In August 2003

							                                               FILED
                                             OFFICE OF
                                      ADMINISTRATIVE HEARINGS

                                            «ClockedText»


STATE OF NORTH CAROLINA                                         IN THE OFFICE OF
                                                            ADMINISTRATIVE HEARINGS
COUNTY OF CUMBERLAND                                               03 DHR 0461

Janitta Brown                                       )
        Petitioner                                  )
                                                    )
       vs.                                          )                 DECISION
                                                    )
NC Dept Of Health & Human Services,                 )
 Dorothea Dix Hospital                              )
      Respondent                                    )

       On September 8, 2003, Administrative Law Judge Melissa Owens Lassiter heard this
contested case in Fayetteville, North Carolina.

                                        APPEARANCES

       For Petitioner:        Janitta Brown, Pro Se
                              735 Rock String Road
                              Fayetteville, NC 28314

       For Respondent:        M. Janette Soles
                              Assistant Attorney General
                              NC Dept. of Justice
                              PO Box 629
                              Raleigh, NC 27602-0629

                                             ISSUE

      Whether Petitioner owes Respondent a debt of $2834.92 for services rendered at
Dorothea Dix hospital from February through March 1981?

                                      FINDINGS OF FACT

1.      From February 1, 1981 through February 28, 1981, Respondent’s Dorothea Dix hospital
treated Petitioner at a daily cost of care of $88.00, for a total cost of care of $ 2464.00.

2.     From March 1, 1981 through March 5, 1981, and March 8, 1981 through March 11,
1981, Respondent treated Petitioner at a daily cost of care of $96.00, for a total cost of care of
$768.00.

3.    During her treatment, Petitioner was given the opportunity to complete a Memorandum
of Understanding, also known as an Ability to Pay statement, (“ATP”). Petitioner refused to
complete this statement and provide information about her financial ability to pay her bill for the
subject treatment. Because Petitioner failed to provide an ATP statement, she was the guarantor
to pay the full amount of her treatment.

4.     As of September 2, 2003, Respondent’s Central Billing Office had received one credit for
$1.20 on Petitioner’s account. In 2001, Respondent attached Petitioner’s 2001 income tax refund
of $395.88 to offset Petitioner’s balance due on this account. (Resp Exh 2)

5.    After receiving Petitioner’s 2001 income tax refund, Petitioner justly owed Respondent
$2834.92. (Resp Exh 2)

6.     In August 2002, Respondent filed a lien against Petitioner in the amount of $2834.92
with the Cumberland County Clerk of Court’s office.

6.      By letter dated February 28, 2003, Respondent notified Petitioner that it was intercepting
her 2002 income tax refund of $187.68 to repay the past due $2843.92 debt owed Respondent for
Petitioner’s 1981 treatment at Dorothea Dix hospital.

7.     In August 2003, Respondent mailed a letter to the Cumberland County Clerk of Court,
asking the Clerk to update its prior lien against Petitioner with the attached updated lien
($2834.92 minus $187.88), and cancel all previous liens Respondent had against Petitioner.

8.      At the administrative hearing, Petitioner first contended that she did not owe Respondent
any money for treatment at Dorothea Dix Hospital, because her husband had served in the
military and told her that the military had paid her bill at Dix Hospital. She claimed that
someone from Dix Hospital had informed her that she did not owe any monies for her treatment.
However, Petitioner failed to produce her husband, any witnesses, or any other documentation
from Dix Hospital to support this claim.

9.      Petitioner later contended that she owed less than $2834.92 for the subject treatment,
because Respondent had intercepted her 2000, 2001, and 2002 income tax refunds to offset the
unpaid balance due on this debt. Petitioner produced documents proving that Respondent had
intercepted her 2001 income tax refund totaling $395.88, and intercepted her 2002 income tax
refund totaling $187.88 to offset the subject debt. However, Petitioner failed to produce any
documentation proving that Respondent intercepted her 2000 income tax refund.

10.    On March 24, 2003, Petitioner filed a petition for a contested case with the Office of
Administrative Hearings contesting Respondent’s interception of Petitioner’s 2002 income tax
refund for $187.88.

                                   CONCLUSIONS OF LAW

1.      The Office of Administrative Hearings has personal and subject matter jurisdiction over
this contested case.
2.      Pursuant to N.C. Gen. Stat. § 143-117, all persons admitted to regional psychiatric
centers operated by Respondent, such as Dorothea Dix Hospital, are required to pay the actual
cost of their care, treatment, training, and maintenance at such centers.

3.      Chapter 105A of the North Carolina General Statutes authorizes Respondent to claim all
or a portion of an individual’s North Carolina income tax refund to satisfy all or portion of a debt
owed to it by such individual.

4.     Pursuant to N.C. Gen. Stat. § 105A-8, “a decision made after a hearing under this section
must determine whether a debt is owed to the State agency and the amount of the debt.”

5.     Respondent has proven the requirements of N.C. Gen. Stat. § 105A-8 that as of February
2003, Petitioner owed an unpaid debt totaling $2834.92 to Respondent for treatment she received
at Dix Hospital in 1981.

                                            DECISION

        Based upon the foregoing Findings of Fact and Conclusions of Law, the undersigned
hereby determines that Respondent was entitled to offset Petitioner’s 2002 income tax refund of
$187.88, to offset the $2834.92 debt Petitioner owed Respondent, and therefore, Respondent’s
action in so doing should be AFFIRMED.

                                             ORDER

       It is hereby ordered that the agency serve a copy of the final decision on the Office of
Administrative Hearing, P.O. Drawer 27447, Raleigh, NC 27611-7447, in accordance with North
Carolina General Statute 150B-36(b).

                                             NOTICE

      The agency making the final decision in this contested case is required to give each party
an opportunity to file exceptions to this recommended decision and the present written
arguments to those in the agency who will make the final decision. G.S. 150B-36(a).

        The agency is required by G.S. 150B-36b to serve a copy of the final agency decision on
all parties and to furnish a copy to the parties’ attorney on record and to the Office of
Administrative Hearings.

      The agency that will make the final decision in this contested case is the North Carolina
Department of Health and Human Services.

       This the 15th day of September, 2003

                                                   _________________________________
                                                   Melissa Owens Lassiter
                                                   Administrative Law Judge