J Reinan and Jordana Gingrass Published in CTLA Trial Talk October/November 2013 Issue

J Reinan and Jordana Gingrass wrote an article in the October/November 2013 issue of Trial Talk, a magazine published by the Colorado Trial Lawyers Association.  This issue features Nursing Home Litigation.

 

The article is entitled, “Building Your Case Against the ‘Old People are Sick and Going to Die Anyway’ Defense, and Using it to Your Advantage.”

 

In sum, our article responds to a common defense used by nursing home companies and their lawyers in litigation and at trial in nursing home wrongful death cases – that the decedent was extremely sick, had multiple complex medical diagnoses and conditions, and was going to die anyway.  We generally don’t dispute that the decedent was frail and elderly, which is precisely why he or she needed and deserved exceptional care.  To say that he or she was going to die anyway is essentially to say that the manner in which he or she died doesn’t matter.  This, coming from a nursing home company – a company who has chosen to do business in the area of caring for frail people – is tragic.  We hope the jury sees it that way too.

 

Other articles featured in CTLA’s Trial Talk this issue include:

 

Using Federal Regulations and State Surveys in Nursing Home Lawsuits;

Dealing with Arbitration Agreements in Nursing Home Negligence Cases;

Busting the Health Care Caps with Punitive Damages;

The Legal Center Nursing Home Projects; and

The Long-Term Care Ombudsman Program