Michigan

• 3 years with Discovery Rule. (Mich. Comp. Laws Ann. §600.5805 – Injuries to persons or property; limitations)
• Medical malpractice – 2 years from act or omission that forms the basis of the claim or 6 months from discovery, but no more than 6 years after the act or omission. If claimant is a minor under age eight, SOL period begins to run on minor’s tenth birthday or within 2-year SOL, whichever time period is greater. If case involves injury to the reproductive system of a minor under age thirteen, then SOL period begins to run on minor’s 15th birthday or within 2-year SOL period, whichever is greater. (Mich. Comp. Laws Ann. §600.5805; Mich. Comp. Laws Ann. 600.5838a)

• Noneconomic damages are capped at $280,000 unless plaintiff is hemiplegic, paraplegic, or quadriplegic due to an injury to the brain or spinal cord, or where the plaintiff has permanently impaired cognitive capacity rendering him incapable of making independent, responsible life decisions and permanently incapable of independently performing the activities of normal, daily living, or the plaintiff has had permanent loss or damage to a reproductive organ resulting in the inability to procreate, then non-economic damages shall not exceed $500,000. (Mich. Comp. Laws Ann. §600.1483 – Action for damages alleging medical malpractice; limitation on noneconomic damages)

• 3 years from date of wrongful act giving rise to the cause of action (Occurrence Rule). The wrongful death saving statute can extend either the two-year or six-month period; if injured person dies before statute runs, the personal representative may sue within two years after being appointed so long as the suit is brought within three years after the statute expires. (Mich. Comp. Laws Ann. §600.5805 – Injuries to persons or property; limitations; Mich. Comp. Laws Ann. §600.5852 – Death before period of limitations has run or within 30 days thereafter; commencement of actions)

• None.

• Medical malpractice claims require 182 days prior written notice of claim during which SOL is tolled. (Mich. Comp. Laws Ann. §600.2912b)

• Michigan Department of Community Health
• Adult Protective Services
• Long Term Care Ombudsman
• Office of Services to the Aging
• Board of Nursing Home Administrators

• Adult Protective Services – (Mich. Comp. Laws Ann. Soc. Welf. Act 280, §§400-11a – 11f)
• Abusing, Mistreating, or Neglecting Patient – (Mich. Pub. Health Code §333-21771)
• Task Force on Elder Abuse – (Mich. Exec. Ord. No.2005-11)

• Judge Tosses Manslaughter Charges Against Nursing Home Employees In Case Involving Death Of Disabled Resident

Judge Susan Grant dismissed the manslaughter charges against three nursing home employees in a case involving the death of a disabled resident at a Michigan Nursing Home.  The charges were filed in 2006 following the death of Sarah Comer at Metron Nursing Home.  

The case received national attention when it was revealed that Comer was transferred to Metron from a hospital in critical medical condition on a weekend when the facility was under-staffed. Shortly after her arrival at Metron Nursing Home; Comer died.  It was alleged that Comer died because the staff allowed her oxygen supply to run out.

• Michigan Court Strikes Nursing Home 'Arbitration Clause' And Allows Wrongful Death Case To Proceed In Court

A Michigan Court has stricken an 'arbitration clause' from a pending wrongful death lawsuit against a Michigan nursing home.  In the case of High v. Capital Senior Living Properties, a nursing home resident's son filed a wrongful death lawsuit against the facility for failing to properly supervise his mother. Among the claims made in the lawsuit, the Plaintiff, Sidney High, claims the facility was negligent in allowing his mother (who had Alzheimer's) to wander from the facility and freeze to death. 

After filing the wrongful death lawsuit, Capital Senior Living filed a motion to dismiss and attempted to force the claims made in the lawsuit to proceed under arbitration.  The facility claimed they were entitled to have any claims made against them in a private, arbitration setting per the terms of their admission documents. 

• Nursing Home Worker Admits To Molestation Of Disabled Resident

A 26-year-old man has admitted to the molestation of a mentally disabled woman he was responsible for caring for.  The nursing home worker identified as, Daniel Griswald, confessed to multiple sexual encounters with a resident at Rest Haven Home, in Rest Haven, Michigan between March and May, 2008.

According to Rest Haven Nursing Home administrator, Brian Wilson, Griswald was a, "good, solid, employee...nobody suspected anything of him."  According to Wilson, Griswald passed an extensive background check that included a criminal record check and a checking of the Michigan Sex Offender Registry.

• Michigan Court Dismisses Charges Against Nursing Home Workers Playing With A Corpse

Criminal charges were dismissed against three employees at Cherrywood Nursing and Living Center in Sterling, Michigan.  The Michigan Court of Appeals dismissed the misdemeanor patient abuse charges that the employees were originally charged with.  The court reasoned that the deceased nursing home resident could not be categorized as a patient because she was dead. 

In 2004, the nursing home employees were ordered to get the body of a deceased nursing home resident ready for transport to a funeral home.  The threesome told the corpse to 'wake up' and took photographs of each other with the corpse. Read more about this incident of corpse abuse here.

• Medicare & Medicaid Funding Pulled From Nursing Home With Violations

Residents at Michigan's Metron Nursing Home in Allegan will soon be looking for new places to live following the facilities violations of  federal nursing home regulations.  Metron has received 11 federal violations, including a violation concerning immediate jeopardy to a patients health.  It is unfortunate that resident's must be displaced and care routines will be interrupted, but there is a reason that federal nursing home regulations are in place--to provide quality care for nursing home residents.  What residents and visitors may not see, may lead to serious lapses in the quality of patient care in the future.  Metron operates seven nurisng homes in Michigan.  Read more about the revocation of Medicare and Medicaid funding here.