Failure to Timely Report Allegation of Misappropriation of Resident Property
Penalty
Summary
Facility staff failed to follow the abuse/misappropriation reporting policy when an allegation of theft of resident property was documented but not reported to the abuse coordinator or to the Illinois Department of Public Health (IDPH). A cognitively intact resident (BIMS score 15) reported 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. This allegation was documented in a nursing progress note by an RN, which also stated that the resident recovered her phone from the other resident, called the police, the DON was made aware, facility security de-escalated the situation, and social services would follow up. Despite this documentation, the DON later stated he had never heard of anyone going into this resident’s room and taking her things and that the RN had never notified him of any theft by any resident. The Administrator, who serves as the abuse coordinator, stated that his expectation is that staff report all abuse, including theft and misappropriation of property, to him so he can follow the abuse policy and initiate an investigation, and that he had not been informed of any incident involving this resident’s personal property. When shown the RN’s progress note, the Administrator acknowledged that the described incident constituted misappropriation of property and confirmed he had not been notified by the RN or any staff member. The facility’s abuse policy requires employees to immediately report any incident, allegation, or suspicion of abuse, neglect, mistreatment, or misappropriation of resident property to the Administrator or an immediate supervisor, and further requires reporting to IDPH within specified time frames. In this case, the allegation involving two residents was not reported as required, resulting in a failure to timely notify the abuse coordinator and IDPH of suspected misappropriation of resident property for two of three residents reviewed for misappropriation in the sample.
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