Tennessee's limitless nursing home lawsuits and resulting record verdicts have driven the liability cost per bed to the second highest in the nation, according to Reuters.

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

State legislators have introduced a bill to bring the liability costs more in line with comparable cases. Advocates for the elderly spoke to a special Tennessee committee studying the effects of litigation, and said that better care prevents lawsuits against the nursing home industry.

Tennessee Senate Speaker Ron Ramsey has made malpractice caps for nursing homes part of his legislative agenda, and has said limiting damages is necessary because he believes the industry is being targeted by lawyers.

But Daniel Clayton, president of the Tennessee Assn. of Justice, told the committee should be on the improvement of care, rather than on capping damages. "If care is good, lawsuits will go down," Clayton said. "If care is bad, lawsuits will go up."

In December, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services released a report that ranked Tennessee's nursing homes worst in the nation and gave 30 percent of those nursing homes the worst rating possible.

Special Reports /

Tenn. nursing home liability costs 2nd highest in nation

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