Involuntary Discharge From Nursing Home: Civil Conspiracy Lawsuit Allowed
Legal Eagle Eye Newsletter for the Nursing Profession
September 1998
Quick Summary: A nursing home resident can sue caregivers who conspire to rid the facility and themselves of a patient requiring more attention and work than they are willing to perform.
The conspiracy was proven by the treatment notes outlining the resident’s allegedly inappropriate behavior and the caregivers' testimony.
The resident has the right to sue for his emotional distress and financial loss.
COURT OF APPEALS OF IOWA, 1998. A civil conspiracy is an agreement or understanding to bring about a wrong against another person. It is a combination of two or more persons to accomplish, through concerted effort, an unlawful end or a lawful end through unlawful means, according to the Court of Appeals of Iowa.The court did not say for sure that the nursing home resident who sued his former caregivers was the victim of a conspiracy to force him out. The court did rule a nursing home resident does have the right to make such allegations and is entitled to a hearing in district court to try to prove the allegations.
Robbins v. Nursing Home, 578 N.W. 2d 262 (Iowa App., 1998).