Possibly — signing an arbitration agreement at admission does not automatically bar a claim. These clauses, buried in the admission packet, waive the right to a jury trial and send disputes to private arbitration, and families often sign them without realizing what they are.
Their enforceability can be challenged. It can turn on who signed the agreement and whether that person had legal authority to bind the resident, whether arbitration was presented as a required condition of admission (which federal rules generally prohibit for pre-dispute agreements), and whether the terms were unconscionable.
Because these agreements can sometimes be set aside, the right step is to have the actual agreement and the circumstances reviewed, rather than assuming it controls. An arbitration clause is a hurdle to evaluate, not necessarily the end of a claim.