Bee Editorial:
A Good View on Nursing Home Forced Arbitration Agreements
The Law Firm of Sean R. Laird applauds Senator Waxman’s desire to protect nursing home residents .
Elder abuse and neglect in Sacramento nursing homes is a systemic problem. From dehydration to death, infected bedsores, medication errors, repeated falls, and more, local homes have been plagued by ongoing neglect. What is more concerning is the industry’s fight to keep families from seeking justice by forcing them into arbitration, rather than having their day in court.
– December 1, 2015 –
Former Senator Henry Waxman wrote a great op-ed piece in the Sacramento Bee, lauding the prosed CMS rule banning forced arbitration agreements in Nursing Homes. The Law Firm of Sean R. Laird endorses this article and warns families – do not sign these agreements.
That’s why, as an original author of the Federal Nursing Home Reform Act that granted the center regulatory authority over nursing homes, I strongly urge it to ban forced arbitration because its sole function is to evade accountability…
Predispute arbitration clauses deny patients and their families this fundamental right – an injustice made all the more egregious because they are almost always signed under duress. And it gets worse. If your mother suffered abuse or neglect and you choose to do something about it, you will enter a kangaroo court in which the outcome is rigged against you. Not only does the nursing home choose the arbitrator (who then has a financial incentive to side with the home to obtain repeat business), but you have no right to appeal the decision of the arbitrator, who may have little or no legal training.
Read the full article here:
