Nursing Homes Sue Biden Administration Over Staffing Mandate
The rise in for-profit nursing homes has caused numerous serious problems across the United States. Quality of care issues, nursing home abuse and neglect, and sexual or financial exploitation remain a major problem at for-profit centers. One of the key concerns cited by personal injury attorneys who file lawsuits against nursing homes involves staffing. Many of these facilities are woefully understaffed to keep costs low. In some cases, this has resulted in nursing homes failing to get medication to their patients, allowing patients to develop life-threatening bedsores and infections, allowing sexual and physical abuse to run rampant, and failing to get residents the life-saving medical services they need to prevent their deaths.
In an effort to ensure seniors get the quality of care they deserve, the Biden Administration recently passed a national staffing requirement for long-term care facilities that would ideally help alleviate many of the problems that nursing homes face. There’s only one problem. The nursing homes don’t want minimum staffing requirements and have since filed a lawsuit against the Biden Administration and its staffing quotas. The case will go to the same Texas federal court that suspended approval of abortion pills and ruled against the Biden Administration on other health issues.
Does Biden have the authority to create new minimum staffing quotas?
Three Texas nursing home operators and their trade associations filed a lawsuit recently that argues the Biden Administration lacks the authority to create new minimum staffing requirements. They further argue that this “one-size-fits-all” approach is “manifestly inappropriate.” They allege that the policy “creates impossible-to-meet standards that will harm thousands of nursing homes and the vulnerable Americans they serve.” They say that the new regulations will limit their capacity to take on residents and may force them to close entirely.
On the other side of the argument, the Biden Administration says that staffing mandates will keep nursing home residents safe and improve conditions for workers. They argue that the status quo in these nursing homes unacceptably endangers the lives of residents and drives workers into other professions. According to a 2023 AARP poll, 80% of voters approve of requiring minimum staffing standards in nursing homes
Nursing home lawsuits
Meanwhile, nursing homes are losing millions each year in personal injury and wrongful death lawsuits filed by residents and their loved ones. This too drives up the cost of nursing care and is proof that the system is not working as promised. Many residents are neglected in these environments and continue to suffer degrading and debilitating injuries as a result of nursing home neglect. While staffing ratios are a good first step to ensure that nursing homes can adequately care for their residents, the business side of the nursing home equation wants to do everything in its power to prevent that from happening.
Talk to a Nursing Home Neglect and Abuse Attorney
Patel Law, PC represents the interests of nursing home residents and their grieving family members in lawsuits filed against nursing homes for failure to adequately care for their residents. If you have been injured or lost a loved one due to nursing home neglect or abuse, call our Danville personal injury lawyers today to schedule an appointment and learn more about how we can help.
Source:
axios.com/2024/05/24/nursing-homes-sue-biden-staffing-mandate
