Legal Issues in Residential Care: An Advocate's Manual

Legal Issues in Residential Care: An Advocate's Manual is from the BC Centre for Elder Advocacy and Support.

Contents

• Introduction and Forward

Chapter One - Statutory Framework

• A. Part One - Overview
  • What is Residential Care? · When is it Residential Care? · What is Complex Care? · Funding: Three Types of Facilities · Knowing the Specific Parties

• B. Part Two - Legal Frameworks
  • The Statutory Framework for Care Staff · The General Statutory Framework in Residential Care

• C. Other Key Laws and Regulations
  • Care · Financial and Related Matters · Substitute Decision-Making · Privacy Matters · Special Populations · Rights, Remedies and Oversight · Legislation Related to Funding · Professional Responsibility Laws · Miscellaneous

Chapter Two - Residents' Bill of Rights

• A. Understanding the Bill of Rights

• B. The Key Provisions
  • Section 1 - Commitment to Care · Section 2 - Rights to Health, Safety and Dignity · Section 3 - Rights to Participation and Freedom of Expression · Section 4 - Rights to Transparency · Section 5 - Scope of Rights

• C. Protecting and Enforcing the Rights

Chapter Three - Legal Issues in Admission and Transfer

• A. Introduction to Legal Issues in Admission and Transfer
  • Basic Issues in Eligibility for Residential Care · Moving to Residential Care · Costs

• B. Admission to the Residential Care Facility
  • Agreeing to the Admission · Demonstrating Consent · Assessing Capability to Consent? · What Kind of Decision is Admission to a Residential Care Facility and Who Makes It?

• Terms in Admission Agreements and Contracts

• D. Common Legal Matters in Contracts
  • Payment Default and Guarantee · Signing as a Substitute Decision-Maker · Other Areas

• E. Contractual Protections

• F. Consenting to Admission to a Care Facility
  • Screening · Assessing Capacity for Admission · Consent · Use of the Mental Health Act to Admit Older Adults to Residential Care

• G. First Appropriate Bed Policy
  • What is “Appropriate”? · The Effect of Declining an Offered Placement

• Advance Care Planning

• I. Care Plans

• J. Admission Process for Special Individuals or Circumstances
  • Admission of Veterans · Admission of Aboriginal Residents · Admission of Spouses with Different Care Needs · Admission of Sponsored Immigrants Needing Care

Chapter Four - Legal Issues When Living in Residential Care

• A. Part One - Common Care Issues
  • Care Plans · Communication · Care Conferences · Staffing · Quality of Care · Continence Care · Risk Taking · Private Communication · Paid Companions in Residential Care · Renovations and Closure of Facilities

• B. Part Two - Seven Pressing Issues
  • 1. Medications · 2. Control over Visiting · 3. Abuse and Neglect · 4. Resident to Resident Harms · 5. Reporting Responsibilities · 6. Restraints · 7. Video Surveillance

Chapter Five - Rights, Remedies and Problem Resolution

• A. The Need for Effective Remedies and Problem Resolution

• B. The Basic Recourse Process under CCALA
  • Concerns about Raising Concerns · Reporting Protections · Threats of Being Sued

• C. Starting Points for Problem Resolution
  • Residents Rights · Family and Resident Councils

• D. Operator Responsibilities

• Directing Concerns to Health Authorities
  • Patient Care Quality Office · Community Care Licensing Offices · Local Ethics Committees · BC Care Aide & Community Health Worker Registry · Directing Concerns to External Bodies · Directing Concerns to Review Boards · Addressing Systemic Concerns: BC Seniors Advocate

Chapter Six - Consent and Capacity

• A. Part 1 Introduction
  • Consent: an Area of Confusion · Mental Capacity to Consent · Presumption of Capability · Misuses of Presumptions · How is Capability Determined? · Understanding Tests of Incapability

• B. Part 2 Health Care Consent
  • The Conditions of Health Care Consent · Who Must Seek Consent for Health Care · What Is Meant by Health Care? · Consent Rights · The Consent Process · How Does a Person Give Consent? · Exceptions to Requiring Consent · Health Care at the Margins · Areas of Confusion about Health Care Consent in Residential CareExploiting Consent Loopholes?

• C. Part 3 Care Planning
  • Consent and Care Plans · Rights Associated with Care Plan Consent · Advance Care Planning - Advance Care Plan and Advance Care Directives · Consent and Advance Care Directives · Common Areas of Misunderstanding for Advance Health Care Consent

• D. Part 4 Personal Care and Consent
  • What Is Personal Care? · Determining a Resident’s Capacity to Make Personal Care Decisions

• E. Part 5 Other Consent Issues
  • Intimacy and Sexual Relations · What Constitutes Consent in the Context of Intimacy and Sex

Chapter Seven - Substitute Decision-Making

• A. Introduction: A Right to Decide

• B. Types of Substitute Decision-Making
  • Statutory Substitutes - Temporary Substitute Decision Makers for Health · Other Tools by Which People Are Given Authority as Substitutes · Court Appointed Substitutes - Adult Guardianship/ Committeeship · Substitute Decisionmaking through Instructions - Advance Care Directives

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About the BC Centre for Elder Advocacy and Support

The BC CEAS is a non-profit charitable organization located in British Columbia, Canada. We are committed to:

• Protecting the legal rights of older adults;
• Increasing access to justice for older adults;
• Informing the public about elder abuse; and
• Providing supportive programs for older adults who have been abused.

Find out more at bcceas.ca/

In law, the re-examination of a term of an order or agreement, usually to determine whether the term remains fair and appropriate in light of the circumstances prevailing at the time of the review. In family law, particularly the review of an order or agreement provided for the payment of spousal support. See "de novo," "family law agreements," "order" and "spousal support."

Under the old Divorce Act, the schedule of a parent's time with their children under an order or agreement, replaced with "parenting time" and "contact" in the new Divorce Act. Access usually referred to the schedule of the parent with the least amount of time with the child. See "contact," "custody" and "parenting time."

A judge of the superior courts of British Columbia, being the Supreme Court and the Court of Appeal.