Health Tips

This week John Perconti, one of our Chicago nursing home abuse lawyers, was asked to provide some perspective on recent nursing home related legal decisions for the popular database Lawyers.com. The two state Supreme Court cases (Shotts v. OP Winter Haven and Gessa v. Manor Care of Florida) have both been heralded as important wins for nursing home residents and their advocates. The cases struck down certain aspects of nursing home arbitration clauses which put damage caps in place which were lower than those allowable in state courts.

Our Illinois nursing home neglect lawyers have repeatedly warned local consumers about the dangers of these arbitration clauses. They represent a backhanded way that these facilities seek to avoid being held accountable for their conduct which harms residents. The clauses are parts of the admissions contracts that residents and their families sign when they begin living in a home. When signing the complex, confusing, and overwhelming documents consumers often unknowingly sign away a bevy of rights. The agreements often include clauses which force disagreements to be litigated via arbitration (not the regular court system). In addition, the clauses also attempt to limit the award that can be recovered. That was the issue in each of these major cases.

Fortunately, the courts here issued important rulings respecting the rights of community members not to have their substantive rights infringed when they use these agreements. In Schotts, the issue was whether a forced arbitration clause was valid which held that the arbiter was not allowed to award punitive damages. In Gessa, a provision in the arbitration agreement capped non-economic damages at $250,000 in addition to banning all punitive damage. The courts found both clauses invalid.

Our Chicago nursing home abuse attorney John Perconti explained how these decisions (which were out of Florida) may impact similar agreements in states across the country. Nursing homes in other states may now think twice before imposing these damage caps in their agreements. He went on to note that fortunately these clauses are not often used in Illinois. He said, “We have not seen any clauses imposing damage caps in any of the nursing home contracts as they would violate Illinois public policy and undermine the remedies set forth in the Illinois Nursing Home Care Act.”

Courts are prone to strike down these agreements if they go against the spirit of legislation meant to deter nursing home neglect or abuse. Similarly, many of these agreements are signed by families in situations akin to duress—often after a loved one was hospitalized. Attorney Perconti noted that “It is analogous to patients admitted to the emergency room or hospital who sign without fully understanding the legalities involved.”

While these court ruling are positive protections for nursing home consumers. It remains important for all those signing nursing home admission documents to pay particular attention to the materials. We recommend that arbitration clauses not be signed. The consumer can ask that the clause be stricken from the contract. Many of these facilities are hoping to fill their beds, and they may be open to eliminate the clause if it means that they will get another resident. Failure to make the demand means that families are signing away vital rights to a jury trial, the ability to collect evidence, or appeal rulings.

See Our Related Blog Posts:

Legislation Introduced to Remove Unfairness of Mandatory Arbitration Clauses

U.S. Senate Arbitration Fairness Act Would Provide Fairness for Nursing Home Abuse Victims

from: http://rss.justia.com/~r/IllinoisNursingHomeAbuseBlogCom/~3/pv28k1EqQR8/chicago_nursing_home_neglect_a_1.html

With more than 900 posts, it’s been a busy year for the Health Blog. We thought we’d close out the year by highlighting a few of our (and our readers’) favorites. As with our “best of” last year, this is a thoroughly unscientifically determined list, with posts chosen by subject matter, quirk factor or just because they tickled us.

Enjoy the look back, and happy new year! We’ll be off for the holiday on Monday and will return Jan. 3.

CDC Advises on Zombie Apocalypse and Other Emergencies: The CDC was full of useful (and unexpected) tips in 2011. In May it advised on preparing for a battle against the walking dead as a means of getting people to pay attention to general emergency preparedness. Then in December, the agency’s Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report described a case of a bacterial infection contracted by two men — apparently as a result of castrating lambs with their teeth. Who knew?

Second High-Profile XMRV-Related Paper Retracted: The WSJ’s Amy Dockser Marcus continued to follow the developments in the chronic fatigue syndrome/XMRV saga this year in both the paper and the blog. By the end of the year, two high-profile papers suggesting a possible link between CFS and the retrovirus had been retracted, but we’re sure there’s more to come on this topic in 2012. In the meantime, catch up on what you’ve missed with all the blog’s coverage of chronic fatigue syndrome.

Countdown to Generic Lipitor: What’s In It For Drugstores: One of the bigger trends in pharma this year was the host of drugs ready to lose patent protection — chief among them Pfizer’s blockbuster Lipitor. That had big implications not only for the drug maker, but for consumers, health insurers and PBMs, patients — and, as this post reports, drugstores.

Fido Needs His Meds: Drug Shortages Affect Veterinary Care: We’ve had plenty of coverage on the shortage of critical drugs in 2011 (see here and here for just two examples). And pets were affected too, as we reported in August.

Doctor and Patient or Provider and Consumer?: The profession of medicine has changed a lot over the last few decades. One change that’s not particularly welcomed by many doctors is the shift to being called a “provider” of medical care. Nor do many enjoy thinking of their patients as “consumers.” Can the doctor-patient relationship be saved?

Jobs’ Death Focuses Attention on Rare Form of Pancreatic Cancer: The untimely death of Steve Jobs was one of the big news events of the year. As this post by the WSJ’s Ron Winslow notes, it also focused attention on a tumor with a widely varying prognosis about which little is known. Read it to learn more about the disease that afflicted Jobs — and also to remember what this remarkable man accomplished in the years between his diagnosis and death.

Image: iStockphoto

from: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/wsj/health/feed/~3/djgC0oZcVko/

The future of the health-care overhaul law hinges on a decision by the Supreme Court in 2012; the court will hear a case challenging the law’s constitutionality over three days starting March 26, with a decision expected by the end of June. Meantime, though, more provisions of the law are due to be implemented next year. The Kaiser Family Foundation counts 10 such provisions, eight of which it says are in progress already. Among them:

• Lowering rebates to Medicare Advantage plans and providing bonus payments to high-quality plans.
• Allowing providers to form accountable care organizations, intended to let them better coordinate care of Medicare beneficiaries. In October, the Obama administration loosened the rules for the program after providers complained about the early version.
• Lowering reimbursement for preventable hospital readmissions. Hospitals have been gearing up for the change, as the WSJ’s Informed Patient column reported earlier this year.

In 2011, 20 provisions were due to go into effect, including the so-called medical loss ratio and discounts for Medicare prescription-drug beneficiaries who hit the “doughnut hole.”

The major provisions of the law, however, including the controversial individual mandate to purchase coverage and requirement that insurers accept all comers, don’t take effect until 2014 — if the law isn’t struck down or repealed. Here’s the Obama Administration’s timeline for the implementation of the law.

from: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/wsj/health/feed/~3/PGTEjv3xQog/