Nursing homes in Louisiana would face lesser financial threats from lawsuits under a new bill the full state Senate is set to consider.
The bill would expand the definition of medical malpractice to include not just treatment of patients directly, but also administration and the implementation of related staffing, custodial and other service policies. Classifying these policies as medical malpractice would put a cap on the amount providers could be required to pay in related lawsuits.
More than half of US states have similar medical malpractice laws, but Louisiana would become the first to include management companies and administrators as healthcare providers under its law, according to reporting in The Advocate.
Proponents of the bill argue that it would protect nursing homes and management companies from being hit with both medical malpractice lawsuits and separate lawsuits seeking damages for administrative negligence. Such negligence lawsuits also would fall under medical malpractice if the bill is passed.
Medical malpractice suits have a damages cap of $500,000 per person in Louisiana, plus potential extra payments for ongoing medical costs incurred as a result of malpractice. This cap would lower the ceiling of potential payouts providers might be required to pay from a single incident.
The Louisiana Nursing Home Association supports the bill, which was passed out of committee Monday. The group says the legislation would protect nursing homes from expensive combinations of multimillion dollar lawsuits.
The bill’s critics claim that it would protect bad actors from justified legal complaints, such as the $12 million class action settlement with former nursing home owner Bob Dean, whose facilities oversaw a chaotic, mismanaged and ultimately deadly evacuation of more than 800 residents during Hurricane Ida in 2021.
Attorneys confirmed at the time of the settlement that those residents maintained an opportunity to sue a third party for medical malpractice despite the settlement with Dean.
