U.S. to Bar Arbitration Clauses in Nursing Home Contracts

Ann Milam alerts us to an article in the NYT today. I hadn’t realized, even though I trained as an Ombudsman, that serious issues of abuse in nursing homes were prevented from going to court. But, with a new ruling, when federal dollars are being received from Medicare or Medicaid, seniors can no longer be forced into arbitration and barred from the courts. This seems only fair to me. I recently dealt with a resident in a situation where his assisted care facility simply refused to take him back after a brief hospitalization claiming he needed a higher level of care. His doctor, nurse and social worker all pleaded his case. The DSHS worker got involved and now a volunteer lawyer is involved. There needs to be a public airing and transparency and legal options when these things occur. Barring arbitration contracts in nursing homes is a significant addition to resident rights. But we need more advocates for residents to understand those rights and work with them to resolve care issues.

To read the NYT article click here.