What Should You Know Before Placing Your Parent in a Nursing Home?

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Before signing on the dotted line, ask about the mandatory arbitration clause or dispute resolution mechanism. This clause strips you of your rights to ever retain a lawyer in order to file a lawsuit. While the process of voluntary arbitration is not a bad idea, mandatory arbitration is more restrictive and there’s nothing voluntary about it.

In an industry that is deemed responsible for the care of those who cannot care for themselves, nursing homes should be exposed to more public scrutiny not less. Mandatory arbitration allows nursing homes to become less accountable in the eyes of the law when they are exempt to exposure of grievous practices and nursing home abuse.

Most consumer groups oppose mandatory binding arbitration clauses because arbitration does not follow clear, well-established, consistent rules and procedures such as those required for litigation in the court system. Consumers may have difficulty getting necessary information to support their claims. Nothing requires arbitrators to take the law and legal precedent into account before making their decisions although they are supposed to do so. Most decisions cannot be appealed, and there are generally no review bodies or other oversight to ensure that arbitrators follow fair procedure or the law. The nursing home picks the arbitrator.