Failure to Protect Resident Property From Misappropriation by Nurse
Penalty
Summary
The deficiency involves the facility’s failure to protect a cognitively intact resident’s property from misappropriation by a staff member. The resident, assessed on a quarterly MDS as cognitively intact without behaviors and with a BIMS score of 12, had personal property including a truck bed and other items that were being handled by a friend and were associated with an auction and probate. An allegation was reported to the State Agency that a nurse had received a truck bed from this resident, and the resident’s contact person notified staff that the nurse was not supposed to receive the truck bed or any other items in her possession. According to the nurse’s interview, she discussed with the resident and the resident’s friend that she needed another vehicle, and the friend told her about a car for sale at auction. She went to look at the car and also discussed a truck bed, then asked her mechanic to look at the truck bed to see if it could be used as a bed for her home. The nurse stated she did not ask the mechanic to pick up the truck bed, but he did so and brought it to her house. She reported that when the resident’s friend wanted the truck bed back, she covered it with a tarp and left it in her yard for about two months until it was picked up. She denied knowledge of a trailer with other items and acknowledged she had been trained not to accept gifts from residents. The resident reported that he had told the nurse she could have the truck bed but did not realize at the time that it was scheduled to go to auction. He stated that the next day he told the nurse she could not have it because it was already promised for auction, but the nurse obtained the truck bed after he revoked permission. The resident’s friend, who handled the resident’s affairs, stated that the nurse had gone alone to the resident’s house to look at buying a car and later had someone pick up the truck bed for her, and that he discovered the truck bed and other miscellaneous items missing from a trailer. Local law enforcement confirmed they were contacted about a 2002 Ford truck bed and other property taken from the resident’s property, and that although the resident had initially told the nurse she could have the items, he later learned from his friend that they could not be given away because they were up for auction. The items were eventually returned and no charges were pressed, but the events demonstrated that the resident’s belongings were not protected from wrongful use or misappropriation by facility staff.
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