Failure to Protect Resident Rights Regarding Personal Property Liability Waivers
Penalty
Summary
The facility failed to ensure that residents were not required to waive potential facility liability for losses of personal property upon admission, as evidenced by the admission agreements and inventory forms signed by three cognitively intact residents. The admission agreements for these residents included language stating the facility would not be responsible for valuables or personal effects stored in residents' rooms or on their person beyond the exercise of reasonable care. The inventory forms further urged residents not to keep valuables at the facility and stated the facility was not responsible for items of value kept unlocked, with residents signing these forms upon admission. For one resident, documentation showed that a cell phone was brought into the facility and later reported as broken after an incident involving a nursing assistant. The resident stated that staff broke the phone and that they had reported the issue to Social Services, but the facility did not replace or reimburse the phone. There was no documentation of a grievance related to the broken phone, and staff interviews revealed uncertainty about whether the facility reimbursed residents for lost or broken items. Multiple staff members, including the Director of Business Development, Resident Care Manager, and Social Service Director, acknowledged that the language in the admission agreement and inventory sheet appeared to waive potential facility liability for personal property losses. Staff also confirmed that these documents were completed with every new admission and that the process for addressing lost or broken items involved checking the inventory sheet and filling out a grievance form, though this was not consistently documented in the case reviewed.