Daughter of a mentally incapacitated resident in a nursing home discovers that her mother was sexually assaulted. The facility was aware it had occurred but had not notified the resident’s family. The resident’s right to be free from Abuse, Neglect, and Exploitation were violated as well as the rights involving the requirement to notify responsible parties regarding the incident.
Compliance Perspective – Sexual Assault:
The Compliance Officer with the DON and Administrator should review to ensure the facility’s policies and procedures for investigating and reporting alleged violations and suspicions of a crime to the resident’s family, physician and appropriate authorities are implemented on a timely basis. The Compliance Officer should ensure audits are conducted to determine that staff are educated, trained and comply with the following regulations to avoid delivery of substandard quality of care: F580-Notify of Changes (Injury/Decline/Room Etc.), F600-Freedom from Abuse and Neglect, F608-Reporting of Reasonable Suspicion of a Crime, F609-Reporting of Alleged Violations and F610-Investigate/Prevent/Correct Alleged Violation. The importance of reporting suspected compliance violations to the appropriate supervisor or through the Hotline should be included in all education and training. Thorough physical examinations and interviews will be conducted to ensure that there are no other residents who may have been sexually assaulted. Examination and interview results will be compiled and reported to appropriate individuals and authorities.
The daughter of a resident in a Missouri nursing home, who visits and cares for her mother every day, was bathing her mother and noticed what was later determined to be signs of a sexual assault. She described her mother to the media as having dementia and unable to speak or feed herself. When the daughter asked the nursing home’s director about her mother’s injuries, she was told that the nursing home was investigating.
The next day, the daughter reported that her mother’s injuries were worse, and she was reported to have said, “Saturday when I saw my mother there (was) no doubt about what was going on.” She further explained her view of the incident as being a total violation of an 84-year-old lady with dementia, who could not speak, is like a baby and could not scream or call for help.
The resident was taken to the hospital and a rape evaluation was done that indicated and doctor’s confirmed that she had been sexually assaulted.
The daughter believes she knows who is responsible. The police are only reporting that the investigation is ongoing, and they are “looking at everyone” in the nursing home.
The nursing home over the past three years has been fined $90,000 by Medicare for abuse allegations and various other violations.
A news organization attempted to contact the nursing home and were told that the administrator would be getting in touch; however, that has not occurred.
The resident was released from the hospital and the daughter has relocated her to another facility.
