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Opinion: Placing Special Interest Above Senior Consumers
Senate Aging Committee Continues Republican
Assault on Senior Citizens' Rights
By Tucker Sutherland, editor
July 13, 2004 - In another example of the
Republican assault on senior citizen consumers, the U.S. Senate Special
Committee on Aging, controlled by Republican Senator Larry Craig, will
hold a hearing on litigation in long-term care facilities without a
consumer advocate or eldercare attorney on the witness list.
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Bedsores or
Decubitus Ulcers
One of the most painful killers
found in nursing home patients is the decubitus ulcer, more
commonly called a bed sore or pressure sore. They eat through
the flesh to the bone, as this once has done in the photo above.
They are most often caused by the constant pressure on sensitive
parts of the body. They can be prevented by frequent turning of
the patent. |
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A popular “catch phrase” used by the Republicans is
“tort reform.” It sounds good – isn’t reform supposed to mean something
better? The truth is the Republicans have used this tactic to limit what
consumers can win when suing special interest for personal damages
caused by their mistakes. They focus on limiting “non-economic awards.”
In other words, “OK, we made a mistake in letting you develop bed sores
that ate through your flesh to the bone, so you get your money back.
Forget about all the pain and suffering or loss of life.”
Here is the lead from the news release by the aging
committee, “As medical liability insurance costs for doctors in nursing
homes continue to rise dramatically, Senator Larry Craig, chairman of
the U.S. Senate Special Committee on Aging, announced his committee will
examine a potential crisis for nursing home patients at a hearing titled
“Medical Liability in Long-Term Care: Is Escalating Litigation a Threat
to Quality and Access?”
So, the reason for this hearing is that insurance
costs are go up for doctors who work in nursing homes. A more
appropriate hearing might focus on the reasons for the insurance cost
increases. Are the insurance companies increasing their profits? Are the
insurance companies failing to control their costs? That would not
really fit the Republican agenda – the big insurance companies and
medical associations are major suppliers of their political funding.
Senior citizen consumer groups and nursing home patient advocates would
certainly not fit into that criteria.
To be straight forward, I must say that my daughter
is an elder abuse attorney and has helped seniors with many cases
brought against nursing homes. I have reviewed many of these cases and
even helped with her presentations. What is happening in nursing homes
is absolutely appalling.
This condemnation of the case in nursing homes is
not an indictment of all nursing homes or all the medical professionals
that work in them. The majority are caring professionals who do a good
job of caring for elderly and sick patients. There is, however, still a
major problem in the care provided by nursing homes.
The Baltimore Globe early this year began a news
report with this lead, “Nursing homes and hospitals, where most
Americans spend their final days, regularly fail to treat dying patients
with respect or provide needed emotional support, according to the most
definitive national survey yet of surviving family members. Bereaved
relatives also faulted the medical care provided to their loved ones.
Nearly one-quarter of those dying at nursing homes
didn't get relief for labored breathing, nearly one-third didn't get
enough care for pain, and nearly 20 percent suffered because of the
staff's incomplete knowledge of the patient's medical history, the
survey found.” For the complete story
Click Here
In another story the Globe explored why there has
been an increase in cases brought against nursing homes. “The surge in
suits does not appear to be a result of a deterioration of the care,
researchers and lawyers said, but rather an increase in the value
society puts on the lives of the elderly and an unwillingness to accept
falls, bed sores, and diseases such as pneumonia as an expected part of
the nursing home experience.
So, the increase in lawsuits may be due to an
increased value placed by society on our elderly. We are not satisfied
to say their lives are over and it is time for them to be warehoused.
The aging committee news release said, “According
to a survey released earlier this year by the American Medical Directors
Association, over 20 percent of physicians who work in nursing homes
interviewed said they had problems obtaining or renewing their medical
liability insurance in the past year. Of those doctors, more than 30
percent said insurers refused to cover them because they work in nursing
homes and more than 12 percent of those physicians said that insurance
carriers had pulled out of the nursing home market in their areas.”
Click to this story in American Medical Association News.
These doctors, too, might focus more on how to
correct the problems in nursing homes, which are causing the lawsuits,
which may be causing their insurance to increase.
The news release proudly reports, “Thursday's
hearing comes just as the Senate is considering legislation to shift
many class-action suits to federal courts in an effort to stop lawyers
from seeking easier state courts that are known to hand out huge awards.
A similar bill has passed the House and the bill before the Senate has
the support of more than 60 senators.”
There is more than a little editorializing in that
statement. It seems to me it was once the Republican Party that
championed states’ rights. This bill, however, is not doing well in the
Senate, as even some Republicans are listening to their senior
constituents.
One of the groups that should have been represented
on the aging committee witness list is the The National Citizens’
Coalition for Nursing Home Reform (NCCNHR), which in 2002 applauded the
Senate Special Committee on Aging for investigating the plight of elders
who have been victimized by criminal abuse in nursing homes.
“One of the underlying reasons for criminal
behavior against elders is the well-documented chronic understaffing in
nursing homes,” said the NCCNHR. “According to a 2002 study
commissioned by the federal government, over 90 percent of nursing homes
have staffing levels below that identified as minimally necessary to
provide minimally adequate care for their residents. When there are no
staff members to provide services and to monitor protection, our elders
are vulnerable to unthinkable and unacceptable crimes against them.
That's why NCCNHR has called for the federal government, Congress, and
the states to require minimum staff-to-patient ratios.”
Click to their Website.
They have also spoken out against the lawsuit
award caps.
This hearing will be Thursday, July 15, at 2:00
p.m. in room 628 of the Dirksen Senate Office Building in Washington,
DC. It will be webcast under the “Hearings” section of the Aging
Committee’s website and available for viewing later at
http://aging.senate.gov. Prepared witness testimony
will be available on that website once the hearing begins. An audiocast
of the hearing may also be available – during the hearing only – on the
C-SPAN “hearings” website, located at
http://www.capitolhearings.org.
Below is the witness list.
Witnesses:
• J. Norman Estes, President and CEO, Northport Health Services -NHS
Management, Tuscaloosa, Alabama
• Theresa Bourdon, Managing Director and Actuarial, Aon Risk Consultants
Inc., Columbia, Maryland
• James E. Lett II, Immediate Past President, American Medical Directors
Association, Carmichael, California
• David Stevenson, Assistant Professor, Harvard University, Cambridge,
Massachusetts
• Marshall B. Kapp, Distinguished Professor of Law and Medicine,
Southern Illinois University - School of Law, Carbondale, Illinois
Mr. Kapp received the Journal of Healthcare Risk
Management Award for Writing Excellence as Author of the Year from the
American Society for Healthcare Risk Management. The American Society
for Healthcare Risk Management is a personal membership group of the
American Hospital Association
• Lawrence M. Cutchin, MD, President, North Carolina Medical Society,
Tarboro, North Carolina
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