Nursing Homes Cautioned About Barring or Restricting Residents from Using Power Wheelchairs
Advocates around the state have reported that some nursing homes have barred residents from using power wheelchairs because the facilities claim the wheelchairs can damage facility walls and furniture and harm frail residents if the power chair users bump into the residents. For power chair users, however, the chairs are essential to their continued enjoyment of life in the nursing home and essential to address a variety of health concerns. In addition to permitting the residents to be mobile, power chairs also often provide assistance with positioning, preventing bedsores and aspiration of food, and contribute to the resident’s dignity, independence and autonomy in the facility. Several power chair users have told advocates that “without the chair, I don’t even have a life” or “the chair is my life.” In response to concerns raised by advocates, the Bureau of Health Systems, the agency within the Department of Community Health that regulates nursing homes, has sent an Alert to all nursing homes advising them of the resident’s right to use their chair except in limited and carefully documented circumstances concerning health, safety, or space in the facility. If a resident is denied the use of a power chair for one of those reasons, the Bureau instructed nursing homes they must still attempt to accommodate their needs.
Family Law Taskforce Meeting August 2010
