Sunday, December 04, 2011

Were Nursing Home Regulations too Burdensome for Lifecare?

In a recent sucessful litigation against Lifecare Nursing Home of Lynn Massachusetts, Lifecare's attorneys filed several motions to exclude evidence or to get advance rulings on the use of arguements they did not want made at trial. The case alleged nursing home negligence involving the wrongful death of a disabled resident.
On such motion "in limine"by Lifecare sought to prevent Plaintiff from arguing that the various state and federal regulations regulating nursing homes constituted the "standard of care" applicable to nursing home care. Actually I never intended to argue that the regulations were the per se standard of care.  In fact the Judge denied their pre trial motion. I was allowed to argue that the regulations were relevant for consideration.

What was eye opening was the language Lifecare put forth in support of their motion:
"When a practical nursing home is compared to these standards, it would be virtually impossible for the nursing home to avoid a finding of negligence."


The Hamill Firm of Quincy, Massachusetts concentrates their practice on advocating for elderly nursing home residents and has a successful track record of verdicts and settlements including some of the highest emotional distress verdicts ever awarded in Massachusetts for nursing home abuse. The Hamill group encourages all residents injured by neglect in Massachusetts nursing homes to call for a free evaluation of their claim. 

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