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Management says her family will not have her evaluated to be moved into memory care. They also refuse to have her moved into another room further down the hall or even to close her door. My mom is at her wits end. The lady yells for 4 to 5 hours at a time. She is an incredibly inpatient person & demands immediate attention. Apparently she was in the military & sometimes is calling for a Medic. The CNA & nurses are beside themselves because they need to check on her when there is nothing wrong. When she's asked why she's calling for help, she says it's because she wants to. Do I have any legal recourse to have this addressed? Please advise.

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Demand to have your mother moved to another room, away from this woman. But first make sure her new neighbors or roommate doesn't have worse behavioral issues than the one you're moving her away from!

Good luck to you!
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At the first NH I was in there was a screamer two doors down. She was still screaming at daylight and I had had no sleep. I threatened to get the paramedics to come take me to another NH if they didn't get that woman gone or move me to another room. I was in another room within an hour. One of the staff members knew me and knew I would do it so they listened. If one is paying almost $10,000 a Month you deserve peace and quiet. I made it perfectly clear what I expected from them.
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Nina1965 Aug 2022
Thank you. I did some research I learned that residents have a constitutional right to have peace & quiet in a community. I consider the floor of the NH to be a community.
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Several things here.
Her yelling might not be for "no reason"
My Husband moaned all day "for no reason"
My Husband was non verbal his moaning was a way to communicate, was a way maybe for him to let me or a caregiver know he was there, wanted something who knows what was in his mind.

If this woman is in a "nursing home" and by that I think you mean a Skilled Nursing facility. It is possible that her care is beyond what a Memory Care facility can do. Many can no longer use equipment to transfer someone so if she needs a Hoyer Lift, Sit to Stand or other equipment she can not be moved to MC.

If has has any conditions that would make moving to MC impossible that might be another reason. Most MC will not take anyone with any "tubes" so feeding tube, catheter and such. MC residents tend to pull out "tubes" so this requires the attention of more trained staff. As well as the upkeep of "tubes"

the "nursing home" where your mom is can not legally tell you that her family will not have her evaluated, they can not tell you what the diagnosis is, they can not give you ANY medical information unless they have permission in writing from the family to give you that information.

You can request that mom's room be moved.
You can begin looking for another facility that will take your mom.
But I doubt you have any legal recourse.
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XenaJada Aug 2022
Also there’s usually at least one “HELP ME” screamer at every SNF.
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Nina,

The nursing home staff are lying and also trying to throw in a bit of gaslighting as as well by telling you that your mother is imagining the yelling.
Nursing home staff will lie per order of their supervisors or facility owners. They will also cheat and steal (this is the business end of a nursing home).
The "we're working on a solution" is total BS. They are doing absolutely nothing except appeasing you in the moment. Here is the reason why the screaming and yelling lady is not being moved to the different room. She has better insurance than your mom. The NH wants to keep her in that room because it's more expensive than the smaller room or the memory care (if they have one in their facility). Also, the nursing home can move any resident to another room at their discretion for any resaon they want.
One day I went to visit my father in the NH. He wasn't in his room. None of his stuff was either. So I asked where he was and was told that he was moved to a different room. When I asked why I was pushed off from one person after the other because no one would give me a straight answer until I really lost my sh*t with these people.
Turns out they simply decided to downgrade him. Insurance was still paying though. They were collecting the higher rate as if he was still in higher care only he wasn't. After much back and forth with Medicare and the state I got to the bottom of it and they had to pay Medicare back. Nursing homes can and do move residents any time they want. So please don't buy that lame BS excuse that the woman's family refuses to have her moved.
I'm sure your mother isn't the only resident that's heard this lady's screaming and yelling. If she's doing it during the day too, the visiting family members of other residents probably heard her too. Talk to some of them. Put a recording device in your mother's room and record this woman screaming and yelling all night long. Then you bring that to a lawyer or to the state's Ombudsman's Office if there is one. Or the Agency on Aging.
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Probably what the family won't allow is the use of medications to calm the woman down, which is unfortunate because I'd personally rather be doped out of my mind than live in that state of fear and agitation (and besides well managed medication doesn't have to make people into zombies).
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I just recently had this same problem with a woman next to my mother. She was very hard of hearing so she seemed to have no sense of how loud she was. Her niece had also told my husband that.

The SN facility offered to move her. Then a Covid outbreak of a very mild nature was delaying them. The woman was getting worse and what really bothered me is that staff never came because they were so used to her constant yelling. What further bothered me is that they would wake her up to deliver her lunch but then not help her at all to even access it. I also watched her attempt to use the toilet on her own (they shared a hallway and bathroom) and yell Help and no one came which I brought to their attention. She really did need help that time.

Besides complaining alot I got the Area County of Aging involved. It took some doing to get to the right person. She was moved the following week.

I don't understand your comment regarding her family. It is up to the facility to decide on placement within their locations as to where a resident should reside such as Memory Care.

The family may be thinking that a move might cost more but they should not be the ones who have the ultimate decision.
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lealonnie1 Aug 2022
Thats excellent info to know about the area county on aging....glad the resident was moved away from your mom RD!
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I think the nursing home staff shouldn't be divulging info about a resident.
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Your mother is paying rent, and as a tenant, she has a right to expect a level of peace and quiet in her home. She does not have a right to disrupt or violating other residents' rights either. The other woman is violating that part of the lease, so SHE is the one who needs to move. That's the job of the administration of the facility (as the "landlord") and not the decision of the family members of the screaming woman.

Going into the administrator's office and explaining that fact calmly and clearly might very well get the reaction you desire.
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I volunteered with hospice for 8 1/2 years and I can tell that literally every nursing facility I went in during that time had at least one person who would be hollering(usually help)for long periods of time. Usually, but not always it was someone with some form of dementia.
It's very common unfortunately and nursing facilities should by now know how to handle these folks.
But until they get things figured out, you do have the option to have your mom moved, however like lealonnie said below, be careful what you ask for as it may not be a better move.
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Nina1965 Aug 2022
Yep. That was exactly their response. They would move MY mother into a tiny room but, not the lady. I did not take that solution to be acceptable.
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Take a copy of the facility's contract to a lawyer that deals with elder law. Your mother should be able to get 7-9 hours of uninterrupted sleep every night.
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