Reply to Can AL facility force someone to be wheelchair bound because they are a fall risk?

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[quote=Anonymous]OP referred to the facility as “memory care/assisted living.”  These terms get thrown around a lot and can be confusing. The response to OP’s question may depend in part on what category the facility actually is and who is paying for it.

“Assisted living” typically is a private pay facility that offers what the name implies — “assistance” with activities of daily living, laundry, housekeeping, medication management, an in house dining facility, etc.  They generally offer at most only a lower level of what qualifies as “skilled care” and if the person’s needs exceed that (or if the person or their family become too much trouble or a liability risk) they typically send them away. I haven’t checked lately but my sense is that “assisted living” facilities are less heavily regulated than higher level facilities.

I think “memory care” is a cynical marketing term, but it seems to take place in skilled need facilities, i.e., “nursing homes.”  These can be private/insurance pay, Medicare and/or Medicaid. They are heavily regulated, and patients typically have rights at least on paper. If a patient becomes a “problem,” however, it is far from unheard of for them to be manipulated into a hospital stay and then find that there magically is no space when they are ready to be discharged.

If I had a person in the situation you described, I would start by finding out precisely what category the facility falls in.  Then I’d research the patient’s rights in that kind of facility under federal, state and local law. There are professional care managers who might be able to help with this. An attorney affiliated with the National Academy of Elder Law Attorneys (NAELA) could be helpful. If you want to claim that the care provided is inadequate, you’ll probably need one or more outside doctors who agree with your treatment preferences.

Even with all of this, you’re probably better off as PP’s have suggested, trying to find a different facility that is a better fit. If you can afford it, you may want to pay for an outside rehabilitation/restorative nursing person (or as a PP suggested you may be able to go walk your person around yourself).

This is a very tough situation. Allowing an ambulatory, continent person to become chair/bed bound and in diapers, and not infrequently riddled with bedsores, is not suitable care. But neither is allowing a demented person to stumble all over, falling down and getting hurt.

I think the most obvious problem here is that you don’t feel like you’re being heard or getting any effort to meet you half way. That can be a hallmark of a not great facility. Getting some independent advice should be helpful in clarifying whether what you want is reasonable and if so where you might be able to get it.  [/quote]

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