Fix SB 6 to protect nursing home residents
Genuine tears were shed by Texas senators a few weeks ago as they deliberated over a bill ensuring that family caregivers can visit loved ones in long-term care facilities.
No one begrudges lawmakers for showing emotion, especially during the telling of gut-wrenching stories of spouses, parents and siblings wasting away through nursing home windows due to COVID-19 restrictions.
But where’s the show of sympathy when it comes to Senate Bill 6, an equally emotion-evoking proposal that ought to light hairs on fire around the state Capitol?
Senate Bill 6 raises the threshold for liability for long-term care facilities. It makes it harder for residents and their families to hold facilities accountable for injuries and death that occur due to substandard, negligent care provided during the pandemic. It strips families of their right to legal recourse.
At AARP Texas, we’ve heard horrifying stories of residents who have starved and faced dehydration, suffered from untended festering wounds and who were injured from a fall because there was not enough staff to provide a safe transfer. These stories are personal and relatable because many of us have had a loved one in a long-term care facility or know someone who will someday.
Residents of long-term care facilities are different than other consumers contemplated in Senate Bill 6. Residents aren’t capable of leaving these facilities — their homes — if they do not like how the facility is operating. Also, COVID restrictions halted visits from family caregivers, who are often the most informed advocates for residents. State-employed resident advocates were also barred from visiting, and regular inspections and investigations ceased. Senate Bill 6 willfully ignores what residents and their families have had to endure in the past year.
Senate Bill 6 must be revised to protect Texas nursing home residents. Lawsuits by victims and their families not only bring immediate relief to those who have been harmed, they also often lead to systemic changes that can improve care for others well into the future.
Granting immunity to nursing homes contradicts positive steps taken this session by the Legislature in advancing bills that would improve nursing home care. Those measures aim to improve nursing home staffing and quality, ensure visitation for residents, create transparency around federal funds allocated during the pandemic, address emergency power supply needs in facilities and incentivize at-home care to avoid costly nursing home stays.
Senate Bill 6 must be revised to protect nursing home residents. Don’t let nursing homes off the hook for abuse and neglect during the public health emergency.