Disabled Georgians sue over program cuts

By Carrie Teegardin

The Atlanta Journal-Constitution

Six Georgians suffering from serious mental or developmental disabilities sued the state Thursday over the loss of benefits that have allowed them to live in homes instead of institutions.

The six people, with illnesses ranging from schizophrenia, bipolar disorder, mental retardation and traumatic brain injury, have been living with family or in personal care homes.

A state program called SOURCE -- Service Options Using Resources in a Community Environment -- has helped cover the cost of caring for the people, who need close oversight. All six have lost benefits, or have been told they will lose them, because the state now allows only people with physical disabilities to be a part of the program, according to the  lawsuit filed in U.S. District Court.

The Georgia Department of Community Health, which administers the program, declined to comment Thursday on the allegations, saying it was not yet aware of the suit.

The department said eligibility requirements for the program have not changed since 2007, but declined to answer specific questions about whether people with mental and developmental disabilities were being removed.  The department's website says that 15,193 people were enrolled in SOURCE at the end of the 2009 fiscal year. Many of them are frail elderly people who are able to avoid placement in a nursing home through more active management of their medical problems and assistance at home. It's unclear how many Georgians have been removed from the program.

According to the lawsuit, the state in 2007 moved SOURCE  under a new umbrella program that was limited to the elderly and people with physical disabilities.  But the state continued to enroll people with mental and developmental disabilities into the program after the change was made, the suit alleges.

Susannah Trogdon, who lost her SOURCE benefits in July after an appeal, is one of the plaintiffs. A 43-year-old from Alpharetta with mental retardation, Trogdon lives with her father, who is 70. Trogdon's mother, who had been her primary caregiver, died in 2005.

She cannot be left home alone for any significant period of time, according to the lawsuit. The program had paid for five and a half hours of daily care from an aide who helped with bathing, brushing her teeth, preparing meals and taking her medications. The assistance  enabled her father to work and leave the house. Without the program, Trogdon's father has to care for her around the clock himself or pay for help, which he said is exhausting his resources.  "I am trying my best to hold on because I love my daughter," Trodgon's father said in a statement. "I just don't know how much longer I can keep this up."

The five other patients have serious mental illnesses and live in personal care homes. The suit says that they would likely end up in state psychiatric hospitals without the services provided by SOURCE, which has allowed them to live in the community.

Talley Wells, an attorney with the Atlanta Legal Aid Society who is representing the  plaintiffs, said the Supreme Court's landmark Olmstead decision requires that disabled people be served in the community, instead of institutions, unless doing so fundamentally alters state services. He said caring for someone in the community is also much cheaper for taxpayers.

"With one hand Georgia has been moving people out of state psychiatric hospitals and into the community with SOURCE," Wells said. "With the other hand, the state has been yanking the same people out of SOURCE so they will likely end up right back in the hospital."

The suit seeks immediate action by the court  to have the benefits restored or to have the plaintiffs enrolled in new programs that would allow them to keep living in homes.