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And right on cue, here come the LAWSUITS....


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Exactly what I posted about last week.  Lawyers have been licking their chops waiting in the wings and this week the dam breaks.  

It's going to be a legal nightmare out there.  If you have seen or are seeing Covid patients....document document document.  Assume every one of those charts will be sent to a lawyers office.  If you send someone home, document their disposition and especially discharge vitals.  I would be getting vitals before and after they are seen in Urgent Care and Family Practice so when they go home and crash as many have, you can at least have some justification to point to as to why you sent them home.

This is going to be ugly folks, please don't let all the "you are protected from being named in a lawsuit because it's a pandemic" BS lull you into a false sense of confidence....It's not true.

I also recommend strongly considering CM&F's PA asset guard.  It piggy backs off of your group malpractice plan, but they hire a lawyer to represent you specifically.  

This article talks about the first broad wave of litigation, but I am already aware of families suing hospitals, clinics and providers over their so called "egregious care" when the patient does not do well.

Protect yourself and good luck to us all.

https://www.sfgate.com/news/article/First-wave-of-virus-litigations-are-filed-15241175.php

 

 

https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2020-04-02/life-or-death-hospital-decisions-come-with-threat-of-lawsuits

 

...Litigation by families of those who lose out in triage is only a matter of time, said health care attorney Andrew Wachler. He said he expects such lawsuits to be filed shortly after the contagion’s peak.

Edited by Cideous
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This just shows that our country's culture is all about "what can I get..." and our court systems have applauded this behavior for decades.

It's the same as some of the protesters who have made comments about their parents dying to allow for society to reopen...they get their inheritance sooner...or maybe more importantly they can get their hair colored and cut.

As for purchasing something like CM&F's Asset guard, would that be retroactive?  I have zero personal concern regarding being named in a lawsuit associated with covid, but I would be highly surprised if that product would be retroactive to include care provided over the last 6+ weeks.

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17 minutes ago, mgriffiths said:

This just shows that our country's culture is all about "what can I get..." and our court systems have applauded this behavior for decades.

It's the same as some of the protesters who have made comments about their parents dying to allow for society to reopen...they get their inheritance sooner...or maybe more importantly they can get their hair colored and cut.

As for purchasing something like CM&F's Asset guard, would that be retroactive?  I have zero personal concern regarding being named in a lawsuit associated with covid, but I would be highly surprised if that product would be retroactive to include care provided over the last 6+ weeks.

It's not retroactive but would help going forward and Covid will be with us for a long time...

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2 hours ago, Mayamom said:

And the law suits facing nursing homes is going to just as bad.  I am so glad I got out of clinical care last year.  Still have to purchase malpractice insurance but I sleep much better at night.  

I can't see any nursing homes with Covid outbreaks surviving.  They are going to blow past their limits.  My concern for providers is when the clinics/hospitals or private practices blow past their liability limits.  After that, it's all on us.

Edited by Cideous
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50 minutes ago, Cideous said:

I can't see any nursing homes with Covid outbreaks surviving

Very sad.  I'm sure most of them did they best they could with what they had to work with.  Agree it will put a lot out of business the other NH that survive will then be charging more than what they already do.  This pandemic has far reaching consequence. 

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9 hours ago, Cideous said:

I can't see any nursing homes with Covid outbreaks surviving.

Meh, unless Americans suddenly lose our selfishness to the point we're willing to keep aging grandparents home until they die, there will be nursing homes forever.  The ownership may change, but the entities will exist.

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4 hours ago, MediMike said:

I don't know about selfishness. Just because you're old or you're family doesn't mean you're a good person.

You're on your own crappy Grandma.

That is certainly true in many cases, but I don't think it's sufficient to explain the sheer number of warehoused elderly.

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18 hours ago, rev ronin said:

Meh, unless Americans suddenly lose our selfishness to the point we're willing to keep aging grandparents home until they die, there will be nursing homes forever.  The ownership may change, but the entities will exist.

https://abcnews.go.com/Health/wireStory/faced-19000-dead-care-homes-seek-shield-lawsuits-70478930

 

Gonna be a bloodbath legally speaking Rev.

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48 minutes ago, Cideous said:

Gonna be a bloodbath legally speaking Rev.

Sure it might be, but just because the holding companies go bankrupt doesn't mean the nursing homes will vanish.  Someone else will buy them, charge even more, and get the lowest quality folks they can to work in them to maximize their profit while not quite killing off the residents in any actionable/sanctionable way. Gotta love American capitalism!

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