U.S. to bar arbitration clauses in nursing home contracts
A federal agency has moved to prevent nursing homes from forcing claims of elder abuse, sexual harassment and even wrongful death into the private system of justice known as arbitration.
The agency, the Department of Health and Human Services, on Wednesday issued a rule that bars any nursing home or assisted-living facility that receives federal funding from inserting an arbitration clause into its contracts.
The rule, which would affect 1.5 million nursing home residents, promises to deliver major new protections.
Clauses embedded in the fine print of nursing home admissions contracts have pushed disputes about safety and the quality of care out of public view and into arbitration.
The system has helped the nursing home industry reduce its legal costs, but it has stymied
“The sad reality is that today too many Americans must choose between forfeiting their legal rights and getting adequate medical care.”
– SEN. PATRICK LEAHY, D-VT.
the families of nursing home residents from getting justice, even in the case of homicide.
A case involving a 100-yearold woman who was strangled by her roommate was initially blocked from court.
So was a case brought by the family of a 94-year-old woman who had died at a nursing home in Murrysville, Pa., from a head wound that had been left to fester. The cases were the subject of a front-page article in The New York Times in November.
“The sad reality is that today too many Americans must choose between forfeiting their legal rights and getting adequate medical care,” Sen. Patrick Leahy, D-Vt., said in a statement Wednesday.
The new rule comes after officials in 16 states and the District of Columbia urged the government to cut off funding to nursing homes that use the clauses, arguing that arbitration kept patterns of wrongdoing hidden from prospective residents and their families.
With its decision, the federal agency has restored a fundamental right of millions of patients across the country: their day in court.