Resident Rights and Dignity Not Honored in Dining Room Access
Penalty
Summary
The deficiency involves the facility’s failure to honor a resident’s right to make choices and have unrestricted access to common areas, as outlined in its own Resident Rights policies. The facility’s policies, revised in November 2025, state that residents have the right to be treated with respect and dignity, to exercise their rights without interference, and to have unrestricted access to common areas open to the public unless there is a safety risk. The resident involved, identified as R38, had diagnoses including unspecified dementia with moderate cognitive impairment (BIMS score of 8), anxiety, and repeated falls, and required supervision/touching assistance for eating and mobility. Her care plan identified a behavior problem related to going in and out of other residents’ rooms and removing items, with interventions focused on providing appropriate activities, anticipating needs, and monitoring behaviors and potential causes. On the observed date and time, during lunch in the E Hall dining room, an LPN entered the dining room and announced that residents who had already eaten should go to their rooms so that residents who had not yet eaten could do so and it would not appear that those without trays had not been fed. The LPN specifically told R38, who had already eaten, to leave the dining room so that other residents who had not been fed could eat, and R38 wheeled herself out of the dining room. When R38 returned a few minutes later, the LPN again redirected her out of the dining room, stating that the other residents had not yet finished eating. In an interview, the LPN acknowledged asking residents to leave so it did not look like a dignity issue to families and stated she did not feel it infringed on R38’s rights because the resident “didn’t know” due to dementia and memory issues. The DON later stated it was not acceptable to ask residents to leave a preferred space if that was where they wanted to be and that it was a dignity issue and a rights issue for the resident to be asked to go to her room.
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