Just four years since the National Healthcare Corporation (NHC) nursing home fires killed 16 residents in Nashville - and in a year when nursing home violations and admission suspensions are at an all time high - Tennessee nursing homes are seeking unprecedented legal protection from residents who are abused or neglected.

The move came two days after Governor Phil Bredesen announced he will fundamentally restructure how long-term care is handled in Tennessee by expanding alternatives to nursing homes.

State Sen. Jim Tracy (R-Shelbyville) and state Rep. Randy Rinks (D-Savannah) introduced the bill last week that would severely restrict the rights of nursing home victims and their families to seek justice no matter how bad the injury they suffer and no matter how bad the conduct of the home. The type of neglect and abuse recently documented in Tennessee nursing homes ranges from maggots in wounds to untreated broken bones to rape.

NHC, which reported more than $500 million in annual gross profits in 2006 and whose CEO Robert G. Adams makes more than $1.3 million a year, is one of the supporters of the legislation. NHC is the same corporation that owned the Nashville nursing home where 16 residents perished in September 2003, and that owns a nursing home in Milan, Tenn. that put residents "at risk of injury or death from a fire," according to a June 20, 2007 inspection report of the Tennessee Department of Health.

The legislation would ensure that:

- Residents would have little to no recourse against nursing homes no matter how bad the conduct of a home.

- Nursing homes can demand that residents sign arbitration agreements in order to live there, making nursing home residents the least protected class in the state.

"This proposed legislation is a slap in the face to some of Tennessee's most vulnerable citizens - the residents of nursing homes and their families," said Karla C. Hewitt, president of Tennessee Citizen Action, a grassroots consumer protection organization. "How dare the nursing homes propose such a bill just four years after 16 people perished in a fire that was caused by its negligence, and in a year when nursing home violations are at an all-time high."

"Nursing home residents are suffering. Inspectors have found residents with maggots in their wounds and broken bones that aren't treated," Hewitt continued. "And now this billion dollar industry wants to take away the rights of individual residents to sue? This shows how low the nursing homes will go to protect their shareholders' profits."

Though the nursing home industry complains of legal fees, in fact only four medical negligence verdicts were awarded against Tennessee nursing homes from 2005-2007. Residents and their families sued in those cases for death, head injury and global neglect.

During that same period, nursing home admission suspensions tripled. In 2007, 22 nursing homes had their admissions suspended for putting their residents in "immediate jeopardy." According to records at the Tennessee Department of Health, the 152 immediate jeopardy violations in those homes include reports of patients suffering the following:

- Risk of injury or death by fire
- Maggots in wound
- Broken bones unattended for days
- Drastic weight loss due to improper nutrition/oversight
- Impacted bowels caused by inattention/oversight
- Extreme pain with no relief
- Fear of staff

In addition to these violations, a worker at a home in Madison was arrested in May 2007 for raping a 70-year-old resident. And in 2008, the state has already suspended two more nursing homes.

"When you consider the atrocities that occurred in 2007 alone, this proposed legislation is outlandish," said Donna DeStefano, Tennessee Citizen Action board member. "We as Tennessee residents and taxpayers need to voice our concerns to our state representatives. There is nothing subtle about what the industry is proposing. This is a blunt-force instrument to the law that protects residents against horrendous care. Our elderly are defenseless and we must protect their rights."

The State of Tennessee allocates 99% of funding from the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services - more than $1 billion a year - to nursing homes and only 1% to home and community-based care. This makes Tennessee dead last in the nation in providing alternatives to nursing homes. Governor Phil Bredesen pledged in his State of the State address last week to fundamentally restructure this system so there are more alternatives to nursing homes.

"These nursing homes are raking in record profits," said DeStefano. "They say lawsuits divert their attention when the fact of the matter is only four occurred across the state in 2007. Lawsuits do not cause bad care. Bad care causes lawsuits."

About Tennessee Citizen Action (TNCA)

TNCA is Tennessee's consumer watchdog organization working on behalf of a number of consumer protection issues, including patients' rights; nursing home reform; quality health care; increased home- and community-based options with more consumer control; title lending; aftermath of sub-prime lending crisis; workplace health and safety; and voter education, registration, GOTV, problems with electronic voting and lack of a paper trail. TNCA is a grassroots citizen group based in Nashville seeking to build a unified movement for reform in Tennessee. TNCA works to create long-term political change by building diverse coalitions around our major issues. The organization actively works in coalition with a range of health care, environmental, government reform, and labor organizations.

Tennessee Citizen Action