Nursing Home: Residents' Rights

NextSteps: Nursing-home resident sees too much
January 29, 2008
By Jan Warner and Jan Collins

Q: My 87-year old mother has been a nursing-home resident since she fractured her hip last year. Because she was unable to benefit from rehabilitation, Medicare stopped paying for her care, and she was moved into another room, where she receives skilled care, but she now has a 77-year-old female roommate with an obvious memory disorder. Their beds are no more than 4 feet apart, and only a curtain allows any type of privacy.


Mom has complained that her roommate is on the phone day and night talking to her husband, which keeps Mom awake. We finally met her husband last Sunday during visiting hours. He appeared to be quite younger than his wife and appeared to be drinking. He seemed jovial, but not 10 minutes after he arrived, he pulled the curtain around his wife's bed, and they began engaging in sexual relations while my wife and I were sitting there.

There was no question what was going on. My mother, who is very sharp for her age, was quite

embarrassed, as were my wife and I.


I went first to the nurse and then to the administrator of the facility and related what had been going on and the effect on my mother and, quite frankly, anyone within earshot. I was also concerned that this man could come to the facility, get confused and go into the wrong room and possibly rape a patient if he is intoxicated.


The administrator told me that, by federal law, husbands and wives have rights to conjugal visits, and the nursing home could not stop it. I was shocked when I was told that unless and until the husband did something inappropriate, there was nothing that could be done. Are there any actions we can take? I would like to move my mother, but we are told that all beds are full.


A: Lists of residents' rights in nursing facilities are included in state and federal laws with an eye toward protecting the residents' liberties; however, at the same time, while in a nursing-home setting, residents can't have the complete freedoms they enjoyed outside it.
The right to privacy is most important, meaning that when care is being given, the door should be closed, the privacy curtain should be drawn, and the blinds or curtains should be closed.

To avoid violating the law, the facility must avoid endangering a resident's health, safety or welfare. That is why humiliation, harassment and threats constitute mental abuse. On the one hand, the facility can't ignore a resident's request that would improve the quality of that person's life. Yet, on the other, such requests must be considered in light of practicality or potential harm to residents' health and safety.


Taking the NextStep: In that your mother's roommate appears to be ambulatory, it might be that a separate private room could be made available. Or, in some instances, a resident may be able to leave the facility for a conjugal visit. Your mother's health and welfare must be balanced against her roommate's rights. We suggest that you try again to resolve the matter and, if you can't, we suggest that you contact the long-term care ombudsman and file a grievance or, as a last resort, move your mother to another facility that "keeps a lid" on patients' rights of this nature.


SOURCE: PostGazette Pittsburgh