Malpractice Legislation Leaves Abused Elderly With No Recourse

"[Joyce] Waymack was admitted to the 180-bed facility on Northwest Drive in Albemarle County for inpatient rehabilitation in October 2002, after she suffered a mild stroke. A month later, Waymack's daughter, Alexandra Waymack-Pitts, found her mother 'badly bruised on her forehead, face, neck and chest, incoherent and in need of medical care.'" - The Daily Progress [Charlottesville, VA, 01/29/05]

Nursing Home Abuse is Common and Dangerous:

• "Even as advocates press for greater scrutiny, coroners still review only a tiny fraction of the more than 500,000 deaths that take place in nursing homes each year… A Detroit News investigation in November found a largely unnoticed epidemic of malnutrition and dehydration killed nearly 14,000 nursing home patients nationwide over four years, including about 800 in Michigan. Health records and government inspections suggest many of those deaths were the preventable consequence of a breakdown in basic medical care. The vast majority were not investigated." - ["Patients' Deaths Are Scrutinized," Detroit News, 01/30/05]
  
  
• "[M]ore than 14,000 elderly abuse or neglect complaints were filed with the Missouri Department of Health and Senior Services in 2003… It is estimated that few as one in five cases of elder abuse is reported." - ["Elder Abuse," The Examiner (Independence, MO), 01/29/05]
  
  
• "Each year, medication errors [in long-term care facilities] result in over 7,000 deaths, and countless avoidable injuries and hospitalizations. These preventable errors result in approximately $2 billion in medical expenses annually." - Sen. Olympia Snowe (R-ME) [Press Release, 09/21/04]
  
  
• "The proportion of nursing homes with serious quality problems remains unacceptably high… Actual harm or more serious deficiencies were cited for 20 percent, or about 3,500 nursing homes, during an 18-month period ending January 2002." - ["GAO Report on Nursing Home Quality," 07/15/03]

The Pending Federal Malpractice Law Will Hurt Seniors in Every State:

• "Jackie Smith has a hard time with the idea that suing over her mother's rape in a nursing home is 'frivolous....' Smith herself had never had reason to sue anyone, until 2:30 am on November 7, 2003, when a male nurse noticed that a patient's door at the Heritage Duval Gardens Nursing Home in Austin was closed when it should have been open. He heard crying, and when he snapped on the light, he saw a man leap from the bed of an elderly woman...It fell to Frank Ivy, an Austin lawyer, to explain that tort reform in Texas had made her suit almost impossible financially no matter how negligent Heritage had been." - ["Look Who's Behind Tort Reform," The Nation, 10/06/04]
  
  
• "[L]egal protections the Florida Legislature approved in 2001 and implemented in 2002 included caps on damages in certain nursing-home lawsuits and a ban on certain attorneys fees… Despite protection from lawsuits, the industry claims it is unable to afford paying for more staffing without taxpayer assistance." - ["Governor Would Delay Funding for Nursing Aid," Orlando Sentinel, 02/02/05]
  
  
• "Republican lawmakers Monday unveiled legislation to put new limits on medical malpractice lawsuits and other personal injury claims… The measure also would define pharmaceutical companies and nursing homes as 'health-care providers,' extending the malpractice caps to them as well." - [Missouri GOP Lawmakers Want Limits in Injury Suits," Kansas City Star, 02/01/05]
  
  
• "Doctors and lawyers have agreed on a modified medical malpractice bill without a controversial cap being placed on pain and suffering jury awards… [It] redefines medical malpractice to include nursing homes. Problems in nursing homes often are treated now as breach-of-contract lawsuits, not malpractice cases." - ["Medical Malpractice Cap Removed From Compromise Bill," Daily Press (Newport News, VA), 01/22/05]
  
  
• "The Arkansas nursing-home industry is drafting legislation that would give the state's Medicaid program a bigger share of settlements in abuse and neglect lawsuits. But opponents claim the plan is a 'backdoor' attempt at 'tort reform' that will instead drain Medicaid and reduce quality of care. Under the Arkansas Health Care Association proposal, Medicaid could recover all its payments that had been made on behalf of a resident who successfully sues a nursing home for negligent care or abuse… By discouraging lawsuits, the change would neutralize the most potent guarantee residents' families have that their relatives will be properly cared for…" - ["Critics See Nursing Home Trade Sneaking In 'Tort Reform'," Arkansas Democrat-Gazette (Little Rock), 01/27/05]

February 4, 2005