I’m really encouraged by the dialogue, despite what one may infer from my comments.
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But, allow me to regale you about life in the insurance industry as we have experienced it
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We had a long term resident trip on the carpeting in out hallway. It is perfectly good carpeting, installed on all floors, in all hallways and well maintained. Resident sued, and insurance company paid without fighting it.
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We had a resident trip on the sidewalk outside the building because an acorn fell from a tree, maybe not even our tree. Resident broke a wrist. Resident sued. Insurance company paid.
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We had a resident who parked in our garage for many years in the same spot. One day the resident tripped when walking away from the car. The parking deck is perfectly within specifications. The resident sued. Insurance company paid.
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Why do insurance companies pay? The answer is they do a cost benefit analysis and determine the cost of paying vs. the cost of fighting.
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But then, our insurance experience file showed a number of “liability” payments. And our carrier cancelled our insurance. Assigned risk, here we come.
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What do you folks think will happen if a resident’s medic alert sends an alarm and there is delay in gaining entry to the resident’s apartment because our folks (security, doorman, etc.) are 10 seconds late (yes, try and prove 10 seconds) and someone’s survivor sues?
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As fiduciaries, we cannot allow our other 499 shareholders to be put at financial risk by a major insurance claim, not to mention the erosion of time for our highly paid board members. We pay our board members $00, twice what other buildings pay, but it still does not cover their “costs”.
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Our position is that we cannot be the penultimate respondent to a resident’s medical emergency.
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Thus, we are about to publish a letter, with essentially the information contained my original posting. If that is the form which the counter view herein poses as a solution, so be it.
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Our next step is to put the letter in our admissions package such that every buyer signs the letter.
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And I need to ask what “form” would our attorney draft other than the letter that would emerge from my posting?
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Yes, I am very empathetic to the needs o the elderly. That’s why I moved my father, now 92, to an assisted living facility in NJ from his condo in Florida. A year ago, I moved him to a nursing home as his physical prowess declined.
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Why an assisted living facility and now a nursing facility? We’ll because they are accredited to provide a certain level of service. One may argue whether they meet the commitment, and my response is that in my estimation they do.
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By the way, he has the clarity of mind to assert that he could have changed world history, maybe spent a few years in jail and perhaps ruined the family, while in prison. After all, he was the NYC police department assigned bodyguard for Fidel Castro, upon Fidel’s first visit to NYC, when he stayed at the Hotel Teresa in Harlem. Fidel offered him cigars, fried chicken and brandy
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Again, I need to repeat that we are not a nursing home or an assisted living facility. Nor are we a warehouse where children can warehouse the elderly to avoid their responsibilities in this day and age when our adults are living longer, albeit curtailed life styles. We are not Florida with endless senior citizen warehouses where parents are stockpiled by Northern children until their next dutiful visit in nine months to a year, unless death prevails sooner.
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Perhaps we can charge an extra fee for being responders to medic alerts. After all, responding, regardless of situation, its not in our proprietary lease, our bylaws or house rules. After all, why should all residents underwrite the costs of the few?
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But can you conjure the liability insurance we would incur for failure to provide an agreed and paid service.
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Folks, it’s a litigious word and as fiduciaries we cannot place our shareholders at financial risk
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Perhaps, we should sue the children of the resident needing assistance for failure to provide adequate care and for endangering the life of elder dependent.

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