Idaho nursing home residents’ rights are at risk at special session of the Legislature

While nursing home residents and staff are dying, there are some who are lobbying for protection from COVID-19 related lawsuits.

Approximately 157 residents and staff of Idaho nursing homes, assisted living and other long-term care facilities have died of COVID-19. The fact remains that consistently over half of all related coronavirus deaths in Idaho take place in long-term care facilities.

The numbers are shocking, and the stories behind them are gut-wrenching.

Legislative draft RS28049 would grant immunity to actions during coronavirus-related pandemics or epidemics, including what is happening now with COVID-19.

This immunity would extend protection to “any and all individuals and private and public entities in any location and at any time” which would include nursing homes, assisted living facilities, and other long-term care facilities.

Fewer eyes are observing what is happening in facilities. State and federal officials have suspended or limited most nursing home inspections, along with in-person visits by family members and formal advocates, called long-term care ombudsmen. The lack of oversight is alarming and requires Idaho to ensure that, when all else fails, residents and their families still have access to the courts to seek redress.

A recent Government Accountability Office report found more than 80 percent of nursing homes were cited for infection prevention failures before the pandemic. It is alarming that the majority of the nation’s nursing homes weren’t following basic infection control procedures — like washing hands in between patients — as a matter of course. Poor infection control in facilities filled with residents who have chronic conditions and compromised immune systems is a recipe for disaster.

Long-term care facilities must remain responsible when their wrongdoing threatens the health and lives of their residents and staff. Litigation is an option of last resort, and no family member who has lost a loved one due to neglect or abuse pursues this course of action lightly.

Our leaders must not take away the rights of residents and their families to hold nursing facilities accountable. They also must fight to protect nursing home residents and staff by:

• Ensuring availability and use of regular, ongoing testing and adequate personal protective equipment.
• Creating transparency focused on daily, public reporting of cases and deaths in facilities, communication with families when loved ones are discharged or transferred and accountability for how billions of dollars in federal funding is being spent.
• Requiring access to facilitated virtual visitation, even when in-person visits resume.
• Providing better care for residents through adequate staffing, oversight, and access to long-term care ombudsmen.
• Vote no on RS28049 and protect Idaho’s most vulnerable population.

The Idaho Legislature must step up now to protect our seniors and the people who care for them. Now is not the time to ease requirements for accountability of care for nursing homes and other long-term care facilities in order to assure the health, safety and well-being of residents and staff.