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Nursing Home Residents' Rights
Nursing home residents are entitled to certain protections under the law. In fact, the nursing home must inform all new residents about these rights. The protections afforded to all nursing home residents fall into certain general categories:
- The Right to Respect: Nursing home residents have the right to be treated with dignity and respect.
- The Right to Know about Services and Fees: Residents (or their representatives) must be fully informed about services and fees before entering into an agreement to reside in the nursing home.
- The Right to Control Their Finances: Nursing home residents have the right to manage their own money or to choose someone they trust to manage their finances for them.
- The Right to Privacy: Residents of nursing homes have the right to privacy. This includes keeping and using their personal belongings and property as long as doing so does not interfere with the rights, health, or safety of others.
- Medical Care Rights: Nursing home residents have the right to be informed about their medical conditions and medications and to see their own doctors. They also have the right to refuse medications and treatments if they are competent to do so, and to designate someone else to make medical decisions for them in the event they become unable to do so.
If you have questions about nursing home rights, a nursing home or elder law attorney can answer them for you and help ensure that those rights are protected.
Specific Rights
Both state and federal laws have been enacted to ensure that basic rights are guaranteed to nursing home residents. Although the laws may vary from state to state, many ensure the same essential rights to these vulnerable adults. The specific rights set out in the statutes may include the following, as well as others. An attorney experienced in elder law can explain which rights apply in a particular state.
Personal Matters
- Nursing home residents have the right to see family members, ombudspersons or other resident advocates, physicians, service providers, and representatives of the state and federal government.
- Residents may keep and use their personal possessions and clothing unless doing so would endanger their own or others' health and safety.
- Residents have the right to keep their clinical and personal records confidential.
- Nursing home residents cannot be kept apart from other residents against their will.
- Residents have the right to raise grievances and have them resolved quickly.
- Residents may participate in social, religious, and community activities to the extent that they do not interfere with the rights of other residents.
- Residents have the right to privacy, including in their rooms, medical treatment, communications, visits, and meetings with family and resident groups.
Financial Matters
- Residents have the right to apply for and receive Medicare and Medicaid benefits and cannot be transferred or discharged from a nursing home based on receipt of such benefits.
- A nursing home must treat all individuals the same, regardless of whether they are private payers or Medicare or Medicaid recipients.
- Residents are entitled to lists of what services are covered by Medicare and Medicaid and the additional services for which the residents will be charged, including any fees for those services.
- Residents cannot be required to deposit their personal funds with the nursing home, and if they request that the home manage their funds, the home must do so according to state and federal record-keeping requirements.
Medical Matters
- Nursing home residents have the right to choose their own personal physician.
- Residents have the right to be fully informed about their medical care.
- Residents have the right to participate in the planning of their care and treatment.
- Nursing home residents have the right to refuse treatment.
- Residents cannot be physically restrained or given drugs to restrain them if restraint is not necessary to treat their medical symptoms.
- Residents have the right to review their medical records within twenty-four hours of making a request.
Residency Matters
- Residents must be given notice before their room or roommate is changed, and residents can refuse the transfer if the purpose is to move them from a Medicare bed to a Medicaid bed or vice versa.
- Residents have the right to stay in the nursing home. A nursing home resident can be removed only if it is necessary for the resident's welfare, the resident no longer needs the facility's services, it is necessary to prevent harm to the health or safety of others in the facility, the resident fails to pay after reasonable notice, or the facility ceases to operate.
- Nursing home residents and their representatives have the right to thirty days' notice of a proposed transfer or discharge, and they have the right to appeal.
- Before transferring residents for hospitalization or therapy, the nursing home must inform them of the length of time that their beds will be held open for their return, called the bedhold period.
- Nursing home residents returning from a hospital or therapeutic leave after expiration of the bedhold period have the right to be readmitted as soon as the first semi-private bed becomes available.
General Matters
- Residents must be informed of their rights upon admission, and must be given their rights in writing, if requested.
- Residents have the right to be free from mental and physical abuse.
- Nursing home residents have the right to review the most recent state inspection report of the nursing home.
Conclusion
If you believe that your rights or those of a loved one have been violated in a nursing home, contact an attorney experienced in elder law to determine what legal recourse is available to you.
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