Davis Signs Bill Curbing Nursing Home Secrecy

Gov. Gray Davis has signed a bill that will make it easier for senior Californians to learn if a nursing home has a history of being sued for elder abuse and get details of the allegations against it, his office said Friday.

The bill, AB 634, introduced by Assemblyman Darrell Steinberg (D-Sacramento), will make it more difficult for nursing homes to keep such information secret. Case settlements have typically been confidential and therefore off-limits to public disclosure.

Steinberg said access to legal settlements will enable senior citizens and their families in search of a nursing home to discover those with a history of allegations of abuse.

Steinberg and representatives of senior citizens organizations that sponsored the proposal said the bill will discourage secret settlements by giving greater weight to the safety of senior citizens than to protecting the confidential contents of the case. “Safety is more important than even confidentiality,” he said.

In addition to senior citizens organizations, other supporters of the bill included unions, trial lawyers and Atty. Gen. Bill Lockyer.

The bill was opposed by the insurance and nursing home industries, which warned that it would discourage settlements and drive up the cost of litigation and insurance, a burden, they said, that ultimately would be passed on to consumers.