Health Law Advisor

By: Mollie O’Brien, James Flynn and Jiri Janko

The Supreme Court of New Jersey held on June 16th that a former registered nurse could not get his whistleblower claim to the jury because he failed to prove at trial that he held a reasonable belief that the conduct to which he objected violated a standard of patient care or a clear mandate of public policy.  James Hitesman v. Bridgeway, Inc., A-73-12,  involved allegations of improper quality of patient care at a long-term care nursing home facility, allegations that the plaintiff attempted to support with references to the American ...

By: Adam C. Abrahms and Stephanie R. Carrington

Since California’s implementation of legislation setting minimum nurse-to-patient staffing ratios in 2004, the issue of nurse staffing has been slowly but surely creeping its way into other states’ legislation, attempts at federal legislation, and of course, into more union contracts.

When it comes to requirements for hospital staffing ratios, federal regulations provide only that hospitals participating in Medicare have “adequate numbers” of nurses and other personnel to provide nursing care.  But some states have ...