AARP in Your State

June 2008

Protecting the vulnerable — This spring lawmakers rejected legislation (HB 4053/SB 4075) that would have required nursing home applicants to agree to submit allegations of abuse or neglect to arbitration before resorting to litigation. Besides making it more difficult for victims to take their cases to court, the measure would have capped the maximum damage award for noneconomic losses in injury or death cases at $300,000. As an advocate for nursing home residents and an opponent of any effort to take legal remedies away from those who have been abused or neglected, AARP Tennessee fiercely opposed the measure. A legislative study commission is scheduled to further examine the issue this summer and fall. Visit www.aarp.org/tn to learn more or to get involved.