Signed Forms Not Enforceable in Nursing Home Abuse Case

An appeals court is allowing a man to pursue a lawsuit against a nursing home because the facility cannot rely on papers that he signed, on his mother's behalf, while she was competent, as reported by The Mountain Press.

Judge Rex Ogle's ruling, affirmed by a state appellate court, called the nursing home's process "unconscionable".

According to the appellate court's summary, on April 7 2008 L.P. was sent to Pigeon Forge Care and Rehab from the Fort Sanders Sevier Medical Center for treatment of "small sores" on her body.

L.P. died on May 7, 2008, approximately 20 days after entering Pigeon Forge Care and Rehab, when she was taken from the facility to an emergency room for "massive infected Stage IV pressure sores."   The report read, "On May 7, 2008, she died when her organs failed as a result of the infections."

D.B., L.P.'s son, filed a complaint against Pigeon Forge Care and Rehab in Sevier County Circuit Court.   Attorneys for the home filed a motion to compel arbitration, based on documents that D.B. had signed during L.P.'s treatment.

Judge Ogle overruled the attorney's motion.  He stated that D.B. did not check his mother into Pigeon Forge Care and Rehab - L.P. had checked herself in and signed her own paperwork.   D.B. had his mother's power of attorney in 1991 - and not at the time of her death - so a power of attorney did not apply now.   Ogle concluded that Pigeon Forge Care and Rehab was "shoddy" in both how they obtained D.B.'s signatures and in their record keeping.

Ogle said, "It troubles the court that anybody who requires someone to sign legal documents affecting the rights of patients ... would not give those people copies, executed copies. That makes no sense to me ...its not good practice. The execution of the agreement, the way it was handled, it was very shoddy. And I think that quite candidly is unconscionable, that it does shock the conscience of this court by how this entire agreement was handled. ... They should not be enforced."

Calls by the press left for the administrator at Pigeon Forge Care and Rehab were not returned.

D.B. hadn't used his mother's power of attorney for more than ten years - and didn't offer the information to nursing home officials at the time he was asked to sign papers. 

In court, officials from Pigeon Forge Care and Rehab admitted that L.P. was competent to do her own signing - they allegedly just chose not to give her the chance to do it.

Pigeon Forge Care and Rehab officials signed some of the documents themselves after a meeting with D.B. - though whether they had the authority to do so has since been questioned.

D.B., using an "X" to sign where he was told it was required - was under the belief that his signatures were necessary to gain his mother her Medicare benefits at Pigeon Forge Care and Rehab.  He didn't read the documents.

Furthermore, Ogle wrote that he believed that an alleged meeting - between the marketing and admissions director, T.H., and D.B. - never took place.

For the appellate court, Judge John McClarty wrote, "The power of attorney had lapsed and defendants cannot establish that they reasonably relied on it even if it has not become ineffective."

The new ruling allows J.B. to move forward with his lawsuit.