Tennessee lawmakers have introduced a tort "reform" bill aimed at protecting nursing home operators from lawsuits. The bill (SB4075/HB4053) would:

• Require lawsuits against long-term care facilities involving health-related services to be brought solely as medical malpractice action (see separate post about what they want to do to "malpractice" lawsuits)

• Allow operators to require patients to waive their right to a jury trial as a condition of admission

• Limit non-economic damages to $300,000

According to Medical News Today, a prominent nursing home operator says the legislation is needed because of personal injury lawyers driving up the cost of liability insurance:

"The average annual cost of items like liability insurance, legal services and other liability-related issues is now $500,000 per Tennessee nursing home - enough to hire and pay for 10 new nurses," said Steve Flatt, senior vice president of development for National Healthcare Corp., an operator of several Tennessee nursing homes.

"The problem is that our laws right now allow the filing of limitless lawsuits claiming tens of millions of dollars in damages," Flatt said. "The result is that the big- money personal injury lawyers from Texas and Florida have been arriving regularly to pelt our courts with lawsuits."

Raise your hand if you think nursing homes will use any savings from this legislation to hire more nurses.

And if the name National Healthcare Corp. rings a bell, it's probably because of the tragic nursing home fire at one of their facilities in Nashville that claimed sixteen lives. The deaths resulted in more than 30 lawsuits.

The company has been the target of other lawsuits alleging abuse and neglect, including a Warren Co. case in which the jury awarded $4.1 million in compensatory damages and $28.9 million in punitive damages, which were later reduced to $163,000.

The company was also the target of a probe into massive Medicare fraud. They settled with the U.S. Department of Justice for $27 million.

Instead of allowing special interests to influence legislation, Tennessee should pursue better regulation and oversight of nursing homes to protect the safety and dignity of patients in these facilities. Who lobbies for the people?