Compilation of Rules and Regulations of the State of Georgia › Department 111 - RULES OF DEPARTMENT OF COMMUNITY HEALTH › Chapter 111-8 - HEALTHCARE FACILITY REGULATION › Subject 111-8-62 - PERSONAL CARE HOMES › Rule 111-8-62-.25 - Supporting Residents' Rights

Current through Rules and Regulations filed through June 27, 2024
(1) The home must operate in a manner that
				respects the personal dignity of the residents and the human rights of the
				residents, which rights cannot be waived, except as provided in these rules by
				the resident or the resident's representative or legal surrogate.
(a) Each resident must receive care, and
				services which must be adequate, appropriate, and in compliance with applicable
				federal and state law and regulations.
(b) The home, its agents or employees, must
				not punish or harass the resident, because of the resident's efforts to enforce
				his or her rights.
(c) Each
				resident must have the right to:
1. Exercise
				the constitutional rights guaranteed to citizens of this state and this country
				including, but not limited to, the right to vote.
2. Choose activities and schedules consistent
				with the resident's interests and assessments.
3. Interact with members of the community
				both inside and outside the home and to participate fully in the life of the
				community.
4. Make choices about
				aspects of his or her life in the home that are significant to the
				resident.
(d) Each
				resident must have the right to enjoy privacy in his or her room; home
				personnel and others must respect this right by knocking on the door before
				entering the resident's room.
(e)
				Each resident must have the right to associate and communicate freely and
				privately with persons and groups of the resident's choice without being
				censored by staff.
(f) Each
				resident must be treated with dignity, kindness, consideration and respect and
				be given privacy in the provision of personal care. Each resident must be
				accorded privacy and freedom for the use of bathrooms at all hours.
(g) No religious or spiritual belief or
				practice may be imposed upon any resident. Residents must be free to practice
				their religious beliefs as they choose. Each resident must have the right to
				participate in social, religious, and community activities that do not
				interfere with the rights of other residents.
(h) Each resident has the right to be free
				from mental, verbal, sexual and physical abuse, neglect and exploitation. Each
				resident has the right to be free from actual or threatened physical or
				chemical restraints and the right to be free from isolation, corporal or
				unusual punishment and interference with the daily functions of living, such as
				eating or sleeping.
(i) Each
				resident has the right to use, keep and control his or her own personal
				property and possessions in the immediate living quarters, except to the extent
				a resident's use of his or her property would interfere with the safety or
				health of other residents. Each resident has the right to reasonable safeguards
				for the protection and security of his or her personal property and possessions
				brought into the home.
(j) Each
				resident's mail must be delivered unopened to the resident on the day it is
				delivered to the home. Each resident's outgoing correspondence may not be
				opened or tampered with prior to being mailed or otherwise delivered.
(k) Each resident must have access to a
				telephone and the right to have a private telephone, at the resident's own
				expense. Telephones must be placed in areas to insure privacy without denying
				accessibility.
(l) Each home must
				permit immediate access to residents by others who are visiting with the
				consent of the resident. Residents have the right to have visitors at mutually
				agreed upon hours. Once the hours are agreed upon, no prior notice is
				necessary. Each resident has the right to refuse to see visitors or terminate
				any visit.
(m) Each resident has
				the right to manage his or her own financial affairs, including the right to
				keep and spend his or her own money unless that resident has been adjudicated
				incompetent by a court of competent jurisdiction. Each resident has the right
				to be free from coercion to assign or transfer to the home money, valuables,
				benefits, property or anything of value other than payment for services
				rendered by the home.
(n) Each
				resident has the right to a personal needs allowance for the free use of the
				resident in the amount of twenty dollars per week to be distributed by the
				administrator, on-site manager, or a responsible staff person in the home
				unless waived by the resident. The following conditions must be met regarding
				the personal needs allowance:
1. The personal
				needs allowance must be included as a charge for services to each resident's
				account which a resident or a resident's representative or legal surrogate, if
				any, may waive by signing a written waiver upon admission or anytime
				thereafter. No allowance charge may be assessed where a resident or a
				resident's representative or legal surrogate, if any, has signed a written
				waiver of the personal needs allowance. Such a waiver must be kept in a
				resident's file.
2. Where no waiver
				has been signed, the personal needs allowance must be tendered to each
				resident, in cash, on the same day each week.
3. The personal needs allowance must not be
				intended or needed for purchasing necessary goods such as toilet paper and
				light bulbs which the home ordinarily supplies, and must in no way relieve the
				home of the obligation to insure that such necessary goods are available to the
				resident.
(o) Each
				resident has the right to receive or reject medical care, dental care, or other
				services except as required by law or regulations.
(p) Each resident has the right to choose and
				retain the services of a personal physician and any other health care
				professional or service. No home is permitted to interfere with the resident's
				right to receive from the resident's attending physician complete and current
				information concerning the resident's diagnosis, treatment and prognosis. Each
				resident and his or her representative or legal surrogate, if any, has the
				right to be fully informed about care and of any changes in that care and the
				right of access to all information in medical records retained in the
				home.
(q) Each resident has the
				right to fully participate in the planning of his or her care. Case discussion,
				consultation and examination shall be confidential and conducted discreetly. A
				person who is not directly involved in the resident's care may be present when
				care is being rendered only if he or she has the resident's
				permission.
(r) Each resident has
				the right to inspect his or her records on request. Each resident has the right
				to make a copy of all records pertaining to the resident. Each resident has the
				right to confidential treatment of personal information in the resident
				file.
(s) Each resident who has not
				been committed to the home by court order or who does not have a representative
				or legal surrogate with specific written authority to admit, transfer or
				discharge, may discharge or transfer himself or herself upon notification to
				the home in conformance with the home's policies and procedures.
(t) Each resident has the right to access to
				the State Long-Term Care Ombudsman Program O.C.G.A. §
										31-8-50
et seq.
and the name, address, and telephone number of the ombudsman must be
				posted in a common area of the home.
(u) Residents have the right to form a
				Resident Council and have meetings in the home outside the presence of owners,
				management or staff members of the home.
(v) Each resident has the right to file a
				complaint with the Department concerning care being provided in the home that
				violates these rules. The home must post the name of the Department and the
				address and telephone number where licensing complaints are received in the
				common area of the home.