of the unfortunate circumstances'.
The letter was dated 14May.
They have yet to receive a reply from the nursing home, Madam Ng said.
This article was first published in The New Paper
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