On December 24, 2017, The New York Times reported: “The Trump administration is scaling back use of fines against nursing homes that harm residents or place them in grave risk of injury”. Yet troublingly nursing facility violations already were rampant with the existing federal fine guidelines:
“Since 2013, nearly 6,500 nursing homes – 4 of every 10 – have been cited at least once for a serious violation, federal records show. Medicare has fined two-thirds of those homes. Common citations include failing to protect residents from avoidable accidents, neglect, mistreatment and bedsores.”
Such lax government enforcement elevates the importance of juries in medical malpractice case to speak for the victim public, and to speak loudly by awarding full compensation for damages against wrongdoing facilities.
Mr. Waterman has nursing home wrongful death cases pending in Gloucester, Newport News, York, and Williamsburg. Most involve preventable foreseeable patient falls that proved fatal.
