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The Role of the Lawyer as Deal Maker in Health Care Acquisitions: From Amoral to Immoral?

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  22 October 2024

Barry R. Furrow*
Affiliation:
DREXEL UNIVERSITY, PHILADELPHIA, PENNSYLVANIA, USA.

Abstract

This article proposes ethical — and legal — accountability for lawyers representing clients such as private equity (PE) firms who create ownership structures for nursing home systems. Using PE ownership as a case study, I will show that nursing home residents are often harmed and Medicaid costs inflated. I propose private law provides tools to compel such accountability, through (1) aiding and abetting doctrines and (2) fiduciary doctrines that require that the fiduciary be responsible for its vulnerable beneficiaries, not just ethically but for damages and equitable relief. I further propose that the teaching of Professional Responsibility needs to be changed to force law students to consider the effect of legal practice on third parties in situations like health care financing.

Type
Symposium Articles
Copyright
© The Author(s), 2024. Published by Cambridge University Press on behalf of American Society of Law, Medicine & Ethics

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