F0550

D

Failure to Treat Cognitively Impaired Resident With Dignity and Respond to Repeated Requests for Help

Scottsdale, Arizona Survey Completed on 01-07-2026

Penalty

No penalty information released

Summary

The deficiency involves the facility’s failure to treat a cognitively impaired resident with dignity and respect and to respond appropriately to his repeated requests for assistance. The resident had acute on chronic congestive heart failure, cardiomyopathy, pneumonia, unspecified dementia, anxiety disorder, and urinary retention, and was admitted with a Foley catheter. Assessments and therapy notes documented moderate to severe cognitive impairment, poor orientation, poor recall, confusion, and frequent yelling out for help or for his wife. Care plans identified behavior problems related to impaired cognition, including yelling out instead of using the call light, and directed staff to anticipate and meet needs, provide positive interaction, explain procedures, identify triggers, and use calm approaches and redirection. Multiple clinical notes from nursing, therapy, psychiatry, neurology, and pulmonary providers documented ongoing confusion, anxiety, constant yelling, inability to verbalize needs, and repeated pulling on the Foley catheter.

On the morning of the incident, video footage and surveyor observations showed the resident seated in a gerichair in front of the nurses’ station with a Foley catheter bag attached to the chair and no call light or call bell available. From shortly after 6:00 a.m. onward, the resident repeatedly yelled for help, requested to use the bathroom, and asked for water and to call his family. Staff responses were intermittent and did not address his toileting requests; one staff member told him he had a catheter and did not assist him to the bathroom, another told him to remain reclined until breakfast, and others walked past without responding while he continued to call out loudly dozens of times. When he reported having had a bowel movement, he was told to wait until staff could be found, and no one assisted him with toileting or changing for an extended period. Staff also told him there was no reason for his yelling, that he was waking everybody up, and that it was too early to call his family, without addressing his expressed needs.

Later that same morning, with no staff nearby, the resident attempted to stand and walk unassisted while still connected to the Foley catheter bag attached to the gerichair. As he took small, unsteady steps, the catheter tubing became taut and ultimately the catheter balloon and tubing were observed on the floor after being pulled out, and the resident yelled out loudly in pain. A CNA then approached and, without reassuring the resident or explaining her actions, grabbed his arm with both hands and attempted to pull him back toward the chair while he said “No” and tried to walk in the opposite direction. The CNA then positioned the gerichair in front of him and repeatedly ordered him in a rude, firm tone to “sit down here” and “sit in there,” without explanation, while the resident questioned what the chair was. During toileting assistance in the bathroom, the CNA’s firm and rude tone continued, and the resident was overheard asking her not to be rude. Interviews with staff and leadership confirmed awareness of the resident’s ongoing yelling behaviors and confusion, and the facility’s own policy required that residents be treated with kindness, respect, and dignity and be free from abuse and neglect, which was not followed in this case.

The facility’s care plans and provider recommendations called for consistent routines, environmental modifications, structured activities, task segmentation, frequent redirection, and calm, respectful communication to address the resident’s impaired cognition and behaviors. Despite this, there was no evidence of updates or revisions to the behavior-related care plan interventions after mid-December, even as documentation showed escalating yelling, anxiety, and inability to be redirected. On the day of the incident, staff did not implement the planned interventions such as anticipating and meeting needs, providing one-to-one interaction, or promptly assisting with toileting, and instead left the resident unattended in the hallway for prolonged periods while he loudly and repeatedly called for help, the bathroom, water, and his family. The combination of failing to respond to his expressed needs, leaving him without a call system or supervision despite known impulsivity and unsteady gait, and interacting with him in a rude and non-reassuring manner constituted a failure to honor his rights to dignity, respect, self-determination, and communication as outlined in the facility’s resident rights and dignity policy.

Other residents and staff interviews corroborated that the resident frequently screamed and that he likely wanted someone to talk to or an activity to calm him. CNAs and nurses described appropriate approaches they would generally use for confused, yelling, or restless residents, such as sitting with them, holding their hand, providing activities, or placing them near the nurses’ station with close supervision. However, on the morning in question, these approaches were not consistently applied to this resident. The Director of Nursing acknowledged awareness of his yelling and impulsivity and stated expectations for calm approaches, redirection, and offering comfort measures, while the Administrator acknowledged that staff could have done a better job addressing his requests to use the bathroom. The documented events, observations, and interviews collectively show that the resident’s rights to be treated with dignity and respect and to have his needs assessed and addressed were not upheld.

The facility’s written policy on Resident Rights/Dignity required employees to treat all residents with kindness, respect, and dignity and guaranteed residents the right to a dignified existence, to be treated with respect, kindness, and dignity, to be free from abuse and neglect, and to exercise self-determination and communication with people and services. The observed failure to respond to the resident’s repeated requests for toileting and assistance, the lack of a call light, the prolonged periods without staff attending to him while he yelled for help, and the CNA’s rude tone and physical handling of his arm were inconsistent with these policy requirements. These actions and inactions formed the basis of the cited deficiency for failure to ensure the resident was treated with dignity and respect.