Opinion ID: 1802098
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: Whether a Common Law Duty of Care Is Owed by a Nursing Home Administrator and Licensee to Nursing Home Patients.

Text: ¶ 8. It is well settled that a nursing home or its proprietor or owner can be held liable under general principles of tort law for negligent acts or omissions regarding the care of its residents. See Dupree v. Plantation Pointe, L.P., 892 So.2d 228, 235 (Miss.2004) (sufficient evidence existed to support a jury's finding that nursing home was not negligent in treatment and protection of a resident); Vicksburg Partners, L.P. v. Stephens, 911 So.2d 507, 513-25 (Miss.2005) (certain provisions of an arbitration agreement found enforceable where a plaintiff filed a wrongful death action against a nursing home); Lagrone v. Helman, 233 Miss. 654, 103 So.2d 365, 368 (Miss.1958) (jury was properly instructed that nursing home had a duty to use reasonable care for the safety of the plaintiff). The Plaintiffs argue this duty extends to administrators and licensees because they are involved with a nursing home's operations. ¶ 9. The Plaintiffs cite Bremenkamp v. Beverly Enter.Kan., Inc., 762 F.Supp. 884, 891 (D.Kan.1991) (citing Juhnke v. Evangelical Lutheran Good Samaritan Soc'y, 6 Kan.App.2d 744, 634 P.2d 1132, 1136 (1981)), for its holding that the administrator of an adult care center or nursing home is under a duty to exercise reasonable care to avoid injuries to patients. However, we find that the United States District Court for the District of Kansas used the term administrator in a different sense than is used today. This Court's concludes that in using the term administrator the district court was actually referring to the nursing home facility itself, since the nursing home was the only defendant named in the suit. Similarly, the Juhnke opinion does not discuss administrator liability. The Juhnke decision, where the only defendant was a nursing home, merely stated that the proprietors of a nursing home are under a duty to exercise reasonable care to avoid injuries to patients. . . . Juhnke, 634 P.2d at 1136. ¶ 10. The Plaintiffs also cite Beverly Enter.Fla., Inc. v. Spilman, 661 So.2d 867 (Fla. 5th DCA 1995), for what the Plaintiffs contend is support for the imposition of a common law duty on nursing home administrators and licensees owed to nursing home patients. The Plaintiffs point out the court's discussion of the administrator's responsibilities: [The facility's] administrator testified that she had not been familiar with [the patient's] plight. Surely she was familiar with the rapid transformations to neatness and cleanliness when a state inspection was imminent. She testified that she was aware of the incompetency of the director of nursing in managerial organizational skills. It is difficult to imagine that an employee with managerial responsibilities either knew of [the patient's] plight and failed to take any action to assist this totally dependent human being or so totally ignored the operation of the nursing facility that [the patient's] plight went unnoticed. Either situation exhibits a reckless disregard of human life or of the safety of persons exposed to its dangerous effects, or reckless indifference to the rights of [the patient]. . . . Id. at 873-74. We disagree with the Plaintiffs' contention. First, as in Juhnke, the only defendant in the case was the nursing home itself. Furthermore, the court's discussion was made in the context of whether the plaintiff was entitled to punitive damages based on the nursing home's treatment of the plaintiff. No discussion of administrator liability exists in the Spilman decision. ¶ 11. The Plaintiffs seek to expand the current common law duty that a nursing home or its proprietor or owner can be held liable under general principles of tort law for negligent acts or omissions regarding the care of its residents. Based on the absence of statutory law from the Legislature and the absence of case law calling for the expansion of this duty, as well as the fact that such expansion would be duplicative of the duty already owed by the nursing home business owner or proprietor, we decline to impose the same common law duty upon a nursing home licensee or administrator.