Repeated failure to protect residents from potential harm that may be inflicted by a resident, family member or other person bringing a firearm or other weapon into the nursing home may result in the submission of a false claim
Compliance Perspective – Active Shooter
Policies/Procedures: The Compliance and Ethics Officer with the Administrator will review policies and procedures regarding the facility’s responsibility to protect residents from harm and to prevent firearms or other types of weapons from being brought into the facility.
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 persons bringing prohibited firearms or weapons into the facility. Staff should be trained to listen and report negative concerns that residents may express to them or to a loved one that might be interpreted as a desire to end their lives.
Audit: The Compliance and Ethics Officer should conduct an audit to determine whether residents and/or family members are aware that firearms or weapons are not allowed on the nursing home’s premises.
ACTIVE SHOOTER PREVENTION AND RESPONSE
A 70-year-old retired fireman, whose wife was a resident in the nursing home rehabilitating from a stroke she suffered a month ago, has been arrested and charged with murder after he reportedly shot and killed his wife of 40 years. The man told the police that he had been depressed and felt responsible for his wife’s illness and that she was worried about the quality of her life.The wife is reported to have made statements like, “I don’t want to live like this.”
The couple’s family was shocked but indicated that they believe that the man felt like he was doing the right thing by ending her life. The couple were very close and had been described as being “each other’s shadow.”
Bond for the man was denied.
The facility reports that nothing unusual occurred in the nursing home prior to the shooting, but the facility did go on “lock-down” following the shooting.
