Congress May Ban Arbitration Provisions in Nursing Home Contracts
Mandatory arbitration in personal injury cases usually favors corporate wrongdoers. Of course that is why corporations push so hard to include arbitration provisions in contracts when consumers purchase their products and services. For a detailed discussion on why and how arbitration favors corporations in personal injury cases see my previous post.
The Nursing Home industy's attempts to sneak arbitration provisions into their contracts with nursing home residents is a particularly egregious example of corporations taking advantage of people in their time of need. The overwhelming majority of residents and their families entering into a nursing home do not know what arbitration is and are not in the state of mind to fully comprehend its implications.
Furthermore, the idea that most residents and their families can shop around for a facility that does not have an arbitration clause or negotiate the terms of such a clause is simply ludicrous. The resident and their families are focused on the medical crises that has forced the resident into entering a nursing home. It is a very emotionally draining process for everyone involved. They are not focussed on whether quality care will be provided or whether they may have to sue the nursing home if bad care is provided. Preserving their right to sue the nursing home never enters their mind.
Even if it did enter their mind, it is usually not physically possible to take the time neccessary to find the few nursing homes in the geographic area where the resident lives that do not not require signing mandatory arbitration clauses. In most situations the resident is transfered emergently to a nursing home from a hospital or home environment after a sudden medical emergency.
As a Tampa Nursing Home Abuse Attorney, I see it all the time. The nursing home does not present the contract that includes the arbitration clause until after the person is already residing in the facility. It is usually stuffed in the middle of other required paperwork. The resident or family is asked to sign without an offered explanation. Most people simply sign all the paperwork without question.
Some members of congress have recognized the inherant problems with mandatory arbitration clauses in Nursing Home cases and have proposed the "Fairness in Nursing Home Arbitration Act of 2008" to remedy the problem. The bill, HR 6126, would make any arbitration clause entered between a nursing home and a resident unenforceable if entered before a dispute between them occured. It just recently passed the House Judiciary committee and is working its way toward the possiblity of a full vote on the floor of the House of Representives. Anyone that has a loved one in a nursing home or believes a loved one may enter a nursing home at sometime in the future should contact their local members of the U.S. House of Representatives or U.S. Senate and urge them to support HR 6126.
Scott Distasio
Tampa Personal Injury Lawyer
DISTASIO LAW FIRM
HELPING INJURED PEOPLE
OFFICES: TAMPA
888-595-0022
