Failure to Protect Resident Visitation Rights Following Staff-Visitor Altercation
Penalty
Summary
The facility failed to honor a resident's right to receive visitors of their choosing by indefinitely restricting the visitation hours of the resident's immediate family member. The resident, who had a history of stroke with left-sided deficit and heart failure, was cognitively intact and dependent on staff for activities of daily living. The restriction was imposed following an incident involving a nursing assistant and the resident's representative (RR), during which a verbal altercation occurred in the hallway. Multiple witnesses, including staff and a collateral contact, described the event as a heated exchange, but none reported any physical threat or danger posed by the RR to the staff member involved. Prior to the incident, the RR had regularly visited the resident, often twice daily, and had expressed concerns about late dinners. The resident reported that the nursing assistant had previously threatened that the RR's visitation could be revoked if complaints continued. After the hallway incident, the administrator restricted the RR's visitation to weekdays during business hours, with no weekend visits, without conducting a thorough investigation or interviewing all available witnesses. The resident was visibly upset by the restriction, expressing feelings of fear, insecurity, and reluctance to voice further concerns due to fear of retaliation. Staff interviews revealed inconsistent follow-up and lack of documentation regarding the incident and the imposed visitation restriction. The administrator confirmed the visitation limits were set to protect staff, despite the staff member involved no longer being employed at the facility. Other staff and witnesses indicated that the RR had not posed a physical threat, and the collateral contact who witnessed the event was not interviewed as part of the facility's response. The facility did not provide evidence of a formal investigation or adequate assessment of the resident's psychosocial well-being following the restriction.