Are Lawsuits Against Nursing Homes Frivilous?
Posted by
Dan FrithSeptember 30, 2008 10:13 AMAs a lawyer who represents individuals and their families in cases of elder abuse and neglect, I often get the question about frivolous lawsuits. Are there frivolous lawsuits filed in America? Yes, everyday...by individuals and corporations alike. But from where I sit, the vast majority of lawsuits against the nursing home industry are not frivolous.
I believe lawsuits help keep the big guys (like corporate owners of nursing homes) honest. The type of companies that put "profits over people." Our government is surely not looking out for the most vulnerable group in our country. According to a recent report, more than 90 percent of nursing homes were cited for violations of federal health and safety standards last year, and for-profit homes were more likely to have problems than other types of nursing homes.
The problems included infected bedsores, medication mix-ups, poor nutrition as well as abuse and neglect of patients. Inspectors received 37,150 complaints about conditions in nursing homes last year, and they substantiated 39 percent of them, the report said. About one-fifth of the complaints verified by federal and state authorities involved the abuse or neglect of patients.
If federal and state inspectors are aware of this outrageous situation in our nursing homes, why isn't something being done to correct it? Maybe the owner of the corporation is a high profile politician...or just gives substantial contributions to politicians who look the other way when regulating nursing homes. Or maybe there are just too many nursing homes to be regulated by state and federal agencies who are constantly working with reduced budgets because no one wants to pay the taxes which support the agencies.
For whatever the reason, I am proud to represent elderly Americans and their families when they are neglected and abused. I think lawsuits make a difference. Corporate America needs to be held accountable and money is the ONLY thing they understand.