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Long Term Care Residents' Rights - Residents' Bill of
Rights
1 hour
Residents have rights and the rights of residents, are just as powerful as human rights
or the bill of rights. Federal law governs long term care residents' rights sometimes
referred to as residents' bill of rights. Federal law governs residents' rights in all long
term care facilities (nursing homes, adult family homes, boarding homes and veterans'
homes). Federal law mandated the long term care ombudsman to protect residents'
rights or residents' bill of rights in all long term care facilities.
The institutional setting and the residents' disability often results in a loss of dignity,
loss of rights, and the absence of quality care. Long term care residents' rights are no
lesser rights than anyone else's whether living in a long term care facility or living at
home. Residents have the right to be free of unnecessary physical or chemical
restraints, the right to get up and go to bed when they choose, the right to eat or not,
and the right to take medication or not. The resident's bill of rights protects the
residents’ quality of life and care.
Residents have rights in all long term care facilities, and the rights of residents are
guaranteed. Long term care residents' rights are vital to all residents, without resident's
rights in long term care facilities there would be much more abuse, neglect and poor
care. Residents' rights in nursing homes, adult family homes, boarding homes and
veterans' homes protect the residents’ health, safety, and welfare.
The resident council and family council also play an important part in promoting and
protecting residents' right in long term care facilities. Far too often the rights of
residents in nursing homes, adult family homes, boarding homes, and veteran's homes
are violated. The residents' rights bill protects residents' rights in long term care
facilities.
For more help see our choosing long term care and resource link directory to help you
choose a long term care facility that protects residents' rights and that provides quality
care.
In 1987 Congress enacted the Nursing Home Reform Law that has since been
incorporated into the Medicare and Medicaid regulations. Long term care residents'
rights in its broadest terms, requires that every long term care resident be given
whatever services are necessary to function at the highest level possible. The law
gives residents a number of specific rights:
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Resident Rights

Residents have rights, the rights of residents are to be free of unnecessary
physical or chemical restraints. Vests, hand mitts, seat belts and other physical
restraints, and antipsychotic drugs, sedatives, and other chemical restraints are
impermissible, except when authorized by a physician, in writing, for a specified
and limited period of time.

To assist residents, facilities must inform them of the name, specialty, and
means of contacting the physician responsible for the resident's care.
Residents' rights provide the resident the right to participate in care planning
meetings

When a resident experiences any deterioration in health, or when a physician
wishes to change the resident's treatment, the facility must inform the resident,
and the resident's physician, legal representative or interested family member.

The residents have rights the right to gain access to all his or her records within
one business day, and a right to copies of those records at a cost that is
reasonable in that community. The facility must explain how to examine these
records, or how to transfer the authority to obtain records to another person.

The facility must provide a written description of legal rights, explaining state
laws regarding living wills, durable powers of attorney for health care and other
advance directives, along with the facility's policy on carrying out these
directives.

At the time of admission and during the stay, nursing homes must fully inform
residents of the services available in the facility, and of related charges. Nursing
homes may charge for services and items in addition to the basic daily rate, but
only if they already have disclosed which services and items will incur an
additional charge, and how much that charge will be.

The resident has a right to privacy, which is a right that extends to all aspects of
care, including care for personal needs, visits with family and friends, and
communication with others through telephone and mail. Residents thus must
have areas for receiving private calls or visitors so that no one may intrude and
to preserve the privacy of their roommates.

Residents have the

Residents also can get up and go to bed when they choose, eat a variety of
snacks outside meal times, decide what to wear, choose activities, and decide
right to share a room with a spouse, gather with other
residents without staff present, and meet state and local nursing home
ombudsperson or any other agency representatives. They may leave the
nursing home, or belong to any church or social group. Within the home,
residents have a right to manage their own financial affairs, free of any
requirement that they deposit personal funds with the facility.
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Resident Rights
how to spend their time. The nursing home must offer a choice at main meals,
because individual tastes and needs vary. Residents, not staff, determine their
hours of sleep and visits to the bathroom. Residents may self-administer
medication.

Residents may bring personal possessions to the nursing home such as
clothing, furnishings and jewelry. Residents may expect staff to take
responsibility for assisting in the protection of items or locating lost items, and
should inquire about facility policies for replacing missing items. Residents
should expect kind, courteous, and professional behavior from staff. Staff
should treat residents like adults.

Nursing home residents may not be moved to a different room, a different
nursing home, a hospital, back home or anywhere else without advance notice,
an opportunity for appeal and a showing that such a move is in the best interest
of the resident or necessary for the health of other nursing home residents.

The resident has a right to be free of interference, coercion, discrimination, and
reprisal in exercising his or her rights. Being assertive and identifying problems
usually brings good results, and nursing homes have a responsibility not only to
assist residents in raising individual concerns, but also to respond promptly to
those concerns.
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Resident Rights
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Resident Rights Assessment
1. Resident’s rights are just as powerful as human rights or the
a. Civil Rights Act
b. The Bill of Rights
c. Federal Law
d. Local and state laws
2. The institutional setting often results in loss of
a. Dignity
b. Emotion
c. Freedom
d. Quality care
3. Residents have rights in ALL long term facilities
a. True
b. False
4. Residents have the right to be free of physical or _____________ restraints
a. Unusual
b. Common
c. Wrist
d. Chemical
5. If a patient is restrained, if must be authorized by the
a. Charge nurse
b. Physician
c. Staff
d. Facility
6. When a resident experiences any deterioration in health or the physician wishes
to change the patient’s treatment, the facility must inform
a. The resident
b. The residents family
c. A & B
d. No one
7. The facility must provide the resident or the family of a written description of legal
rights.
a. True
b. False
8. The resident has a right to privacy including
a. Personal needs
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Resident Rights
b. Communication through mail and telephone
c. Visits with family and friends
d. All of the above
9. The resident is allowed to share a room with a spouse
a. True
b. False
c. Generalized anxiety disorder
d. Panic disorder
10. A resident may not be transferred to another room, another nursing facility, a
hospital, or back home without
a. Advance notice and an opportunity for appeal
b. Notifying the family
c. Checking with the doctor
d. Asking other residents
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Resident Rights