Margaret Wagner suffers from a form of Alzheimer''s disease characterized by screaming, agitation and aggressive behavior. In 1993, Fair Acres Geriatric Center, a county-operated intermediate nursing facility, rejected Ms. Wagner''s application for admission because its guidelines prohibit it from admitting psychiatric patients. The facility pointed to Ms. Wagner''s "sustained combative and assaultive behavior," which it claimed distinguished her from its other patients.
Ms. Wagner sued Fair Acres under §504 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973, claiming that she was denied a federally funded benefit for which she was otherwise qualified because of her disability. A district court jury returned a verdict that Ms. Wagner was otherwise qualified for admission to Fair Acres within the meaning of §504. On February 15, 1994, however, the district court entered an order granting Fair Acres'' motion for judgment as a matter of law and conditionally granting its motion for a new trial. The district court found that Ms. Wagner was not an otherwise qualified handicapped individual who had been denied a benefit solely by reason of her handicap because she had "sought admission to Fair Acres because of her handicap and not in spite of it." Observing that Fair Acres does not discriminate against others with Alzheimer''s disease, the court ruled that "the law does not require a hospital or other recipient of federal assistance to offer specialized treatment for particular hardships." Wagner v. Fair Acres Geriatric Center, 859 F. Supp. 776, 782 (E.D. Pa. 1994). Ms. Wagner appealed.
The court vacates the district court''s rulings, finding ample evidence that Ms. Wagner was otherwise qualified for admission to Fair Acres in accordance with §504. The court points out that, taken to its logical conclusion, the district court''s focus on why Ms. Wagner sought access to Fair Acres would mean that "no program, service or institution designed specifically to meet the needs of the handicapped would ever have to comply with section 504 because every applicant would seek access to the program or facility because of a handicap, not in spite of it." That Ms. Wagner was "a challenging and demanding patient," the court holds, alone cannot justify her exclusion from a nursing home that receives federal funds. Finally, the court finds that Fair Acres failed to demonstrate that the admission of Ms. Wagner would have imposed an undue burden on the facility. The court vacates both the district court''s order granting judgment as a matter of law and its order conditionally granting a new trial.
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