Failure to Prevent Misappropriation of Residents’ Smoking Materials
Penalty
Summary
The facility failed to protect a cognitively intact resident from misappropriation of personal property by another cognitively intact resident, specifically involving cigarettes and vape cartridges. One resident admitted to picking up cigarettes and vape cartridges that did not belong to him from the nurses’ station counter when smoking materials were placed out for use and were not labeled with resident names. His care plan documented behavioral problems related to misappropriation of others’ property, including vapes, lighters, and smoking materials. Staff interviews confirmed ongoing allegations over more than six months that this resident took other residents’ smoking materials, with staff sometimes confronting him only after he had already taken items. The administrator and human resources director acknowledged that this resident had taken vape cartridges belonging to another resident and that staff would retrieve the materials after he picked them up. The affected resident reported that at least four of her vape cartridges went missing after she turned them in to be locked up following smoking times, and that when she returned for the next smoking period, the cartridges were gone. She stated staff consistently found her missing vape cartridges in the other resident’s possession, sometimes after delays ranging from one day to a couple of days, and that on one occasion staff found him outside smoking her vape cartridge and sharing it with other residents. A CNA reported that the resident taking items had been observed waiting for agency nurses, then accessing the cabinet where smoking materials were stored, including by climbing over the nurses’ station counter when the doorway to the nurses’ station was left unlocked. The cabinet where smoking materials were kept had not historically been locked because access behind the nurses’ station was controlled by a locked doorway, but some agency nurses left that door unlocked, allowing the resident to gain access. The facility’s Abuse Prevention Policy defined misappropriation as the deliberate misplacement, exploitation, or wrongful, temporary or permanent use of a resident’s belongings or money without the resident’s consent.
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