To minimize risk of abuse and neglect, establish employee management strategies that include candidate screening, active supervision, performance management and reviews, coaching and disciplinary action.
While many well-meaning individuals are employed in the care of residents at skilled care nursing facilities, it is unfortunate that there are still cases of abuse and neglect leading to lawsuits and large pay outs. For example, the estate of a family member who died in nursing home brought a wrongful death lawsuit against a facility in Kansas. The family filed suit when it learned that an employee, on staff for six months without a background check, had repeatedly raped and abused their loved one who suffered from frontal lobe dementia. In another case, a Georgia residential care facility employee was sued for physically beating a resident on multiple occasions, neglecting to properly care for his needs and forcing him to vote for the owner’s sister in a local election. The plaintiff also alleged that the facility knew about these abusive acts but failed to stop the abuse. Whether the issue is negligent hiring and retention, failure to supervise, or punishing whistleblowers, poor management issues can create an environment of neglect and abuse. The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) has rigorous policy requirements for healthcare facilities. More specifically, facilities must develop and implement written policies that prohibit abuse or neglect through candidate screening, employee training, and incident investigation and reporting. In Florida, the standard of care establishes a strict set of regulatory standards designed to maintain the health and safety of residents and the minimum standards of care. Any violation of these regulations that leads to the harm of a resident can leave a nursing home vulnerable to state action, criminal penalties, and/or civil liability. Nursing home employer liability Liability is not limited to employees. For instance, if an employee caused harm while performing work duties or acting on the employer’s behalf, the employer may be found liable for its employee’s acts. In Florida, nursing home employers may generally be held liable in five key areas: • Negligent care leading a resident to suffer injuries from an employee failing to act with a reasonable degree of patience • Negligence in the workplace through hiring, retention, entrustment, supervision and training • International acts including stealing a resident’s personal possessions, depriving a patient of their medication or medical equipment, physically or verbally assaulting a resident or subjecting the resident to emotional or sexual harassment • Breach of contract through abuse or neglect • Crimes, including nursing home abuse, aggravated assault and criminal neglect as per Florida law What can employers do? Organizations should ensure that they thoroughly and rigorously screen their candidates and ongoing employees. It’s also important for employers to create a culture of transparency. Employees should have various avenues they may follow to report concerns, risks, and/or violations.Remember to apprise an employee of performance issues, use concrete examples, describe the desired performance, and explain the consequences of continued performance issues when completing this task
