Arbitration agreements shield assisted living homes from accountability, some experts say

Judith Lococo was still feisty and getting around with a walker in January 2020 when her family moved her into an assisted living facility in Agawam after an exhaustive search for a place that could care for residents with Alzheimer’s.

Her son, E.J. Lococo, recalled an urgent scramble to lock down a spot in the memory care unit at the Atrium at Cardinal Drive before it went to someone else. His wife rushed to the facility on her lunch hour and plowed through a mountain of paperwork that families must sign before being admitted.

Included in the lengthy residency contract she signed was a “voluntary arbitration agreement,” under which Judith Lococo consented to resolve any disputes with the facility through a neutral arbitrator, whose decision would be final and legally binding, and waiv