Letter to the Editor: Nursing Home Arbitration Bill
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Read NSCLC Attorney Harper Jean Tobin's letter to the editor of the New York Times regarding a new law that would protect nursing home residents and their families from being forced into arbitration.
October 7, 2008
Letters
Nursing Home Disputes
To the Editor:
Re “Report Finds Violations at Most Nursing Homes” (news article, Sept. 30):
The epidemic of poor care in nursing homes calls for better incentives for the industry.
One bad incentive today arises from the ability of nursing home facilities to shunt serious cases of abuse or injury into a secretive, industry-controlled arbitration system. Many admission contracts now contain skewed arbitration clauses that residents, often in the midst of a crisis, are in no position to weigh or refuse.
By keeping disputes out of court and out of the public record, nursing homes hide abuses and avoid accountability.
The solution is a bipartisan bill now before Congress that would protect residents and families from being forced into arbitration unwillingly.
Passing this legislation, recently approved by both the House and Senate Judiciary Committees, would be an important step toward protecting residents and improving the quality of care.
Harper Jean Tobin
Washington, Oct. 2, 2008
The writer is a staff attorney for the Herbert Semmel Federal Rights Project, National Senior Citizens Law Center.
Read the article online:
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/10/07/opinion/lweb07nursing.html
