Just before leaving the White House, President Bush enacted a rule that designates state inspectors of nursing homes as federal employees, making it more difficult to obtain evidence obtained by those inspectors in private lawsuits against nursing homes for abuse or neglect, such as those pursued by Walton Law Firm LLP.
The new restriction affects about 16,000 nursing facilities in the United States, and will require litigants to go to greater lengths to obtain information that used to be routinely given. In short, the rule prohibits state health departments (such as the Department of Public Health in California) from participating in private lawsuits that are in the federal assistance program.
Bloomberg.com has more on the story here.