In a recent New York Times article called “Nursing Home Residents Still Vulnerable to Abuse,” the author discusses how federal regulations fail nursing home residents by not protecting them from mandatory arbitration clauses in contracts.
According to the article, forced arbitration requires residents to settle any conflicts regarding services through private arbitration rather than public lawsuits. Arbitration allows nursing homes and corporations to avoid liability, and preserve their reputations. Nursing homes also employ these clauses because private arbitration is much faster than litigation.
The article goes on to state that the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, which could have banned nursing home contracts from using arbitration clauses, allowed for homes to use them as long as they disclosed the clauses before making residents sign the contract.
Most of the disputes brought against nursing homes do not involve money but rather allegations of neglect and abuse. Unfortunately, the continuation of these arbitration clauses works to the detriment of the most vulnerable seniors.
