When Democratic Principles Collide

My profession is related to litigation involving nursing homes.

The generally accepted belief among progressive liberals is that individual rights to recover unlimited amounts of money from nursing homes is OK. I could easily defend that position myself. However, we know that long term health care is financed primarily by Medicaid and, too a lesser extent, Medicare.

The reality is that there are many multi-million dollar verdicts occurring on a regular basis. Many long term care orgs have filed Chapter 11 in response to unexpectedly severe litigation. Compounding the problem is the shrinking revenues from these sources.

My point is that, in effect, the flow of funds from taxpayer funded programs has been excessively diverted from patient care, to attorneys and claimants. I can personally attest to the fact that many of these claims do not, by any reasonable measure, deserve compensation in the amounts that I have seen.

I am conflicted with regard to my political ideology and this issue.

Would appreciate some guidance.

I agree with much of what you say, here in KY we are facing many problems with the tabacco settlement which seemed to have only helped a select few lawyers get rich...

That said there is a need for lawyers and they do good in some respects, it's just when greed takes over a few can really screw over all of us who are just looking for equality.

But then why can't those abusers be identified and singled out for some professional censure. It just seems that it would be in the public good...and isn't that what we stand for.

As you correctly pointed out, long term healthcare is financed primarily by Medicaid and Medicare ...

And therein lies the rub ... these programs are severely underfunded ... to place blame on a system that tries to compensate victims for being mutilated or killed by crappy care really misses the point ...

The system lacks resources not because of lawsuits but because it is underfunded ... nursing homes generally pay minimum wage to workers entrusted with the care of some of our most vulnerable citizens ...

i've seen this care system up close and personal ... it ain't pretty ... i'm against any system that takes the judgment away from jurors when it comes to compensating victims for their suffering ... to the extent that litigation drains funds from the system, i think it's necessary until we get better care systems ... not punishing those who kill or maim patients isn't a solution to the problem ...

I will think about that and comment later.

in cases where the defendant's culpability was egregious. It's not a question of compensating the victim so much as punishing the defendant. This is particularly true in cases like the McDonald's hot coffee case where the defendant has had the same case proved against them dozens of times and has simply "paid the ten dollars" rather than stop the abuse.

Schools and prisons have been improved by being sued in a way that forces government to invest in them properly and not simply leave them to rot. Maybe this could be made to work for underfunded nursing homes also.