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Illinois
Council on Long Term Care
Illinois Health Care Association
Life Services Network of Illinois
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
October 23, 2006
98%
of Illinois Legislative Candidates Support Giving Legal
Protections to Nursing Homes Similar to Doctors and
Hospitals
CHICAGO – Ninety-eight
percent of 41 state candidates responding to a recent
survey feel that Illinois nursing homes should be added
to the Healing Arts Malpractice Act and afforded the
same legal protections recently provided by the
legislature to doctors and hospitals.
“Liability insurance for nursing
homes has skyrocketed by over 200 percent statewide. In
some areas of the state, liability insurance premiums
have gone up over 1000 percent,” said Dave Voepel,
executive director for the Illinois Health Care
Association. “One of the causes for this rise in
liability insurance is that nursing homes carry
additional legal liability that doctors, hospitals and
other health care providers do not have. This extra
liability results in increased costs for nursing home
providers, families and the state.”
The Illinois Council on Long Term
Care, the Illinois Health Care Association and Life
Services Network of Illinois recently distributed a
questionnaire about the key issues affecting the care of
nursing home residents to all state candidates running
for representative and senator.
The Healing Arts Malpractice Act
sets review criteria and standards of proof in health
care cases, to ensure that lawsuits are relevant, valid
and supported by an appropriate level of evidence. While
doctors, hospitals and other health care providers are
included in the Healing Arts Malpractice Act, nursing
homes are not. The nursing home community feels that the
Act should apply to all healthcare providers, including
long term care facilities.
“Nursing homes are not asking for
special treatment or exemptions from liability,” said
Dennis Bozzi, President of Life Services Network of
Illinois. “They only want to be treated fairly and not
be handicapped with extra liability provisions. Nursing
homes should be added to the Healing Arts Malpractice
Act and afforded the same legal protections recently
provided by the legislature to doctors and hospitals.”
In addition, nursing home providers
operate under a particular liability provision of the
Nursing Home Care Act. The single greatest cause of
lawsuits in the nursing home field is a 1979 provision
(Section 3-602) of the Nursing Home Care Act, which
awards all legal fees associated with a case to the
plaintiff’s attorneys, regardless of the size of the
settlement.
“This provides no incentive for a
plaintiff’s attorney to negotiate a settlement for the
client, since the longer the case drags on, the greater
the legal fees,” said Terrence Sullivan, executive
director for the Illinois Council on Long Term Care.
“We ask that nursing home cases be placed on a level
playing field with all other medical liability cases by
amending Section 3-602 of the Nursing Home Care Act to
provide legal fees proportionate to the settlement,
based on fair judicial review. The requested change
would not place a cap on settlements or attorney’s
fees, but merely make them subject to an impartial and
just judicial process based on the size of the final
client settlement.”
“The issue is all about
fairness,” adds Sullivan. “Nursing home lawsuits are
spiraling out of control. The Illinois nursing home
community should be given the same legal protections as
any other state health care provider.”
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The state’s three long term care
associations – the Illinois Council on Long Term Care,
the Illinois Health Care Association, and Life Services
Network of Illinois – have joined together as the
Illinois Long Term Care Coalition to educate
policymakers about their commitment to care. This
coalition represents more than 60,000 healthcare
professionals, therapists and caregivers serving 80,000
residents in more than 800 specialized nursing and
rehabilitation facilities in Illinois.
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