Nursing home admissions are often emotionally fraught, and without realizing it, distressed family members may sign away all rights to a jury trial, including claims for serious injury, medical malpractice, and wrongful death. Although nursing homes are prohibited from requiring residents to agree to arbitration as a condition of admission, such agreements are increasingly common.
If the party signing the agreement is a health care agent, rather than the resident herself, can the resident be compelled to arbitrate? In March 2012, two Massachusetts superior courts reached inconsistent answers to this question.
