Monday, April 6, 2009
Legislature In Tennessean Opinion Piece, Industry Turns Nurses into Pawns
Posted by Brantley Hargrove on Mon, Apr 6, 2009 at 11:45 AM
Now I have nothing but respect for nurses and nurse aides in particular, the underpaid backbone of nursing homes, but I believe, in this case, the two authors of a Tennessean opinion piece, registered nurses Marilyn McClain and Jodi Williamson, are unsuspecting pawns of an industry that's pushing tort reform which has everything but the patient's best interests at heart.
I'll take a moment to point out some of the fallacies in their argument.
What we have here amounts to a chicken-and-the-egg argument. They lament the trial lawyers circling the Tennessee sky like buzzards. True, trial lawyers are opportunistic scavengers. But why are they here in Tennessee? They say they've alighted on our state because tort reform has run them out of others. But here are a couple of fun facts from the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services: More than 50 percent of Tennessee nursing homes rate below average for overall quality of care. Sixty percent of nursing homes in this state are understaffed. If they're opportunistic, Tennessee nursing homes create opportunity.
Is the problem that the vulture-esque lawyers are on the lookout for their next meal ticket, or is it just crappy care by nursing homes more concerned with lowering their labor costs for increased profits and dividends?
McClain and Williamson cite the $300,000 cap that's being bandied about in the legislature. They say the money being spent on punitive damages could be better spent on improving care. True. But it looks like we're addressing the symptoms of the problem and not the root cause: A for-profit, corporate mindset where the bottom line comes first.
Lastly, I see Williamson is an RN at Adams Place in Murfreesboro, owned by National HealthCare Corp--one of the outspoken proponents of this piece of legislation. Come Wednesday I've got a cover story running that will speak to this very subject, and hopefully force our lawmakers to re-evaluate this pro-industry, anti-patient bill.
Comments (2)
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If a substandard nursing home let my granny die in her own filth, you can bet I'd call a lawyer to sue the hell out of them. And I'd want punitive damages if they did it willfully. Like the nursing home owners in New Orleans who made the decision to leave their helpless residents to drown in the flood. Why is the lawyer that helps me nail their asses a vulture? Why not an avenging angel.
And who decided granny's life is worth $300,000, anyway?
And why is the long-term care industry so fucked up? Because we don't have a decent health-care system in this country.
Anyone who's been through this knows the helpless old person's family has to scratch and claw every single day to get them the most basic care in long-term care, even good facilities. God help those poor souls who have no one to fight for them.
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I'm with Jeff.
The Nurses have totally been played by the industry bizpigs on this one.
They're clearly priming them with straw man arguments about "not being valued" or whatever and then turning them loose like a mob on the Hill.
It's a disgrace. And reason #288 why nurses need to have a union to help them see through this horseshit.
