1,185
edits
Difference between revisions of "Other Key Laws and Regulations in Residential Care"
From Clicklaw Wikibooks
Other Key Laws and Regulations in Residential Care (view source)
Revision as of 21:16, 20 June 2014
, 21:16, 20 June 2014no edit summary
| Line 56: | Line 56: | ||
* Patient Care Quality Officers review complaints received, investigate and are required to provide responses back to the complainant within 30 business days, giving information about what was learned during the investigation. The Act also requires each regional health authority to establish a Patient Care Quality Review Board to review complaints that remain unanswered within 30 days or not answered to the person’s satisfaction. | * Patient Care Quality Officers review complaints received, investigate and are required to provide responses back to the complainant within 30 business days, giving information about what was learned during the investigation. The Act also requires each regional health authority to establish a Patient Care Quality Review Board to review complaints that remain unanswered within 30 days or not answered to the person’s satisfaction. | ||
* '''Human Rights Code''' - The Code protects people from discrimination in many areas including “accommodations, services or facilities customarily available to the public”. In order to be “discrimination”, the action must be without bona fide and reasonable justification. The Code also protects from harassment (a form of discrimination). Unlike the Charter which only covers [public] government action, the Human Rights Code covers the actions of both public and private bodies. The areas protected for accommodation, services or facilities relate to a person’s or group’s age, physical or mental disability, race, colour, ancestry, place of origin, religion, marital status, family status, physical or mental disability, sex, or sexual orientation. Cases are heard by the Human Rights Tribunal, | |||
* ''''Ombudsperson Act''' - The Office of the Ombudsperson is responsible for assuring that specified provincial government ministries or public agencies treat the public fairly and reasonably. The Office is responsible to impartially investigate the complaints to determine whether fair treatment has occurred, and whether the actions and decisions of provincial government ministries or public agencies were consistent with relevant legislation, policies and procedures. | |||
* '''Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms'''- The Charter guarantees certain civil rights to people in Canada from the policies and actions of all level of government. It covers fundamental freedoms, equality rights, legal rights, democratic rights, mobility rights, and language rights, many of which are particularly relevant to the treatment of people in residential care. | |||
* '''Criminal Code''' - As in any other setting, some actions that occur in residential care facilities such as theft, assault, gross neglect leading to death or homicide may come within the scope of criminal law. The actions of staff, volunteers, visitors as well as residents can come under the force of the Criminal Code of Canada. Very recently, s. 215 of the Criminal Code (“failure to provide the necessaries of life “) was used in a precedent setting way to lay a charge against staff in an institutional (non care) setting. | |||
* A resident may have been experienced problems with family, neighbours or others in the community that follow the resident into the facility. New problems or conflicts may also develop there. In some of these cases, advocates and providers may need to be familiar with peace bonds (“810 recognizances”) and “no contact orders” issued by criminal court judges; “release conditions”. As well they may need to be familiar with “family law protection orders” under the Family Law Act. | |||
* '''Consumer Protection''' - Some services provided to residents in care facilities may be direct performance contracts. The Business Practices and Consumer Protection Act prohibits unfair practices, sets out the requirements for certain consumer contracts and provides licensing requirements for regulated businesses. The Act consolidated several consumer statutes. It protects consumers by standardizing contract terms, clarifying cancellation rights and ensuring that penalties for infractions are applied consistently across industries. The Ministry of Health is currently drafting standardized contract template for admission agreements. | |||
* '''Coroners Act''' - Among other things, this Act places a responsibility on everyone in British Columbia to report the death of anyone who they believe has died as a result of violence, accident, negligence, misconduct or malpractice, or suicide to a coroner or peace officer. That includes the death of a person living in a residential care facility or who is transferred to a hospital or other setting from a residential care facility. Accidental, negligent or violent deaths in residential care may involve a wide variety of circumstances, including a missing person who is cognitively impaired, a mechanical equipment malfunction, scalding during bathing, or assaults between residents. | |||
The Coroner can also investigate any sudden and unexpected death when the person was apparently in good health and not under the care of a medical practitioner, as well as deaths from disease, sickness or unknown cause, for which the person was not treated by a medical practitioner. | |||
==7. Legislation Related to Funding== | |||
* '''Canada Health Act''' - Hospitals and doctors are covered by the Canada Health Act; residential care facilities are not. The Canada Health Act establishes the criteria and conditions that the provinces and territories must meet to be eligible for available federal government health care funding. | |||
* The extended care services provided in residential care facilities are not included in the funding criteria and national standards contained in the Act. However, for the purpose of this legal manual, the Canada Health Act remains important as it relates to what hospital administration can do or can charge patients in the transition from hospital care to residential care. This is described further in Chapter Three Legal Issues in Admissions & Transfers. | |||
* '''Continuing Care Act and regulations''' - Continuing care is defined as one or more health care services to persons with a frailty or with an acute or chronic illness or disability that does not require hospital care. This Act allows the Minister of Health to enter into payment Agreements with operators for services given to clients so they can receive continuing care from the operator. The Act also sets out applicable standards, guidelines or directives issued by the minister. | |||
==8. Professional Responsibility Laws== | |||
*'''Health Professions Act:''' This act governs the regulation of a number of health professions. The Act also sets the expected response to certain harms perpetrated on people in care by health professionals. The Act requires identified “designated health professionals” to report certain harms to their registrar, including, (a) sexual misconduct (by someone in that profession) and (b) behaviour by someone in that profession that is dangerous to the public. Reporting sexual misconduct requires the client’s consent (or consent by his or her legal representative if the person is not capable). A list of Health Professions covered by this Act most relevant to this setting is listed in Appendix B. | |||
==9. Miscelleaneous== | |||
;Cremation, Interment and Funeral Services Act: This Act identifies who can authorize the picking up human remains from a care facility. There is current disagreement about who can give authorization and whether funeral instructions in an admission agreement are valid (the right to give instructions re: funeral does not vest until after death). | |||
;Labour Relations Code: Governs the conduct of both parties in the event of a breakdown in labour negotiations. Also the Code calls for the development of an essential service plan for residents in the event of labour disruption. | |||
=== Prospective complex care residents may be categorized into five groups=== | |||
;GROUP 1: | |||
Physically dependent and cognitively intact with medical needs requiring professional nursing for monitoring or medical intervention. Requires a planned care program. Unable to use wheelchair independently. Requires paraprofessional interventions. | |||
;GROUP 2: | |||
Clinically complex requiring professional nursing, monitoring and skilled intervention. May be re-ambulation, hospice/ palliative, medical sub acute (high needs). | |||
;GROUP 3: | |||
Cognitively impaired, socially appropriate. Unable to communicate needs, requires directional assistance and/ or requires total care with ADLs. Requires a secure environment for safety. May or may not be independently mobile. | |||
;GROUP 4: | |||
Cognitive impaired, socially inappropriate, anti-social behaviours. Unable to communicate needs, requires total care with ADLs. Requires a secure environment for self protection. | |||
;GROUP 5: | |||
Residents with severe behavioural problems, destructive, aggressive, violent. May or may not be independently mobile. | |||
{{REVIEWED | reviewer = BC Centre for Elder Advocacy and Support, June 2014}} | {{REVIEWED | reviewer = BC Centre for Elder Advocacy and Support, June 2014}} | ||
{{Legal Issues in Residential Care: An Advocate's Manual Navbox}} | {{Legal Issues in Residential Care: An Advocate's Manual Navbox}} | ||
