Nursing homes escaping liability

In October 2006, Leah Gann of Sand Springs received a dreaded telephone call.

Her mother had been injured at The Gardens nursing home in Sapulpa.

Hospital X-rays revealed her mother had suffered spiral fractures to both legs, she said. Since that type of injury often is associated with abuse or neglect, Gann sued the nursing home.

She said she was upset at what she discovered: The nursing home had no medical liability insurance coverage.

"I never learned what happened to my mom,” Gann said. "I never knew to look for insurance (when picking a nursing home).”

An employee at The Gardens said nobody was available to comment.

Oklahomans may be surprised to learn the number of Oklahoma nursing homes that have dropped medical liability insurance coverage has skyrocketed in recent years. There are now at least 56 uninsured homes with 6,621 beds, according to the Tulsa-based Oklahoma Center for Consumer & Patient Safety.

"Based on information provided to the Center, over 20 percent of the beds in Oklahoma are in nursing homes that refuse to carry insurance,” said Hugh M. Robert, executive director of the nonprofit group. "A state study last year speculated the number may be as high as 65 percent.”

Gann and the Tulsa group called a news conference Tuesday at the state Capitol to push for legislation introduced by Sen. Richard Lerblance, D-Hartshorne, which would require nursing homes either to carry medical liability insurance or prove they have sufficient assets to pay substantial damages if they are found responsible for injuries caused by abuse or neglect.

Robert said the group also is pushing for the state Health Department to investigate which nursing homes are not carrying medical liability insurance and publish results, so patients and their families will know the risk.

It is difficult for consumers to discover that information on their own because nursing home owners often play a "corporate shell game,” attorney L. Ray Maples said at the news conference.

Maples and attorney Travis Siegel said they have come across a number of recent cases in which patients have suffered severe neglect at nursing homes that don't carry insurance.

One woman had maggots crawling out of her air cast because employees at her Oklahoma City nursing home had not cleaned beneath it and open pressure sores had developed. An Edmond nursing home patient was left on a bed pan so long her tail bone stuck to it, and a woman at a Frederick nursing home died after becoming so dehydrated that her tongue stuck to the roof of her mouth, attorneys said.

Becky Moore, executive director of the Oklahoma Association of Healthcare Providers, said her nursing home group detests poor care, but opposes mandatory medical liability insurance coverage.

"Underfunding from Medicaid has forced many nursing home owners to make a choice, either pay for liability insurance or pay for taking care of residents,” Moore said.

Unless the government wants to increase Medicaid payments to cover insurance costs, it should not mandate insurance coverage, she said.

Moore said she doesn't know how many nursing homes are without medical liability insurance, but said she believes the number has increased dramatically since Hospital Casualty, a company that insured about 90 percent of the nursing homes in the state, went bankrupt three or four years ago.

"Premium rates have increased five times over what they were five years ago,” Moore said.

Financial pressures have forced many owners to drop coverage, she said.

Maples, however, said he is involved in a lawsuit against the owner of an uninsured nursing home who has million-dollar beach houses, a private plane and multiple Mercedes automobiles.

The Oklahoma Center for Consumer and Patient Safety describes itself as a consumer and patient advocacy group, but Moore questions whether it is more of a "front” to drum up business for trial lawyers who like to sue nursing homes.

Robert, the group's executive director, is a legal intern for attorney Ted Sherwood, who has filed a lot of lawsuits against nursing homes and has trained other lawyers on how to sue nursing homes, she said.

Robert confirmed that he clerks for Sherwood part-time. Robert said he is going to law school and his emphasis is on oil and gas law.