Legal Question in Civil Litigation in California

The difficulty that you face is the causation and the proof required to for the causaL link. There are lots inferences here. You probably have to prove their duty, their breach of duty, and the causation from the breach of their duty. You will have to prove how their practices deviated from the reasonable standard of care. Good luck..

I'm sorry to hear about your ordeal.

Unless there's more to the story, I think you have to pay. The nursing home almost certainly did not guarantee that your husband wouldn't get sick while he was there, which means his illness was not a breach of your contract with them. If they performed their duties under the contract, then you have to perform yours -- by paying.

Patients sometimes catch illnesses at hospitals and nursing homes. To a large degree, that is a risk they and their families implicitly accept. That the risk materialized does not excuse you from paying the bill.

It's possible that the nursing home was negligent in ways that unreasonably increased your husband's risk of illness. If it did, then you may have a negligence claim against them. But unless you can prove they were negligent, that is not a very good defense against paying the bill. The fact that your husband became sick while he was a patient does not even suggest, let alone prove, that the home did anything wrong.

A final note: If you are thinking of suing the nursing home, there are rigid deadlines and procedures you will have to follow. Consult with a lawyer right away. Delaying could cost you the ability to sue at all, or could weaken your case.

Good luck.