Good News from California

This is Good News Thursday because I have good news and it’s Thursday. And the good news comes out of California where a Superior Court judge put the brakes on a law allowing nursing homes make medical decisions for mentally incompetent residents. The patients didn’t even have to be informed they were deemed incapacitated or allowed the opportunity to challenge the decision. These medical decisions can include the withholding of food and fluids, which kills the patient. Nursing homes could have a financial conflict of interest, such as offing a Medicaid patient to make the bed available for a higher compensating private-pay patient. This is just one step toward protecting patients, but in this society, a step in the right direction is a victory. Well done, Judge. Well done.