What Rights do Nursing Home Residents Have?

Our federal government has enacted a variety of rights for residents of nursing homes and long-term care facilities.  If you are a resident in such a facility, the following is a partial summary of your rights:

• Quality of Life:  Nursing home facilities must care for residents in a manner to promote maintenance or enhancement of the quality of life for each resident.  Nursing homes must maintain a quality assessment and assurance committee in order to further this right.

• Development of a Scope of Services and Activities under a Plan of Care.   This Plan of Care must be in writing, and must be geared toward providing the highest practicable physical, mental, and psychosocial well-being of each resident.

• Residents’ Assessment. A nursing facility must conduct a comprehensive, accurate, standardized, and reproducible assessment of each resident’s functional capacity.

• Specific Resident Rights.  Personal rights of residents must be upheld, including the rights for:
  • Free choice for choosing doctors and consent for medical care,
  • Freedom from restraints (except when absolutely necessary to secure the physical safety of residents, and then only to the minimum amount of time absolutely required),
  • Freedom from mental and physical abuse,
  • Privacy, and
  • Confidentiality.

The foregoing is only a partial list of the rights that nursing home residents have under Federal law (see 42 U.S. Code Section 139r – Requirements for nursing facilities – for more information regarding resident rights and nursing home obligations).

Ensuring that Staff Understand Resident Rights

Nursing home and long-term care facilities have a duty to make sure that their staff fully understand these rights.  It is not an excuse or a defense for staff to claim that they did not know about the rights afforded to residents.

When The Rights of Nursing Home Residents Are Violated, We Stand Ready to Hold Violators Accountable

We are committed to stopping all forms of nursing home abuse and neglect by seeking to hold accountable those who perpetrate abuse and neglect on our clients. We believe that holding those responsible is the only way that these institutions will change. The legal process is also the only way our clients can recover fair compensation for the damages and injuries that they have suffered.

If Your Loved One’s Rights are Being Violated, Find Out What Action Can be Taken

Call us to schedule a free consultation at a time that is convenient to learn about the legal remedies to which your loved one may be entitled.  We serve clients throughout the state of New York, including Syracuse, Buffalo, Albany, and Ithaca. These is no fee or obligation for this consultation.