We know we live in a litigious society and that one of the costs gobbling up healthcare dollars is liability and malpractice insurance. Some long term care operators simply can not afford it. So they improvise making it much harder for you to sue if something happens to a loved one. So you could have what appears to be one nursing home, one entity actually being many more.

For example the facility can first set up a parent company. Then it can set up multiple companies under that. It may set up an LLC to hold the land and collect rents. Any profits are passed up the chain to the parent. The land LLC has enough to operate but no more. The actual nursing home hires employees, obtains a license to operate and contracts with the parent organization for management services. Again it is a separate LLC. Bottom line, at the end of the month, it has little money in the bank.

So who do you first sue in a typical situation? The nursing home. But they have no money. You can try to go after the parent company but it will be hard to prove they did anything to jeopardize resident care.

The lesson ‰ÛÒ awareness ‰ÛÒ when scoping out a nursing home for a loved one, inquire and search to find out how it is legally organized. If the situation I describe is what you find, that should send a message to you ‰ÛÒ a bad one. Choose wisely and do your homework.