PHOENIX (AP) - The Arizona Supreme Court has agreed to review a lower court’s decision allowing lawsuits against hospitals under a state law to protect vulnerable or incapacitated adults from neglect, abuse and exploitation.
The justices without comment Friday agreed to hear several hospitals’ appeals of the Court of Appeals July 30 decision.
That decision overturned two trial judges’ rulings in separate cases that the Adult Protective Services Act doesn’t apply to acute-care hospitals.
Hospitals argued that the law applies only to long-term care facilities.
The Court of Appeals disagreed, ruling that the law exempts physicians and certain other specified care providers but not hospitals.
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