Minnesota Assisted Living Facility’s License Suspended after Resident Dies from Beating
Failure to screen employees and perform required background checks in conjunction with allowing the abuse and neglect of multiple residents to occur may result in the suspension of a facility’s license and the submission of false claims
Compliance Perspective – Abuse
Policies/Procedures: The Compliance and Ethics Officer with the Administrator and the Human Resources Director will review policies and procedures involving employment screening and background checks for all employees.
Training: The Compliance and Ethics Officer, as well as every department head, will ensure that staff are trained to respond in a timely manner to concerns about staff abuse and neglect of residents and the process for reporting incidents to their supervisor or through the facility’s Hot Line.
Audit: The Compliance and Ethics Officer should personally conduct an audit to verify that criminal and registered sex offender background checks have been completed on all employees, and that all licenses and certifications are valid and up-to-date.
FREEDOM FROM ABUSE, NEGLECT AND EXPLOITATION
Local police are investigating an incident from last fall in an assisted living facility after a 58-year-old resident with limited mobility and dementia was severely beaten and died a few weeks later from brain injuries sustained in the beating.
The Minnesota Department of Health (MDH) suspended the facility’s license citing “multiple and repeated serious incidents affecting vulnerable persons.”
It is believed that the resident was beaten soon after he was admitted by two caregivers one who held him down while the other repeatedly hit him in the face. A third caregiver stood by and watched but did not attempt to intervene.
The owner of the facility denies that the assault happened and claims that the state’s findings are based on false statements given by former disgruntled employees. The owner claims that she never received a report about an assault until the MDH moved to suspend the facility’s license on Dec. 6.
The state has substantiated 10 incidents of maltreatment of residents at the facility that include three residents who were neglected, seven residents who were abused, and one resident who was exploited financially.
Additionally, the MDH found that the facility was not conducting employee background checks. Seven of the facility’s employees were working in violation of state law, including three who were disqualified due to criminal offenses, and one employee was a registered predatory sex offender who had worked at the facility for over a year.
