Caps on Damages For Nursing Home Abuse – What Are They Thinking?

In addition to representing victims of trucking accidents and automobile accidents, the Georgia injury lawyers at Finch McCranie, LLP also represent victims of nursing home abuse and nursing home neglect. including patients who have sustained decubitus ulcers (bed sores), falls and brutality in nursing homes. Consequently we have seen, first-hand, how victims of nursing home abuse or neglect suffer when those facilities don’t adequately take care of the people for which they are paid to care. It has been our experience that the owners of nursing homes under-staff these facilities and under pay many of the employees who actually do the hard work of caring for elderly and disabled people.
This week I read about the efforts of a Republican state representative in Tennessee who had the gall to propose to the Tennessee House of Representatives that they pass legislation placing caps on damages in lawsuits against nursing homes. Fortunately for the citizens of Tennessee, the proposal failed in a House subcommittee. What a politician will not do to try to get votes or protect the interest of big business never fails to surprise us. One can hardly imagine what the state of care would be for elderly and disabled people in nursing homes if it we not for the fear of a large damage award to keep them in line. In the last few month, the citizens of this country have all witnessed what happens when unregulated big business runs wild with no regulation or oversight. The old saying, “It’s always all about the money” is a true statement. The only way to hold business accountable for their negligence is for there to be financial consequences for their conduct.
P.S. The proposal was denounced as the “Kill Old People Cheap Act” by a Democrat representative who voted against the bill!