Crytes v. Schafer, 88-0901 C (5).
| Decision Date | 03 August 1990 |
| Docket Number | No. 88-0901 C (5).,88-0901 C (5). |
| Citation | 743 F. Supp. 677 |
| Parties | Gregory CRYTES, and Thomas King, John Wolfin, Jeremiah Baker, Jimmy Bailey Rogers, Claude Skiles and Joseph N. Whitfield, Plaintiffs, v. Dr. C. Keith SCHAFER, Director of Department of Mental Health, State of Missouri, Defendant. |
| Court | U.S. District Court — Eastern District of Missouri |
David O. Fischer, Fischer and Dolan, St. Louis, Mo., for plaintiffs.
Timothy P. Duggan, Jefferson City, Mo., Kevin B. Behrndt, St. Louis, Mo., for Schafer.
This matter is before the Court on the parties' cross motions for summary judgment. The parties agreed that the issues in this case were strictly issues of law. Therefore, the Court removed this matter from the trial docket, and the matter was submitted to this Court on the pleadings for this Court's determination of the issues.
The seven plaintiffs in this case are patients of the Missouri Department of Mental Health. Each of the plaintiffs was involuntarily committed to the custody of the Director of Mental Health after being found not guilty by reason of mental disease or defect, of criminal charges. Each of the plaintiffs have been determined to be totally disabled by the Social Security Administration, due to mental illness, and are receiving monthly benefits therefrom. In this action, plaintiffs are challenging the procedures used by the Department of Mental health to secure payment for their care and treatment. The gravamen of their complaint is that the Social Security disability benefits which each of the plaintiffs receives should not be used to pay these charges.
Dr. Keith Schafer has been the Director of the Department of Mental Health, State of Missouri, since July 1986. He is the Chief Executive officer of that Department. Plaintiffs Gregory Crytes, Thomas King, John Wolfin, Jeremiah Baker, Jim Bailey Rogers and Joseph Whitfield are currently hospitalized at St. Louis State Hospital. Plaintiff Claude Skiles was formerly hospitalized at St. Louis State Hospital, but since October 24, 1988 he has resided at Southeast Missouri Mental Health Center in Farmington, Missouri. All plaintiffs are currently receiving services from the Department of Mental Health.
St. Louis Hospital requested that the Social Security Administration select it to serve as representative payee, pursuant to 42 U.S.C. § 405(j), for plaintiffs Crytes, Rogers, Whitfield and Wolfin. St. Louis State Hospital has been authorized to serve in that capacity by the Missouri legislature, pursuant to § 630.315, RSMo.1986. The Social Security Administration named the St. Louis State Hospital as representative payee. Southeast Missouri Mental Health Center is currently representative payee for plaintiff Skiles. Plaintiff Thomas King has been adjudicated incompetent, and his sister Dorothy King James has been appointed his guardian. She is also his representative payee for Social Security benefits. Lorraine Harris is representative payee for Jerry F. Baker.
Pursuant to current Social Security Administration guidelines, St. Louis State Hospital allows at least thirty dollars per month for personal spending to each plaintiff for whom it serves as representative payee. Pursuant to St. Louis State Hospital Facility policy, each patient may receive a larger amount for personal spending if his treatment team approves the amount. Each of the plaintiffs have received personal spending money in excess of the thirty dollar monthly minimum. None of the plaintiffs have ever submitted a request for additional personal spending money which has been denied by the treatment team.
The funds received by St. Louis State Hospital as representative payee, which are not allotted to the patient for personal spending as described above, are applied to charges billed by the Department of Mental Health for the patient's care and treatment pursuant to § 630.210, RSMo 1986, as provided by 20 C.F.R. § 404.2040(b) (1989).
The plaintiffs and their representative payees are responsible for the charges for their care and treatment provided by the Department of Mental Health, pursuant to Section 630.205 and Section 552.080, RSMo 1986. The Department of Mental Health determines the daily billing for each of the plaintiffs by calculating the patient's financial resources and income per month (including his Social Security benefits), deducting the amount allowed each patient for personal spending and then dividing that amount by the number of days per month that the patient received services. Each plaintiff's Social Security benefits are used in calculating this daily charge.
The Department of Mental Health has never taken legal action against Dorothy James or Lorraine Harris for payment of the hospital's charges for the care of plaintiffs King or Baker. Moreover, the Department of Mental health has never filed any legal action or claim in any court against any of the plaintiffs to collect amounts due for care and treatment. Nor has the Department used execution, levy, attachment or garnishment to obtain payment for care and treatment from any of the plaintiffs.
Although their admission to St. Louis State Hospital was the result of criminal proceedings, the plaintiffs in this case, like all patients of the Department of Mental Health, are liable for the cost of their care and treatment. State ex rel. Foltz v. Ahr, 666 S.W.2d 777 (Mo.App.1983). This is provided by statute at subsection 3 of Section 552.080, RSMo 1986, which states:
In Chapter 630 of the Revised Missouri Statutes of Missouri, the obligation to pay is further defined at Sections 630.205-630.220. As provided by § 630.205:
1. The person receiving services and the person's estate, spouse, parents, if the person is a minor, and any fiduciary or representative payee holding assets for the person or on the person's behalf are jointly and severally liable for the fees for services rendered to the person by a residential facility, day program or specialized service operated or funded by the Department.
Most patients, including all of the plaintiffs, are not charged the full costs of their care and treatment. In the case of each of the plaintiffs, the charges are based upon the income they receive through Social Security disability benefits. St. Louis State Hospital calculated these charges by determining the total amount of benefits received in a month; deducting the amount allotted to the patient for personal spending, and then dividing the amount remaining by the number of days which the patient received services in a particular month. The result is a daily charge or "per diem." As provided by § 630.205, this charge is billed to the patient and/or any other individual responsible for his support. In the case of the plaintiffs, their representative payees are billed.
The charges assessed for the plaintiffs' care and treatment are authorized by state law. The plaintiffs argue, however, that federal law, specifically 42 U.S.C. § 407, prohibits the payment of these charges from the funds they receive from the Social Security Administration.
Title 42 U.S.C. § 407 provides:
Thus, according to the plain language of the statute, creditors are prohibited from reaching a debtor's Social Security benefits through the use of a transfer or assignment or through execution, levy, attachment, garnishment or other legal processes.
The issue before this Court is whether defendant has violated Section 42 U.S.C. § 407 by requiring plaintiffs to use their Social Security benefits to pay for their expenses at the mental hospital. Although this issue has not yet been addressed...
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...Typical examples of this exception allow the payment of benefits to a hospital caring for the individual. See, e.g., Crytes v. Schafer, 743 F.Supp. 677 (E.D.Mo.1990), aff'd in part, King v. Schafer, 940 F.2d 1182 (8th Cir.1991): As a result, while the benefits attributable to social securit......
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...of Mental Health appeal the District Court's order granting summary judgment to the Director of Mental Health. Crytes v. Schafer, 743 F.Supp. 677 (E.D.Mo.1990). In dispute is whether the Department's practice of using the patients' social security benefits to pay the costs of their care and......