“Nursing homes wield pandemic immunity laws to duck wrongful death suits,” by Fred Schulte, KFF Health News
“More than four years after COVID first raged through many U.S. nursing homes, hundreds of lawsuits blaming patient deaths on negligent care have been tossed out or languished in the courts amid contentious legal battles. Even some nursing homes that were shut down by health officials for violating safety standards have claimed immunity against such suits, court records show. And some families that allege homes kept them in the dark about the health of their loved ones, even denying there were cases of COVID in the building, have had their cases dismissed.”
LTC Comment, Stephen A. Moses, President, Center for Long-Term Care Reform:
KFF’s outrage is misplaced. Medicaid dominates nursing home care and pays often less than care costs, too little to ensure quality. Yet Medicaid is unmentioned in this article. The only way to ensure LTC quality is with a free market in which consumers vote with their feet if they are dissatisfied. Government will always pay too little and suppress lawsuits that seek redress.
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