Law Commons^™

The Fear Of Liability And The Use Of Restraints In Nursing Homes, Sandra H. Johnson

All Faculty Scholarship

In nursing homes, restraints are intended to protect residents with mental or physical disabilities from avoidable injuries. However, dangers inherent in the use of restraints on elderly patients - including strangulation, agitation, and unnecessary immobility - weigh strongly against restraints’ protective effects. This article identifies the risk of liability as a factor contributing to the overuse of restraints and argues against such defensive practice on legal, regulatory, and ethical grounds.

The article first considers liability sourced in negligence/malpractice litigation on restraints and highlights the often inflated and unreasonable perception of risk here. An examination of the reported cases involving restraints …

Reinvigorating Title Vi: Defending Health Care Discrimination—It Shouldn’T Be So Easy, Sidney D. Watson

All Faculty Scholarship

... Mrs. Carolyn Payne, a 21-year-old black resident of Holly Springs, Mississippi, delivered her own baby in the front seat of a truck after the emergency room of the Marshall County Hospital had refused admission.'¹

... Ysidro Aguinagas, an 1 1-month-old Hispanic baby, died... after being denied admission to a public hospital in Dimmitt, Texas, despite the fact that the hospital was ... publicly financed. The baby would not be admitted without a $450 deposit.²

... an Hispanic man, conscious and speaking Spanish, arrived at an emergency room at 7 p.m. for treatment of stab wounds suffered in …