Malpractice Liability in Long-Term Care: A Changing Environment
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Authors
Kapp, Marshall B.
Issue Date
1991
Volume
24
Issue
Type
Journal Article
Language
Keywords
Alternative Title
Abstract
INTRODUCTION|Anxiety about professional malpractice liability has not consumed providers of long-term care in the United States with the same fervor that in the last two decades it has overwhelmed health care professionals and administrators who toil in acute care and medical office environments. Today, however, the American long-term care enterprise is in the midst of a very dynamic period, and changes taking place in the general environment of providing long-term care services to older adults may affect the potential liability exposure of a provider community that had been fairly well sheltered from the malpractice litigation explosion of the 1970s and 1980s.|This Article examines the current legal environment of long- term care and its possible liability consequences. Special emphasis is placed on the nursing home industry. After an introduction to relevant demographics and the structure of long-term care in the United States, the traditional under representation of the elderly in malpractice litigation is discussed. This is followed by comments on the stirrings of interest in nursing home litigation among members of the plaintiffs' personal injury bar. Particular attention is paid to the potential ramifications of new federal nursing home regulations for the tort litigation climate, as well as the influence of voluntary or private standards of care and the network of resources from which attorneys representing nursing home patients may draw support...
Description
Citation
24 Creighton L. Rev. 1235 (1990-1991)
Publisher
Creighton University School of Law