Failure to Provide Arbitration Agreement in Resident's Preferred Language
Penalty
Summary
The facility failed to ensure that a resident with a primary language of Spanish fully understood the binding Arbitration Agreement at the time of admission. The resident, who had diagnoses including major depressive disorder and dementia with moderately impaired cognition, required an interpreter to communicate with healthcare staff and preferred to receive information in Spanish. Despite this, the Arbitration Agreement was only provided in English, and the resident signed the agreement without a Spanish version being available. During interviews, the resident stated she did not remember the arbitration agreement, could not read English, and would have preferred the agreement in Spanish for better understanding. The Admission Coordinator confirmed that the Arbitration Agreement was only available in English and acknowledged that the facility should have provided it in Spanish for residents whose primary language was Spanish. Facility policy required that agreements be explained in a language the resident understands, but this was not followed in this instance.