Failure to Address Grievances and Ensure Equal Access to Shared Restroom
Penalty
Summary
The deficiency involves the facility’s failure to address resident grievances and ensure equal access to a shared restroom and related services for roommates of a cognitively intact resident. One resident with major depressive disorder and anxiety, who required varying levels of assistance with ADLs but had intact decision-making skills, reported that when previously sharing a room with another resident, she was not allowed by that roommate to use the in-room restroom or the call light. She stated she had reported these concerns to the Administrator and raised them multiple times in resident council meetings but did not feel her concerns were heard, and she believed the facility avoided assigning a roommate to the controlling resident because that resident would “raise a fuss.” Another resident with major depressive disorder and COPD, also cognitively intact and requiring assistance with ADLs, reported that the same controlling resident would not allow any roommates to use the shared restroom or allow CNAs to obtain water from that restroom to provide care to the roommates. This resident stated that CNAs instead used the restroom in her room to get water to bathe the controlling resident’s previous roommate, and that the Activity Director was aware of these concerns from resident council meetings but nothing had been done. Staff interviews corroborated that CNAs had to obtain water from other residents’ restrooms because the controlling resident would not permit use of the shared restroom, and that roommates who were able to walk were told by the controlling resident to use other residents’ restrooms rather than the shared one in their own room. The Social Services Director stated that previous roommates who could use the restroom had complained about not being allowed to use the shared restroom and often requested room changes, and acknowledged it was not acceptable for them to have to use another resident’s restroom because they had the same rights to use the shared restroom. The DON acknowledged hearing about the shared bathroom complaints during a recent resident council meeting but had not yet spoken to the controlling resident, and stated there should have been follow-up and closure provided to the residents who raised concerns. The DON and an RN both affirmed that roommates had the right to use the shared restroom and that CNAs should be able to use it to obtain water for care. The facility’s Resident Rights policy stated that residents have the right to communication with and access to services and to voice grievances and have the facility respond, but the reported and observed handling of these complaints showed that the concerns of the affected residents were not addressed or resolved.
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