Plaintiff Wilson Bermudez was a patient at Kessler Institute for Rehabilitation’s West Facility for five weeks, during which his treatment included 24-hour rehabilitative nursing “to address complex medical, nursing, and rehabilitative needs.” When Bermudez later sued Kessler for injuries he allegedly sustained, he included claims under the New Jersey Nursing Home Responsibilities and Rights of Residents Act, N.J.S.A. 30:13-1 et seq. (the “Nursing Home Act”).
Kessler argued that its facility was a comprehensive rehabilitation hospital, rather than a nursing home. Bermudez countered that, although the facility was licensed as a comprehensive rehabilitation hospital, it nevertheless met the Nursing Home Act’s broad definition of a nursing home. The distinction was critical because, unlike a traditional negligence action, an action under the Nursing Home Act permits a successful plaintiff to recover attorney fees and treble damages.
Based on its claim that it did not meet the definition of a nursing home, Kessler moved to dismiss the Nursing Home Act claims. Its motion was denied, and Kessler filed an appeal. The Appellate Division reversed the lower court, finding that Kessler did not fall within the definition of a nursing home under the Act.
The Appellate Division relied on the Supreme Court’s recognition that there are “significant differences in the patients, the health-care providers, and the institutional structures of nursing homes and hospitals.” In re Conroy, 98 N.J. 321 (1985). It reviewed the language of the Nursing Home Act itself, and found that the legislative history of the Act contained no evidence of an intent to include a rehabilitative hospital within the Act. Consequently, the Appellate Division concluded that a comprehensive rehabilitative hospital such as Kessler did not fall within the statutory definition of a nursing home, and was therefore not subject to the Nursing Home Act’s provisions.
A copy of Bermudez v. Kessler Institute for Rehabilitation can be found here – Bermudez v. Kessler Institute for Rehabilitation
For additional information concerning nursing home law and litigation, visit:
https://vanarellilaw.com/nursing-home-law-litigation/
Categories
- Affordable Care Act
- Alzheimer's Disease
- Arbitration
- Attorney Ethics
- Attorneys Fees
- Beneficiary Designations
- Blog Roundup and Highlights
- Blogs and Blogging
- Care Facilities
- Caregivers
- Cemetery
- Collaborative Family Law
- Conservatorships
- Consumer Fraud
- Contempt
- Contracts
- Defamation
- Developmental Disabilities
- Discovery
- Discrimination Laws
- Doctrine of Probable Intent
- Domestic Violence
- Elder Abuse
- Elder Law
- Elective Share
- End-of-Life Decisions
- Estate Administration
- Estate Litigation
- Estate Planning
- Events
- Family Law
- Fiduciary
- Financial Exploitation of the Elderly
- Funeral
- Future of the Legal Profession
- Geriatric Care Managers
- Governmental or Public Benefit Programs
- Guardianship
- Health Issues
- Housing for the Elderly and Disabled
- In Remembrance
- Insolvent Estates
- Institutional Liens
- Insurance
- Interesting New Cases
- Intestacy
- Law Firm News
- Law Firm Videos
- Law Practice Management / Development
- Lawyers and Lawyering
- Legal Capacity or Competancy
- Legal Malpractice
- Legal Rights of the Disabled
- Liens
- Litigation
- Mediation
- Medicaid Appeals
- Medicaid Applications
- Medicaid Planning
- Annuities
- Care Contracts
- Divorce
- Estate Recovery
- Family Part Non-Dissolution Support Orders
- Gifts
- Life Estates
- Loan repayments
- MMMNA
- Promissory Notes
- Qualified Income Trusts
- Spousal Refusal
- Transfers For Reasons Other Than To Qualify For Medicaid
- Transfers to "Caregiver" Child(ren)
- Transfers to Disabled Adult Children
- Trusts
- Undue Hardship Provision
- Multiple-Party Deposit Account Act
- New Cases
- New Laws
- News Briefs
- Newsletters
- Non-Probate Assets
- Nursing Facility Litigation
- Personal Achievements and Awards
- Personal Injury Lawsuits
- Probate
- Punitive Damages
- Reconsideration
- Retirement Benefits
- Reverse Mortgages
- Section 8 Housing
- Settlement of Litigation
- Social Media
- Special Education
- Special Needs Planning
- Surrogate Decision-Making
- Taxation
- Technology
- Texting
- Top Ten
- Trials
- Trustees
- Uncategorized
- Veterans Benefits
- Web Sites and the Internet
- Webinar
- Writing Intended To Be A Will
Vanarelli & Li, LLC on Social Media