Unlawful discrimination can occur long before decision-makers reach the point of deciding whether to accept a particular applicant for a space in a nursing home, the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Ohio recently pointed out.

   According to the court, there are many ways a nursing home might try illegally to discourage applicants it does not want. A nursing home can commit unlawful race discrimination in the way applicants are solicited and encouraged. A nursing home can commit discrimination in the way applicants and family members are treated when they ask questions about the facility or in choosing which potential residents to notify and when to notify them about openings. A nursing home can commit discrimination by offering successful applicants different terms for placement.

   The court approved the practice of Federal civil rights authorities sending in white and black investigators posing as family members seeking information about placing a relative, to see if there is a pattern of different treatment based on color, after complaints about a particular facility have been received.

   The court noted there is an exemption from the anti-discrimination laws for a nursing home run by a religious organization to accept its members preferentially, even if they all happen to be white.