Failure to Report and Investigate Misappropriation of Resident Property
Penalty
Summary
Facility staff failed to follow the abuse policy regarding misappropriation of property when a cognitively intact resident reported that another resident took her personal phone without consent. The resident, who had a BIMS score of 15 indicating she was cognitively intact, stated that a male resident entered her room while she was sleeping, unplugged her phone, took it, and used it to take facial pictures of himself. A progress note dated 12/11/2025 by an RN documented that the resident complained a male resident came into her room and took her phone while she was sleeping, that she recovered the phone from the other resident, and that she called the police. The note also documented that the DON was made aware and that security deescalated the situation, with social services to follow up. Despite this documentation, both the DON and the Administrator stated during interviews that they had no knowledge of any incident involving another resident taking this resident’s phone or other personal property. The DON stated he had never heard of anyone going into the resident’s room and taking her things and that the RN who wrote the note had not notified him of any theft by any resident. The Administrator, who is the abuse coordinator, stated that staff are expected to report abuse, including theft, to him and that he had not been informed of any incident of misappropriation of this resident’s property. When shown the RN’s progress note, the Administrator acknowledged that the described incident constituted misappropriation of property and stated that, had he been notified, he would have reported it to the state agency and initiated an investigation. The facility’s abuse policy affirms residents’ rights to be free from misappropriation of property and defines misappropriation as the deliberate wrongful use of a resident’s belongings without consent, but this policy was not followed in this case.
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