these investors are already shielded from financial liability meaning their direct financial losses are limited to the extent of their investment.

If this bill intends to shield them, to the extent they had knowledge of or were involved in the operation of the nursing home that is then under suit for abuse and negligence, this would be unconscionable.

I do believe a totally passive investor that relies on the board of directors of a publicly traded company to be the watchdog of the company's activities. I realize that is overly optimistic but that is the way business operates.

But if you have investors that have created a limited liability business but are actively involved in activities that result in the harm or death of another they need to be held accountable including civil and criminal penalties.

Is this a darling of Rick Scott? I guess they are trying to do as much as they can to put it to Florida residents before Scott is excused from play after the election.

I say just in case because so far the most striking campaign ad I have seem is for Scott - Obama telling us no one will lose their insurance if they like it. Early days, though.

http://tbo.com/list/news-opinion-letterday/bill-protects-bad-nursing-homes-20140330/

The bill says that if you or a loved one is injured or dies due to nursing home negligence, you can sue everyone from the nursing home license holder — which can be a shell company with no assets — down to the overworked and low-paid nursing assistant actually providing care. Just don’t think about suing the parent company because “passive investors” are exempted from all lawsuits.

A passive investor is defined as “an individual or entity that does not participate in the decision making or operations of a facility.” This definition would encompass both the corporate owners of large nursing home chains as well as private-equity companies that are increasingly seeing nursing homes as easy targets for acquisition and disposal. It’s like exempting an airline from lawsuits after a plane crash because the corporate leaders weren’t flying the plane. I can’t think of any other industry in Florida that is legally protected from lawsuits for injury or death. Can you?

I also can’t understand how the many good nursing homes that belong to the Florida Health Care Association (FHCA) — the primary mover behind this bill — can back a bill that will benefit only its most venal and neglectful competitors — companies that put profits ahead of care and want to get off cheap. It does nothing for good nursing homes, which are rarely the subject of major lawsuits. I think FHCA members are being led astray by their leaders, who appear to be unduly influenced by the big for-profit nursing home chains.

The Florida Justice Association (FJA) — the trial lawyers’ Tallahassee lobbying arm — appears to have calculatedly thrown its support behind this law to, in part, punish a more successful competitor who does not belong to their group. This bill is also supported by AARP. I contacted Jeff Johnson, AARP Florida state director, and his arguments mirrored those of FHCA and FJA. He seems almost reluctant to let his members know that he is supporting a bill that will prevent them and their loved ones from suing bad nursing home owners.

Supported by FJA and AARP? Interesting.

There is really a shortage of beds in nursing home/rehab centers here. I had a terrible experience before my husband died last year. They deserved to be sued, but I was too exhausted then.

Medicare gives people a few weeks in rehab to build up their strength after a hospital stay. For him it was the opposite. It's a story being repeated here in Florida endlessly.

I always have said we will never know the full extent of Scott's damage until we vote him out.

BTW the author of the article is a member of Scott's long term care advisory panel.

The writer is president, John Knox Village Medical Center Family Council; a volunteer member of the Governor’s Panel on Excellence in Long-Term Care; and a volunteer member of the Board of Nursing Home Administrators.

is invested in any nursing homes?

I had not thought of that.

Without taking much responsibility.

From Al Jazeera:

http://america.aljazeera.com/watch/shows/america-tonight/america-tonight-blog/2014/3/19/florida-childrenagravytrainfornursinghomes.html

On the first of three trips “America Tonight” made to the home, some of the kids in the hallway were desperate for attention, waving and reaching out. They weren’t doing any activities and didn’t have any toys. The calendar at Kidz Korner calls this "chillin’."

Nursing home care is expensive. Florida pays nursing homes up to $550 a day for children — twice what it pays for elderly patients and 20 percent more than full-time nursing care at home.

Attorney Matt Dietz helped the Shulers finally get Deontae out of Kidz Korner. He’s currently suing the state, on behalf of medically fragile children and their families, to force it to pay for in-home care, a suit joined by the Civil Rights division of the federal Department of Justice. Dietz said Florida has acknowledged the extra expense of institutionalizing children, and that each child in a nursing home costs the taxpayer $250,000 to $300,000 a year.
For Florida nursing homes, having a child patient is like having an annuity, says attorney Matt Dietz, who is suing the state on behalf of medically fragile children and their families.
For Florida nursing homes, having a child patient is like having an annuity, says attorney Matt Dietz, who is suing the state on behalf of medically fragile children and their families. America Tonight

“It's a financial incentive to have these children at a nursing home,” Dietz said. “It's an annuity.”

Another Al Jazeera article points out the great power of the nursing home lobbies.

http://america.aljazeera.com/watch/shows/america-tonight/articles/2014/4/20/the-whopping-politicalpowerofthefloridanursinghomelobby.html

Most likely. Gonna swat that bug sometime.