Failure to Provide Resident Privacy After Emergency Relocation
Penalty
Summary
The facility failed to provide personal privacy for three residents after a car crash rendered their original room unsafe to occupy. The residents, who had diagnoses including dementia, anxiety disorders, and cognitive impairments, were relocated to the Day Room due to a lack of available beds or rooms. In the Day Room, three beds were set up for the residents, but there were no privacy curtains between them. Additionally, thin drapes only partially covered the windows to the outside street, and a large uncovered window allowed visibility from the lobby, reception, and visitor areas into the room where the residents were housed. Observations and interviews confirmed that the residents remained in this arrangement without privacy curtains, and their personal and medical privacy was not maintained as required. Facility policy states that residents' private space and property are to be respected at all times, but this was not upheld during the period following the incident. The lack of privacy measures had the potential to cause physical, social, and emotional distress to the affected residents.