Can a patient be asked to leave a memory care facility due to aggression, anger, and other bad behavior with no notice?

Have you checked the paperwork your mom filled out when your dad went into the facility?

It sounds as if the facility did give your mom some notice. They didn't kick him to the street, he's in a psychiatric ward and the facility is saying that he can't come back. It sounds like there's a window here to find him another facility. While he's in the hospital your mom will have access to a social worker who can help her find another place for him. They won't release him if he has nowhere to go.

I'm glad to hear that the facility returned your mom's money.

Yes, they can refuse to take him back. It sounds as if his behavior is the problem and he probably disturbs other residents. Behavior can also become a safety issue if he is combative.

Just as the facility can refuse to take him back, your mother can do the same. Simply tell the hospital that she is not able to provide the ongoing care he needs. The social worker at the hospital will have to find appropriate placement for him. Something similar happened with a friend of mine. The person receiving care had become impossible to be cared for at home because of behavior. After talking with a number of memory care facilities and non that would take them, the only option was a State psychiatric facility and they happened to have space available just when they needed it.

Margaret52, the short answer is "yes" but it doesn't seem right does it? Both times the reason that my husband was "kicked" out was that he was upsetting the other residents. I remember the panic I felt when I learned that he was "homeless". My experience taught me that there are two departments that don't always agree. There was the sales department that assured me that Bob would fit in well and that they could handle his behavior, and then there was patient care that kicked him out when they couldn't handle his behavior. Finding an affordable facility that has the appropriate services isn't easy. It wasn't until the social worker got involved that Bob was moved into a nursing home. I do believe that it came to a point that I said "Bob has nowhere to go", and that seemed so unbelievably insensitive on my part, but it was the truth. A social worker handled the move into a nursing home. Your mom is handling an enormous amount of stress I'm sure - I will keep her in my prayers.

That is tough. A friend of mine found it was not easy to find a facility that would take an aggressive patient. She had this problem with her husband. She eventually found someplace, but only after a lot of grief and jumping through a lot of hoops. Most facilities in Arkansas won't take anyone they conceive is a danger to other patients or to their staff. You need to talk to someone who can give you good advice. Maybe an elder lawyer might be a good place to start or at least your local government senior services or dept of aging.

Good Luck to you and your mom...

Do you have or know of a good GP in your area you and Mom could have a consult with? MIL had mental health issues all her life, going in and out of facilities, on and off different meds that affected her differently. She was in a pretty nice place, popped an elderly gentleman, (who was in a wheel chair), in the noggin after an they had argument. They put her in an awful place from there, (safety of other patients, staff). I phoned a family member who is an MD for advise, had stayed out of it until then, husband's Mom, not mine. He referred me to an appointment to a husband wife team of psych Docs. They knew the Social Services system, moved her into psych ward of a nice hospital, greatly fixed the meds, got her into a nice place again once they had the meds straightened out. Both those Docs continued to care for her all her life and greatly improved her quality of life. She saw the wife for talk sessions, husband prescribed/monitored the drugs. Most importantly the wife knew how to move the paperwork around. :-) Best Wishes.

Yes they can! They must keep all other residents and staff safe. This happened at two facilities with my Dad in his initial placement. Everyone above gave you good information. I would only add, that aggressiveness and agitation also seems to be a phase in dementia. What helped us, was when the first facility sent him to the ED, and that ED sent him to a geriatric-psych facility and they were able to change meds all around and help him with good meds. I am not aware that the meds were constipated for my dad, ever, but his problems with his gut were more the other way anyhow. He returned to a very nice facility that was a small converted home, with only 10 residents. I think it was the best placement he had, except that he still had some agitation and need to go walking a lot and this facility didn't have that ability without staff in attendance. Their doors were locked all the time and that increased his agitation....feeling locked in. When they sent him to the ED and again refused to take him back, the facility we found, and where he has been for almost 18 months now...has geri psych doctors and nurse practitioners as part of their plan. My Dad has been able to be followed by these doctors and have slight adjustments up and down to meds and is now in a very 'happy' place. He is even sleeping much better at night and not 'wandering' as he'd been doing for years. This facility also has 5 cottages on a huge locked/fenced grounds and the doors are never locked. Just the gates. So Dad was able to wander, even at night, go walking to deal with the agitation at will. And the case manager/social workers at the psych hospital did work with on discharge....holding him while we were checking out facilities for him to move into. If you want the choice, you have to start the looking on your own....and the sooner the better! A facility will hold a bed and the hospital would hold your Dad to coordinate the transfer, if you are actively working with the case manager.

My advice, therefore, is once your Dad gets placed in another facility, try to get him in as a patient with a good geriatric-psychiatrist that can follow him. If they will go to his facility to visit and evaluate him, that would be best. If not, then you or the agency will have to take him to app'ts. If the facility takes him, then there may be extra charges, but to get him through this phase of dementia and he still stay in one facility would be best for everyone involved, especially him.

Also, make sure they do not over medicate him to keep him quiet. That is like a chemical straight jacket is not lawful. It also suppresses his systems and cause things such as aspiration.

Not only can they deny, in many states there are laws that the patient has to be evaluated just like a new admission. If they fail to meet the admission standards, another facility must be found.
I don't often say this, but your mother should make him a Ward of the State, cooperating with the Hospital Social Worker who handles a protective custody hearing. I know this is hard, but it is the safest option for everyone.

contact your local ombudsman. They can NOT kick him out and you are entitled to a 30 day hold on his room.

Yes it is completely legal and desirable for a memory care facility to decline to provide services to a client who cannot meet their behavioral guidelines, after a reasonable length of medical assessment, if the client is not able to fit in then the facility MUST refuse to include that client. It's not being mean oe disciminanatory against that individual client....the staff can only be stretched so far in taking care of any single client. If he requires more care than they can provide then all the rest of the resident's care will also be compromised---put yourself in the shoes of some other spouse who spends $8, 000 per month o more on memory care, and how would they feel about major disruptions, after all the OTHER rooms are going to be not as nice a place to be. If I were visiting a memory care facility and some resident was being uncontrollably loud or aggressive would walk away, and if I were paying a small fortune every month and repeatedly witnessed bad behavior from another resident I would surely complain. Memory Care has limits and that's a good thing.