With Assisted Living, Staffing is the Big Concern

Jurors usually trust the skill level and training of registered nurses working in hospitals, but that high opinion does not hold true of caregivers – even RNs – in assisted living or nursing home settings.

In fact, based on a recent survey we conducted of 500 jury-eligible U.S. citizens as well as past experience in cases involving assisted living facilities, the public’s perception of staffing at these facilities should be your biggest concern if you’re defending one in court.

Asked to identify the single most significant issue facing assisted living facilities, the top two finishers involved staffing – 38 percent of respondents said their top concern was poorly trained and supervised staff, and 18 percent said it was understaffing.

Perhaps even more concerning, an astounding 72 percent of participants said neglect – another staffing-related issue – would be a top concern if they had loved ones in a in a nursing home or assisted living facility.

Survey participants were also asked to describe in their own words the kind of people they believe work in these facilities, and their answers were startling.  Common responses included “unskilled,” “uncaring,” “nurses who can’t get real jobs,” “inexperienced,” “underpaid” and “foreigners.”

The first step to counteracting these unhelpful perceptions is to recognize and be aware of them.  During voir dire we recommend questioning that will help you identify potential jurors holding these opinions and then educating them – and the rest of the venire – on the facility’s rigorous requirements for staff.

We also recommend scheduling a significant amount of prep time with your caregiver witnesses – both before deposition (especially if the proceeding will be videotaped) and again before trial.  Facility staff testimony is often the weak link in these cases, so you’ll want to make sure your witnesses are thoroughly prepared and make the best possible impression, coming across as giving and compassionate (notably, these are the two positive traits most associated with ALF caregivers).  Make sure they can all compellingly discuss why they decided to begin working at this kind of facility in order to counteract the aforementioned negative predispositions and humanize themselves as much as possible.  Jurors should hear these caregivers and want them as the caregivers for themselves or their loved ones. 

We have extensive experience helping to prepare caregiver witnesses for deposition or trial.  If you have an assisted living or nursing home case with challenging witnesses, contact Senior Vice President Claire Luna at cluna@juryimpact.net to find out how we can help get them into shape.