California Nursing Home Patients’ Rights

Residents’ Rights in California Nursing Homes

California law provides that a skilled nursing home resident be under the care of a facility physician or their own personal physician. The nursing home is required to:

• Provide a minimum daily average of 3.2 nursing hours per patient (possibly increased to 3.5 hours per patient by the year 2004). “Nursing hours” include the working hours of aides, nursing assistants, and orderlies as well as licensed nurses. An overall directive states that the number of employees must be sufficient to carry out all necessary nursing services (22 Cal Code Regs §§72329, 72501; Health & SC §1276.5).
• Care for residents’ hygiene, including reducing the incidence of incontinence and bedsores (Health & Safety Code §1599.1).
• Provide nutritious food, including three meals a day. Meals must be based on the “The Recommended Daily Dietary Allowance,” adopted by the Food and Nutrition Board of the National Research Council. Whenever possible, a resident’s food preferences must be taken into account. Regulations also cover keeping records of patients’ diets, providing therapeutic diets, planning menus, storing food properly, and using good sanitation procedures (22 Cal Regs §§72335–72351).
• Provide social, creative, recreational, outdoor, and educational activities to meet residents’ needs. The facility must provide a wheelchair–accessible activity area, and develop and post activity schedules (22 Cal Code Reg §§72381–72389).
• Paintain a functioning nurses’ call system (Health & Safety Code §1599.1).

An elderly nursing home resident may refuse medical treatment and has the right to receive all information related to a medical decision (Title 22 Cal Code Reg §72527). Before prescribing psychotherapeutic drugs, physical restraints, or a device that may lead to a patient’s inability to regain use of a normal bodily function, the physician must disclose the reason for the treatment, the procedures that will be used, the probability of improvement, the side effects and risks, and any alternative treatments. The patient or the patient’s representative may consent or refuse the treatment, and may revoke consent at any time. A patient suffering from severe pain may request or reject opiates or other painkillers (Pain Patient’s Bill of Rights). See Pain Management.

An elderly nursing home resident has the right to be free from both mental and physical abuse. California law also affirms the right to manage one’s own financial affairs and requires that the nursing facility provide quarterly financial accountings if the resident chooses to delegate some financial transactions to the nursing facility.

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Nursing Homes:

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We represent clients in all 50 states and have offices located in:

California:

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Novato, CA 94945

Oregon:

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Suite 250
Portland, OR 97201

Utah:

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Suite 900
Salt Lake City, UT 84111