Staff Member Used Profanity Toward Resident, Violating Abuse Policy
Penalty
Summary
A staff member failed to protect a resident from verbal abuse when a nurse aide used profanity and derogatory language towards the resident during an interaction. The resident, who had diagnoses including vascular dementia, anxiety, depression, and right-sided weakness from a previous stroke, required supervision for personal hygiene and toileting and was hard of hearing. Multiple staff members, including another nurse aide and an LPN, witnessed the incident in which the nurse aide told the resident, using profane language, to get away from her and continued to curse as she walked down the hall. The resident did not hear the abusive language due to hearing impairment and later confirmed to police that nothing was heard. The facility's policy maintains zero tolerance for any form of abuse, including verbal abuse defined as disparaging or derogatory language directed at or within hearing distance of residents, regardless of their ability to comprehend. Despite the resident's lack of awareness of the incident, the event was witnessed by several staff members and documented in the clinical record, constituting a failure to protect the resident from verbal abuse as required by facility policy and regulatory standards.