Supreme Court rules for nursing home patient’s family, declines to limit civil rights lawsuits

By JESSICA GRESKO
Associated Press

WASHINGTON (AP) — The Supreme Court has ruled for the family of a nursing home resident with dementia that had sued over his care. The justices declined to use the case to broadly limit the right to sue government workers. The man’s family went to court alleging that he was given drugs to keep him easier to manage in violation of his rights. The justices had been asked to use his case to limit the ability of people to use a federal law to sue for violations of their civil rights. That outcome could have left tens of millions of people participating in federal programs including Medicare and Medicaid without an avenue to go to court to enforce their rights.