Who the heck does state Sen. Julie Denton think she is?

[Birdsfan]

I thought this was interesting. These two contributions were part of a 2006 payload of $7,350.00 she received from people in the nursing home industry. These 17 individual donations were all sent in on the same day.

 

------------------------------------------------------

MCMAHAN, DANIEL

 

Total Given to Date: $1,000

Contributor Type: Individual

Address: CRESTWOOD, KY

 

Occupations Listed: CHAIRMAN OF THE BOARD

Employer: BAPTIST HOSPITAL EAST

------------------------------------------------------

COX, RUSSELL

 

Total Given to Date: $1,000

Contributor Type: Individual

Address: LOUISVILLE, KY

 

Occupations Listed: VICE PRESIDENT AND CEO

Employer: NORTON HEALTHCARE

[mcpapa]

An old politically savvy friend told me a long time ago, when naive papa asked why things worked the way they did, to always follow the money.

[Beechwoodfan]

I hope she lives a long life...and needs a nursing home herself one day!

[ColonelCrazy]

Another editorial in the Lexington Herald Leader over the weekend:

 

Fighting the good fight to protect residents, not nursing homes. | Editorial | Kentucky.com

[Colonels_Wear_Blue]

I wrote to my senator, Chris McDaniel, asking for details on the vote. He was quoted in this article as saying "the bill will strengthen the case of plaintiffs who have legitimate complaints against nursing homes". He apparently has a positive take on things, so I told him that I'd like to see what that take is, and why the voting for the bill needed to be conducted in such a crooked-appearing fashion.

 

Let's see what he's got to say about it...if anything at all

[Habib]

I wrote to my senator, Chris McDaniel, asking for details on the vote. He was quoted in this article as saying "the bill will strengthen the case of plaintiffs who have legitimate complaints against nursing homes". He apparently has a positive take on things, so I told him that I'd like to see what that take is, and why the voting for the bill needed to be conducted in such a crooked-appearing fashion.

 

Let's see what he's got to say about it...if anything at all

 

I'm curious to hear the response you get. I don't hold Kentucky's legislative body in high regard.

[ColonelCrazy]

I'm curious to hear the response you get. I don't hold Kentucky's legislative body in high regard.

 

If I had to guess, CWB won't get a response.

[75center]

David Williams disciple?

[All Tell]

I'm going to go on the minority side here. ANYTHING that can be done to reign in junk lawsuits is a good thing. Let's talk about the other side. How much money have the trial attorneys poured into the House to keep this from even getting a vote? Let's make sure we protect the attorneys. BTW the most vocal opposition to this bill in the Senate was an attorney.

[Colonels_Wear_Blue]

I'm going to go on the minority side here. ANYTHING that can be done to reign in junk lawsuits is a good thing. Let's talk about the other side. How much money have the trial attorneys poured into the House to keep this from even getting a vote? Let's make sure we protect the attorneys. BTW the most vocal opposition to this bill in the Senate was an attorney.

 

I understand what you're saying. However, when you have a 40% chance of receiving below average nursing care simply by the mere fact that you live in Kentucky, I can't help but think that maybe they should be passing laws for sweeping reform to state nursing care standards rather than passing laws defending your nursing homes. Take a look back up at those statistics that ColonelCrazy posted. I think the problem appears to lie more in the standard of care and the lawsuits that stem out of that poor standard of care rather than the lawsuits themselves. Sure, frivolous lawsuits are a plague, but I can't imagine that they aren't going to reduce greatly if we improve our overall pitiful standard of care.

[All Tell]

 

I understand what you're saying. However, when you have a 40% chance of receiving below average nursing care simply by the mere fact that you live in Kentucky, I can't help but think that maybe they should be passing laws for sweeping reform to state nursing care standards rather than passing laws defending your nursing homes. Take a look back up at those statistics that ColonelCrazy posted. I think the problem appears to lie more in the standard of care and the lawsuits that stem out of that poor standard of care rather than the lawsuits themselves. Sure, frivolous lawsuits are a plague, but I can't imagine that they aren't going to reduce greatly if we improve our overall pitiful standard of care.

 

IMVHO quality of care is a completely different issue and should be addressed BUT if that quality of care suffers because homes have to put resources into fighting off fishing expeditions led by plaintiff's attorney's wouldn't this be a good place to start? Another great example of where LOSER PAYS should occur.

 

Sent from my Samsung Stratosphere using Forum Runner

[ColonelCrazy]

IMVHO quality of care is a completely different issue and should be addressed BUT if that quality of care suffers because homes have to put resources into fighting off fishing expeditions led by plaintiff's attorney's wouldn't this be a good place to start? Another great example of where LOSER PAYS should occur.

 

Sent from my Samsung Stratosphere using Forum Runner

 

Quality of care is NOT an entirely different issue. If you cannot hold nursing homes accountable for their negligence, then the quality of care will continue to deteriorate.

 

What the nursing home industry has done is rather simple. It wants to increase profits (which, I might add, are as high as ever). You can increase profit by cutting costs. You can cut costs by reducing the number of staff.

 

The end result? Nursing homes that are understaffed and overworked. That directly results in sub-standard care for its residents.

 

This bill protects the nursing home industry and its profits. Curbing "junk lawsuits" and "frivolous litigation" is nothing but a red herring that the bill's supporters know will attract attention & draw support for the bill and, unfortunately, it works.

[ColonelCrazy]

As the article stated, SB9 was proposed LAST year and was voted down. Here is an article from December '11 about the proposed legislation:

 

Kentucky group wants panel to review lawsuits against nursing homes | Politics and Government | Kentucky.com

 

An interesting quote from Ruby Jo Cummins Lubarsky, president of the Kentucky Association of Health Care Facilities (one of the supporters of the legislation):

 

"Kentucky's long-term care profession has seen a drastic increase in litigation from lawyers whose sole practice has been limited to targeting our nursing facilities," Lubarsky said. "Their primary tactic is to exploit the integrity of our survey process with misleading advertisements designed to alarm the public about a supposed failure to provide quality care in our facilities. Contrary to these disingenuous advertisements and false public perception, data from the federal government shows that Kentucky's long-term care facilities provide a higher standard of care than most other states in terms of our practices and staffing levels," she said.

 

As you'll see in this thread (post #3), Ms. Lubarsky's statement directly conflicts with the statistics produced above.

[Beechwoodfan]

Nursing home have suffered repeatedly from Medicare and Medicaid cuts. It is almost impossible for them to meet standard requirements, much less provide excellent care. As I see it, the government not only made it more difficult to give care, they also made it more difficult for those on the receiving end to get compensated and initiate change when bad things happen.

[All Tell]

Quality of care is NOT an entirely different issue. If you cannot hold nursing homes accountable for their negligence, then the quality of care will continue to deteriorate.

 

What the nursing home industry has done is rather simple. It wants to increase profits (which, I might add, are as high as ever). You can increase profit by cutting costs. You can cut costs by reducing the number of staff.

 

The end result? Nursing homes that are understaffed and overworked. That directly results in sub-standard care for its residents.

 

This bill protects the nursing home industry and its profits. Curbing "junk lawsuits" and "frivolous litigation" is nothing but a red herring that the bill's supporters know will attract attention & draw support for the bill and, unfortunately, it works.

 

And I would tell you that all the tactics being used by the trial attorneys are just red herrings. The horror stories they tell are scare tactics to illicit support for their side. I have no issue at all with enforcing standards and holding bad nursing homes accountable, I do have a huge problem with fishing attorneys that have now made nursing homes their latest target to line their pockets. 2 words LOSER PAYS.