Failure to Timely Report Allegations of Mental Abuse
Penalty
Summary
The facility failed to report allegations of mental abuse involving a cognitively intact resident on two separate occasions. According to the resident's medical record, the resident was observed crying and reported that staff were not listening to her, were laughing at her, and that she wanted to leave against medical advice. Despite these documented concerns, the allegations of mental abuse involving staff members were not reported to the State Agency as required. The Administrator stated that she was not made aware of the resident's allegations on the dates they occurred and only discovered the issue through her own review of the resident's records at a later date. Facility policy requires that all allegations of abuse be reported immediately to the Administrator, who is responsible for overseeing investigations. In this case, the required reporting process was not followed, and the allegations were not communicated to the appropriate authorities in a timely manner.