Nursing Home Lawsuits Are Harder to Pursue In the Wake of Bush Administration’s New Rule
Now that Medicaid and Medicare contractors and state inspectors have been designated as federal employees, they cannot give evidence when cases arise involving private litigation unless the Department of Health and Human Services has approved their participation. The Bush Administration issued this new ruling last September without consulting or notifying the public.
The rule was supposedly enacted, according to the old administration, so that workers would not be diverted from their certification, survey, and enforcement responsibilities. However, some 15,000 nursing care facilities and 3 million patients could be affected by the restrictions.
Litigants on both sides are now finding it even harder to resolve any nursing home abuse lawsuits. Both plaintiffs and defendants have to jump through even more hoops to obtain depositions, court orders, and inspection reports. This new rule also makes it harder for patients and their families to get information about the care that a resident might be getting at a US nursing home that is the recipient of federal assistance.
National Senior Citizens Law Center Attorney Eric Carlson, one of the rule’s critics, says that this allows nursing homes and inspectors to keep certain bad practices secret, which negatively affects residents and their families. For example, one woman whose parents, Clare and Mavis Knutson, are 2 of the 15 patients that six teenage nursing home assistants are accused of harassing and abusing at an Albert Lea nursing home, is having a tough time getting information about the care her parents received at the nursing home.
The nursing home industry also says it is being affected by this block in information. For example, American Health Care Association legal counsel Priscilla Shoemaker says that the industry is having a hard time finding out what state inspectors are doing to determine which nursing homes should be issued citations or penalties or should be shut down.
Now more than ever, it is important that you work with an experienced Chicago nursing home abuse lawyer who knows how to get the information you need so that you can successfully pursue your nursing home abuse lawsuit.
New Rule Enacted by Bush Administration Impedes Cases Against Nursing Homes, Washington Post, February 24, 2009
Related Web Resources:
Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services
Nursing-home records closed off, The News & Observer, February 27, 2009
Chicago Nursing Home Abuse Attorney Steve Malman will bring his years of his experience to your case. Contact the Law Offices of Steven J Malman & Associates, PC today.
