Nursing homes want to limit lawsuits

By THEO EMERY • Staff Writer • April 6, 2008

It was two years ago that a doctor forced Patricia Crouch to gaze at the gaping bedsore that had festered under her mother's bandages for months.

The sight sent Crouch's sister screaming down the hall, and has now pushed the family into the middle of a fierce legislative debate.

Crouch, along with her six brothers and sisters, sued the nursing home, claiming negligence caused their mother's sore and hastened her death. While the nursing home battles the lawsuit in court, the nursing home industry as a whole is fighting to impose new limits on such lawsuits.

Opponents and supporters have engaged powerful allies, and the battle is playing out against a broader backdrop of long-term care reform. Gov. Phil Bredesen has made it an administration priority to find ways to keep more Tennesseans at home and out of nursing homes.

A bill under discussion in the state legislature would put limits on litigation against nursing homes, such as Crouch's lawsuit and those filed after the 2003 Nashville nursing home fire that killed more than a dozen residents. Its original wording would keep many lawsuits out of courts altogether, make the cases more difficult to pursue, and cap damages, but the bill is expected to be revised and weakened because of opposition.

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