Glossary of Nursing Home Abuse Law Terms

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C-Diff: A strong type of diarrhea that is contagious.

Carrier: A private company that enters into a contract with Medicare to pay a beneficiary’s Medicare Part B health care bills.

Case Manager: A person who arranges necessary health-care services for a patient or group of patients. The case manager could be a doctor, a nurse, another health care professional, or a social worker.

Catastrophic Limit: The highest amount of money a person would be required to pay out of his or her own pocket during a certain period of time for certain covered health-care charges.

Certified or Certification: A health-care facility is certified when it passes a survey conducted by a state governmental agency. Medicare only covers care in facilities that are certified or accredited.

Circumstantial Evidence: Evidence not based on actual personal knowledge or observation of the fact in dispute, but, rather, evidence of other personal knowledge or observation which allows a jury to infer the existence or nonexistence of the fact in dispute. An example would be a witness who was entering a resident’s room and saw another person walking out of the room with blood on their hands. When the witness entered the resident’s room, the witness saw that the resident had a bloodied nose.

Civil Action: Action brought to enforce private rights; does not generally involve criminal actions.

Civil Law: Body of law concerned with private rights and remedies, as contrasted with criminal law.

Coerce or Coercion: To compel by pressure, threat, or force.

Cognitive Impairment: A breakdown in a person’s mental state, which may affect the person’s ability to think clearly. It may also affect moods and induce fear and/or anxiety.

Complaint: In the legal sense, the document a plaintiff files with the court which contains allegations and damages sought. A complaint generally starts a lawsuit.

Comprehensive Assessment: Under the federal Nursing Home Reform Act of 1987 a facility must perform an initial comprehensive, accurate, standardized reproducible assessment of each resident’s functional capacity within 14 days of the resident’s admission to the nursing home. A second assessment must again be performed after significant changes in the resident’s physical or mental status and/or at least once every 12 months.

Confidentiality: A person’s right to speak freely with his or her health care provider without anyone else finding out what was said in the conversation.

Consent: Voluntary agreement of one who has sufficient mental capacity to make an intelligent choice to do something proposed by another person.

Contingent Fee Agreement: An agreement between an attorney and his or her client whereby the attorney agrees to represent the client for a percentage of the amount recovered. This fee agreement is frequently used in personal injury actions.

Contracture: The drawing together of muscle or scar tissue that results in distortion or deformity. Contractures can be caused by long periods of confinement in bed.

Contributory Negligence: Conduct which falls below the standard of care established by law for the protection of one’s self against unreasonable risk of harm.

Co-payment: The dollar amount some Medicare beneficiaries are required to pay for each medical service, such as a doctor’s visit.

Court: Refers to a specific court, such as The Supreme Court of Pennsylvania, or may also refer to a judge.

Court Reporter: The person who stenographically records and transcribes testimony during court proceedings or related proceedings such as depositions.

Covered Benefit: A health service or item that is paid partially or fully by a person’s health plan.

Covered Charges: A health service or benefit that is paid partially or fully by a person’s health plan.

Criminal Law: Criminal law declares what conduct is criminal and prescribes punishment to be imposed for criminal conduct. The purpose of criminal law is to prevent harm to society.

Custodial Care: Personal care given by one person to another. Personal care includes such services as shopping and cooking. Personal care costs are usually not covered by Medicare.