So, I don’t understand how getting federal funds through anything, but especially medicare would make you immune to lawsuits? What a crazy legal opinion to start with - glad to see that made it to the right decision on the court.
However, the later reference to “the spending power” - are they implying Thomas is going to try and declare medicare unconstitutional? I used to think that sort of thing would get people to vote against republicans, but at this point I think many voters would vote for getting kicked out of their own houses and shot if it was team red. IDK.
“Immunity” was not the issue.
The issue was that nursing homes that get federal funds have to abide by certain special rules. What happens if they break those rules, does the government sanction them or can they be sued directly by the patient?
In some situations, the former is true (for example, you can’t sue a restaurant that violates health codes, it’s the government that acts to close them down). But in this case, the court decided on the latter.
That makes more sense. Thanks! I would figure you could still sue a restaurant that made you ill however, because you suffered a direct harm. You just can’t sue about a code violation that hasn’t actually harmed you.
Right, and you could already sue nursing homes for malpractice.
The question was about violations that did not amount to malpractice (in this case, the conditions of transfer and the type of safety measures used). Malpractice is substandard care that leads to injury, but nobody here seems to allege that the nursing home caused an injury.