GALLATIN, Tenn. (Legal Newsline) – Lawyers in Tennessee are running commercials to drum up coronavirus lawsuits, an effort that the state’s Health Care Association calls “simply wrong.”
Clint Kelly of the Kelly Firm says in his commercial that a nursing home in Gallatin, in Sumner County, “recklessly” exposed its residents to COVID-19. He adds that the Kelly Firm already represents 20 clients from the nursing home and “there’s strength in numbers.”
“Hold corporate wrongdoers accountable,” Kelly says.
Nursing homes, which struggle to benefit from any reforms passed in states that help health care providers defend themselves from medical malpractice litigation, are facing a similar uphill battle with coronavirus litigation, says the Tennessee Health Care Association.
“We find it troubling that in the middle of a pandemic, caregivers in nursing homes and assisted living communities must worry about being sued while other health care providers are hailed as heroes,” said Jesse Samples, executive director of THCA.
“It is not only premature to try to find blame for the coronavirus at a time when everyone is still learning about its characteristics and how it is transmitted – it is simply wrong.”
Nursing homes and hospitals will likely be popular targets for personal injury lawyers who take on coronavirus cases. That’s why in some states, like New York, health care providers have been granted immunity from lawsuits unless they engaged in reckless behavior.
In Florida, nursing homes have asked for similar immunity.
Plenty of law firms have added coronavirus pages to their websites, and some firms have advertised their services for individuals or businesses facing financial troubles during quarantines and layoffs, according to X Ante, a firm that tracks lawyer advertising on mass torts.
The Kelly Firm ad combines those approaches in the wake of an outbreak at the Gallatin Center for Rehabilitation and Healing that has possibly killed 17 people so far.
The THCA notes that state Department of Health Commissioner Lisa Piercey has acknowledged that the facilities with the best approaches to containing COVID-19 might not be able to do so.
“Hospitals and other providers across Tennessee and the nation have been incredibly dedicated in their efforts against this virus, but long-term care staff are heroes, too,” Samples said.
“They love the residents they care for and we should be thanking them for their efforts, not suing them.”
From Legal Newsline: Reach editor John O’Brien at john.obrien@therecordinc.com.