Residents Have Rights

Our long-term care Ombudsman program has many volunteers who walk through facilities to visit with the residents. The volunteers see how the residents are doing, observe the physical appearance and watch interactions with the staff members.

Last month one of our volunteers had gone to an Assisted Living facility. Just before the volunteer arrived a resident named Barbara had fallen. Barbara was still on the floor when the volunteer walked in. By this time the staff had met with the resident who was shaken from the fall but physically alright. The volunteer observed the Assistant Director come in to do a final check over and said, “I am going to have to let your son know you had another fall”. Barbara asked the Assistant Director to not call her son because she did not want him to know. The Assistant Director said he was sorry but he had to let him know.

Residents have rights. Even if Barbara has assigned her son to be her power of attorney, she has the right to say she does not want him to be informed of her fall. Many family members, as well as long-term care facilities, are not aware that a person can revoke a power of attorney at any time. These are issues the Ombudsman discuss and educate facilities about on a regular basis.

A few days after the incident an Ombudsman went back to speak with the Assistant Director about Barbara’s right to say “no”. The Assistant Director stated he always respects the resident’s wishes and he would never make a call if he was told not to. Regardless of whose account of the conversation is accurate the Assistant Director was educated on Resident Rights. The Ombudsman will always respect and promote the resident’s right to self-determination.

Physical Restraints

A few weeks ago I went to a long-term care facility to investigate a case. While walking down the hall I heard a woman weakly yell, “Help me! Help me!” Staff members were walking up and down the hall but didn’t stop to help the woman. I poked my head into her room to see what the problem was. There on the bed was a white haired elderly woman crunched up against her bed rail unable to move. Through her whimpers she explained she had been sleeping and somehow rolled over and couldn’t move. Her call light was out of her reach. I explained that I could not move her, but would push her call light and go find someone to help. After I promised I would be right back, I went out into the hall to find someone, but was unable to. Finally, I found a Social Worker who immediately jumped into action to meet the needs of this resident.

It is still upsetting to me when I think about this woman: scared, hurt, and ignored. She had been physically restrained and the results could have been disastrous had she waited much longer.

In recent years, the health care community has recognized that physically restraining residents can be dangerous. There are benefits of bed rails which include: aiding in turning, providing a hand-hold for getting in or out of bed, and a feeling of comfort and security. However, there are many potential risks of bed rails that include: strangulation, suffocation, bodily injury or death when residents are caught between rails or between the rails and bed. There are increased incidences of bruising, cuts and scrapes as well as serious injuries resulting from falls when residents climb over the rails. Bed rails also contribute to the resident feeling isolated or unnecessarily restricted and they prevent residents, who are able to get out of bed, from performing routine activities such as going to the bathroom.

Fortunately, the potentially disastrous situation with the white haired elderly woman was diverted. The next day I had a meeting with the facility to discuss the situation with administration. Since the incident, the resident no longer is using a bed rail and the long-term care facility is making more of an effort to listen for their residents and answer their call lights in a timely manner.