Failure to Provide Medically-Related Social Services After Disruptive Behavioral Incident
Penalty
Summary
Two residents with cognitive intactness and diagnoses including anxiety, depression, and adjustment disorder experienced psychosocial distress due to disruptive behaviors by one of the residents. The care plans for both residents identified psychosocial well-being issues and included interventions such as encouraging verbalization of feelings, identifying stressors, and providing behavioral health consults. Despite these interventions, the medical record lacked evidence of follow-up after a significant behavioral outburst, which included loud, disruptive, and intimidating behaviors that visibly upset other residents and led to the involvement of police and ambulance staff. Interviews with staff and residents confirmed that the disruptive behaviors caused fear and distress among other residents, and that no follow-up support or assessment was provided to those affected after the incident. The Director of Social Services was aware of the incident through reports but had not followed up with all residents involved to determine if additional support was needed. The facility's own documentation indicated that the social services department was responsible for addressing residents' emotional and psychological needs, but this was not carried out for all affected individuals following the behavioral incident.