Nurses for Negligence Day on the Hill

Yesterday the legislative plaza was filled with the Nurses for Negligence(aka ChooseCareTN) as well as their lobbyists. Nurses for Negligence is a front group for the nursing home industry, which has spent nearly 1.5 million dollars since 2000 working a bill to limit the amount of money that juries can award victims of nursing home negligence.

Called the "Kill Old People Cheap" bill by some, the bill also sets aside a fund so that part of any money victims do receive goes right back to the nursing homes that harmed them. While the Nurses for Negligence claim that such changes are needed for better care, we know that if residents were provided with better care in the first place, there wouldn't be a need for the law suits.

Instead the industry chose to spend $850,000 hiring over 30 lobbyists to work this bill. Fortunately for nursing home residents, TNCA isn't alone in this fight as AARP, one of nation's leading groups on the issue, has also come out against this bill.