momsie Asked January 2013
Can I sue the nursing home for alienation of affection?
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A nonprofessional staff member at a nursing home made an alliance with my husband, which destroyed our marriage. California law? Can I sue the nursing home for alienation of affection? This relationship has been going on for almost a year. I've complained to licensed professionals and to the administrators at the nursing home. Nothing was done to remedy the situation. Do I have legal recourse in California?
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Lawsuits are never easy. Some companies may want to settle rather than have the case go to court. Other companies may not pay even if you win. The sad thing is that the wealthier side can afford to appeal, tying up a case in court for perhaps years.
I do not know how strong your case is. If you have not arranged for your husband to move or seen to it that the worker was not allowed near him, then your case may be weak. If you did what you could and have witnesses that will attest you had a strong marriage going in, others that saw the affair, and proof the you lost your husband's love as a result, you could have a good case. If the NH does not settle and wants to take it to court, they will discredit you in every way they can. So make sure you can stand the heat.
You may be able to sue the NH for something else, such as not supervising its staff appropriately, but forget about a of a.
The reason that most states have dropped the "alienation of affection" concept is that the notion that a relationship is all one person's doing is pretty much obsolete. We tend more to the notion that it takes two to tango these days. If your husband doesn't have dementia then how could it be the nursing home's fault that he was flirting with a staff member? Can you prove that she was more than being "friendly" back? How do you know the nature of their friendship? He is sweet, funny, and charming. That must be a welcome change from many of the crabs in the patient beds. Probably most of the staff is friendly with him. That is super. Again, we don't know how you know something inappropriate is going on, and you apparently weren't able to tell the administrators, either. Admittedly that was a very stressful confrontation, but you nodded that you were satisfied, so why would you expect them to fire the woman? Did you ever go back, more composed, and try to talk to just one of them, perhaps with written notes to help you?
A nursing home would be a pretty dismal place if there were rules against staff being friendly with residents. What, exactly, did this woman do that was beyond friendly? And what did you expect the NH to do when you indicated you were satisfied it was just friendship?
Your husband says he will leave if you ask him to. Why don't you ask him to, make arrangements for him in another facility, and help him move? I don't understand what you are expecting -- for him to get on the phone or take taxis and find another place himself, and then make arrangements to move and to call you when he is moved in?
I don't know what "licensed professionals" you've complained to -- you mean like nurses? Not their jurisdiction. You complained to administrators, which is appropriate, but then you nodded that you were satisfied that they were just friends. Now you've brought it up to an ombudsman. I hope that will resolve the matter.
I hope I don't sound totally unsympathetic. I just am confused about why you would throw away a marriage and hope to see someone lose their job based on "an alliance" that may or may not have been a just a friendship, when you couldn't offer more specifics to the administrators and you won't move your husband out of that NH.
I am glad to hear the administrators have your concerns in writing.
Please let us know how this turns out with the ombudsman. And good luck!
In general, anyone can sue anyone else for just about anything. Whether you'd have any chance of winning is what you really want to know, I think.
I asked her superior for the staff person to call him by his name and not to have excessive physical contact with him. Especially while the medications were being adjusted.
My husband professed his love for her, and other things. She continued her behavior and and told my husband I had gotten her in trouble. My husband was angry at me, he continued to be angry at me for six months. All the while they were best friends.
I know a nursing home is a little community in itself, I know patients often form relationships with each other because they're thrown together and the outside world becomes vague and meaningless. I also know friendships with married opposite gender patients, which are characterized by an alliance against the spouse of the married patient, are neither appropriate nor ethical. And I know that gossiping about and with patients about the patients' family members is not ethical.
By licensed professionals. I'm referring to the person or persons in each discipline who are responsible because of education and licensing for managing a certain area of healthcare. For instance, registered nurses are professional nurses, LPN's are vocational nurses, CNAs have a certain area of expertise. The RN is in charge of the unit and responsible for supervising LPN's, CNA's, etc. the RN's license is on the line when something goes wrong. Each discipline has that sort of hierarchy.
My husband is capable of initiating a change in his situation and asking for my help once he's taken the first steps. He's also able to let me spend a lot of time arranging a change and then not liking the idea after all. And I wouldn't blame him for that. He has a right to choose the place he wants to live, and come to think of it., he has the right to choose who he wants to hang out with.
And it's his right to be given the space to make those decisions without influence from a staff member who, after all, is dominant over him by virtue of being on the staff of his nursing home.
You do sound a bit hostile and I wonder why.
My husband doesn't want to see our marriage dissolved, but he also wants to hold onto a relationship with a woman younger than his daughters. The situation will end up causing him pain also, and it was so unnecessary.
The administrators have the specifics in writing.
Did you ever resolve this problem legally? How did you handle it? I am curious because my mother experienced a very similar situation when my father was placed in a Nebraska nursing home last year. Very distressing.
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