Study Reveals Illegal Provisions in Nursing Home Admission Contracts
Posted by
Dan FrithDecember 22, 2007 6:11 AMThe National Senior Citizens Law Center (NSCLC) this week released a report entitled, Think Twice Before Signing: Improper and Unfair Provisions in Missouri Nursing Home Admission Agreements. The report summarizes the results of a study of admission agreements from 175 Missouri nursing facilities. Although focused on nursing homes in Missouri, we have seen these very same issues in our cases in Virginia, West Virginia, and Tennessee.
The study found that 25 percent of the admission agreements contained at least one provision designed to lower the expectation of residents and their families about the care they would receive. One admission agreement, for example, said that its services were "not designed to somehow protect the resident from everyday, normal risks and responsibilities of living, including ... situations such as falling, choking and weight loss and/or dehydration." In a similar vein, another agreement made it clear that an inadequate level of care would be the problem of the resident and family, rather than the facility:
Resident/Representative further understands and agrees that if they believe that the Resident is not receiving the level of care which meets their expectation, the Resident/Representative has the right to either pay for additional care through the use of private-duty personnel or to remove the Resident from the Facility and place the Resident in another health care setting, which the Resident/Representative believes would be more suitable to the Resident's needs.
Other illegal provisions and their prevalence:
o 62 percent of the admission agreements waived to some extent a nursing facility's legal responsibility for a resident's personal injury.
o 74 percent of the admission agreements waived some of a nursing facility's liability for a resident's lost or stolen personal property.
o 51 percent of the admission agreements either required a financial guarantee of a family member or friend, or solicited a supposedly "voluntary" guarantee.
o 17 percent of the admission agreements allowed involuntary transfer/discharge at the facility's discretion.
Each such provision is contrary to the federal law's requirement that a nursing facility meet a resident's needs and assist residents as appropriate with activities of daily living. Know your rights under the law.