Judge rules Texas has been illegally placing people with severe disabilities in nursing homes for decades [View all]
Source: Texas Public Radio/NPR
Published June 22, 2025 at 9:29 PM CDT
A federal judge in San Antonio has ruled that the state of Texas for decades unnecessarily institutionalized 4,500 people with intellectual and developmental disabilities in nursing home facilities, denying them appropriate services that are required under federal law.
U.S. District Court Judge Orlando Garcia of the Western District Court of Texas on Tuesday called the violation "severe and ongoing." “Texas’ actions have caused irreparable injury to people with IDD [Intellectual and Developmental Disabilities] who are in nursing facilities,” Garcia wrote in his 475-page ruling.
Garcia said the state deprived thousands of people from "preadmission screenings, professionally appropriate assessments of their habilitative needs, specialized services to meet those needs, and active treatment."
The ruling came in a class action lawsuit filed 15 years ago on behalf of institutionalized plaintiffs represented by the Center for Public Representation, Disability Rights Texas and Sidley Austin LLP. Steven Schwartz, special counsel at the Center for Public representation, called it a landmark ruling a long time in the making.
Read more: https://www.tpr.org/public-health/2025-06-22/judge-rules-texas-has-been-illegally-placing-people-with-severe-disabilities-in-nursing-homes-for-decades
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