State and federal regulations weren’t enacted to protect nursing home residents only from neglect and abuse. Federal law requires facilities to maintain environments that promote, maintain or enhance a resident’s quality of life. Adults have the right to make choices about significant aspects of their life in a facility. Indeed, the facility must make reasonable accommodations for the individual resident’s needs and preferences to the extent that the health and safety of the individual resident or others is not endangered.
Continue Reading Romance between Nursing Home Residents – Should the Facility Step In?
Nothing Like a Mock Trial to Scare Staff Straight
Having presented many in-service lectures to the hospitals and nursing homes I defend, it has become apparent that the medical staff members best learn how incomplete and inconsistent documentation can be exploited by plaintiffs’ attorneys, and cost an otherwise defensible case.
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Can a Punishment Fit if There is No Crime?
Many states that permit recovery of compensatory damages for violations of residents’ rights in long-term care facilities also permit the imposition of punitive damages. Specifically, in New York punitive damages are permitted under Public Health Law (PHL) 2801-d.
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Video Surveillance in Nursing Homes: A Double-Edged Sword
Should long-term-care (LTC) facilities use or permit the use of video surveillance in residents’ rooms?
LTC facilities, aka nursing homes, are increasingly the subject of state and sometimes federal investigation to detect abuse and neglect of residents. Unannounced visits by the state attorney general’s office are more frequent, as is the media coverage of these investigations and the criminal charges that sometimes ensue.
As the public learns more about these investigations through news reports or stories on programs such as 20/20 or Dateline, families more often take the initiative to install hidden cameras (granny cams) in rooms to monitor the activities of staff members in their absence. Similarly, families and visitors surreptitiously use their smart phones to record patient care in their presence.
Continue Reading Video Surveillance in Nursing Homes: A Double-Edged Sword