Admission to the Residential Care Facility

“The question of consent should play a central role in discussions about admission to residential care facilities. Legally, adults are presumed to be capable of making decisions unless there is evidence to the contrary. It follows that seniors themselves should be the ones who consent to their admission to a residential care facility unless their capacity to make this decision is unclear. In these cases, seniors’ capacity should be assessed.”

Best of Care, pg. 243

Mentally capable adults have the right to decide where they will live, and those who are not mentally capable should still have their needs and wishes considered. Prospective residents have the right to decide whether or not they want to live in any residential care facility, as well as a particular care facility. Neither the Community Care and Assisted Living Act Community Care and Assisted Living Act nor the Hospital Act contains any specific provisions on the admissions process or how to obtain consent for admission to a residential care facility.(23)

In many cases, prospective residents have made the decision to move to a residential care facility on their own because they realize they are no longer able to live at home with supports safely. For them consenting to the admission is a simple matter.

Other mentally capable adults will prefer to continue to “live at risk”, even if it means the strong possibility of deteriorating health, being injured (e.g. falls) in their home or dying there. However, some mentally capable adults will find that family or others may try to act in what they consider the person’s “best interests” and “try to plan around them.”

In other instances, individuals may not have insight into their conditions, or the effects that their decisions and risk taking have on others. Still others have come to rely on promises that family or friends made them in the past to “not make them go to a nursing home” (family or friends may simply no longer be able to keep that promise, or may not have ever intended to try). In many of these cases, silence, avoidance, subterfuge done “in their best interest” and “little lies” (“Mom, it is just for a short stay until you are stronger”) or even blatant misrepresentation has been used by family or others in the health care system to have the person admitted to a care facility.

Agreeing to the Admission

In the past, Ministry of Health policy simply required that health authorities authorize the admission of clients to residential care facilities and that clients agree to admission. (24)At present, the ministry policy requires health authorities ensure “that a client’s capacity to provide informed consent to facility admission has been assessed, and that the client has consented in writing to be admitted to a residential care facility.”(25) These provisions were developed in anticipation of the enactment of the Part 3 sections of the Health Care Consent and Care Facilities (Admission) Act dealing with admissions to the facility, which to date are not in force.(26)

This policy raises a number of interrelated issues – the capacity for giving or refusing one’s consent to admission; giving informed consent to admission; evidence of consent; the responsibility to provide residents and families with appropriate information in order to exercise informed consent; and having the capacity to consent to the contractual agreement.

Note: If a person has been given authority to receive administer the resident’s Old Age Security or Canada Pension Plan cheques as a Private Trustee, this is not considered as sufficient legal authority to consent to admission or sign the admission agreement.(27)

Demonstrating Consent

Consenting to admission can be done verbally or in writing. A person may indirectly communicate informed consent to the Operator by nodding the head, cooperating with the questions asked, etc. Verbal consent has occasionally created problems for Operators when the resident no longer remembers or later denies having given consent. Today, Ministry of Health policy focuses on have a signed document showing consent. Arguably, that does not mean the resident or substitute must sign. However, it can be important for the Operator to document in some manner that the person has consented to admission, even if it was done verbally.

Assessing Capability to Consent?

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As noted above, health authorities are required to assure “that a client’s capacity to provide informed consent to facility admission has been assessed. “Assess” may be interpreted in two ways in this policy context:

a) colloquially (“determine if the person appears to be mentally capable of providing informed consent: consider the way they communicate, signs and behaviours…”, “Does it seem as if they are consenting and are mentally capable of making this decision (recognizing that acquiescence is not the same as consent)?”) or

b) undertake a formal assessment of mental capability.

The British Columbia Office of the Ombudsperson Best of Care Report suggests that the term “assess” here may mean a formal assessment of capacity. If a formal assessment is the intended meaning of the HCC policy, it would undermine the legal presumption of mental capability of many prospective residents. It would likely be considered a discriminatory policy violating British Columbia’s Human Rights Code, by placing a burden on people seeking residential care that other adults do not ordinarily experience. (28)It would also involve a significant use of formal resources to undertake an assessment of all prospective residents, especially given the high turnover in residential care beds. That would seem to violate the Ministry of Health’s policy on effective use of resources.(29)

If the person was formally assessed and was discovered to be mentally incapable of making the admission decision, this still does not “fix the real problem”. Unless the person has a committee for the person, or has appointed a representative with authority for personal care decisions under the Representation Agreement Act, there may be no legally recognized substitute who can consent to the admission on behalf of the mentally incapable person. People holding an enduring power of attorney may have the authority to make financial decisions on the resident’s behalf, but not “personal care decisions”, which include where the person will live. (30)A power of attorney drafted and signed in another jurisdiction may or may not be legal in British Columbia. The issue is further complicated by the fact the Mental Health Act is currently being used at times to admit the person when there is no one to give proper consent for a prospective resident. That is an inappropriate use of the Act.

The issues of consent in various legal contexts are described in greater detail in the chapters on “Consent & Capacity” and “Substitute Decision-Making”.

What Kind of Decision is Admission to a Residential Care Facility and Who Makes It?

For mentally capable adults, the decision whether to move to and be admitted to residential care rests with them. In all other cases, it will rest with someone else. (31)

Historically in British Columbia as in other jurisdictions, we have made a distinction between health care, personal care and financial or legal decisions. “Where I will live?” is considered a personal care decision. (32)Making the decision about admission to a care facility is a hybrid decision that has personal care, health and financial aspects. This leads to some confusion and debate about who (other than capable adults deciding on their own) can agree to admission to a residential care facility. A closely related question is “Who can sign an admission agreement and bind the parties?”

In health care practice, legal documents such as enduring powers of attorney have been accepted by Operators as evidence of a family member or others’ authority to act on the mentally incapacitated older adult’s behalf. As discussed in Chapter Seven, a power of attorney can give authority over financial and certain legal decisions and sorting out payment of the care facility costs will be part of the admission process. Operators have a legitimate need in clearly identifying what the payment process will be.

However, strictly speaking, representation agreements are the only planning document that gives chosen people the legal authority to make personal care decisions on another person’s behalf. (33)In practice, they are not yet a commonly used planning tool in British Columbia. The power of attorney is often an “add on” legal document to a representation agreement to help cover a range of financial decision-making issues when people become mentally incapable of making and exercising those decisions on their own.

It is sometimes suggested that admission a residential care facility is a part of or a step to a health care decision that could fall under the Health Care Consent and Care Facility Admission Act. This interpretation suggests that (absent Section 2, of the Act coming into force), hospital administration , discharge planners and care facility Operators could simply rely on the statutory list of temporary substitute decision makers for health to get consent for admission. While this might be a convenient solution for admitting mentally incapable adults, "health care" is narrowly defined under that Act and would not support that interpretation. (34)

Currently, admission agreements may have clauses specific to the attorney’s (financial and legal) functions and other clauses that fall within the representative’s (personal care) scope. It may be possible to sever the clauses into different agreements as the substitute decision maker’s authority may not cover both types of decisions. Creating two separate documents may or may not improve the situation.

This information applies to British Columbia, Canada. Last reviewed for legal accuracy by BC Centre for Elder Advocacy and Support, June 2014.

(1) Agreement, or (2) the giving of permission for a thing to happen or not happen.

Facts, or proof tending to support the existence of facts, presented to a judge at a hearing or trial. Evidence can be given through the oral testimony of witnesses, in writing as business records and other documents, or in the form of physical objects. Evidence must be admissible according to the rules of court and the rules of evidence. See "circumstantial evidence," "hearsay" and "testimony."

In law, (1) a judge's conclusions after hearing argument and considering the evidence presented at a trial or an application, (2) a judgment, or (3) the judge's reasons. A judge's written or oral decision will include the judge's conclusions about the relief or remedies claimed as well as their findings of fact and conclusions of law. A written decision is called the judge’s "reasons for judgment." See "common law," "conclusions of law" and "findings of fact."

(1) Intentionally doing a thing, or (2) a law passed by a government, also called "legislation" or a "statute." See "regulations."

Acts or words tending or intended to give a misleading or false impression as to the true state of affairs. See "bad faith."

A government action or declaration intended to have a legal effect, usually in the form of legislation or regulation. See "act" and "regulations."

A mandatory direction of the court that is binding and enforceable upon the parties to a court proceeding. An "interim order" is a temporary order made following the hearing of an interim application. A "final order" is a permanent order, made following the trial of the court proceeding or the parties' settlement, following which the only recourse open to a dissatisfied party is to appeal. Failing to abide by the terms of an order may constitute contempt of court. See "appeal," "consent order," "contempt of court," "decision" and "declaration."

To determine the proper value or worth of something. A lawyer's bill may be assessed by a registrar to determine the actual amount the client should pay. See "appraisal."

With respect to courts, (1) the authority of the court to hear an action and make orders, (2) the limits of the authority of a particular judicial official, (3) the geographic location of a court, or (4) the territorial limits of a court's authority. With respect to governments, (5) the authority of a government to make legislation as determined by the constitution, or (6) the limits of authority of a particular government agency. See “constitution."

In law, a calculation of the allowable legal expenses of a party to a court proceeding, as determined by the Supreme Court Family Rules. The party who is most successful in a court proceeding is usually awarded their "costs" of the proceeding. See "account," "bill of costs," "Certificate of Costs or Expenses" and "lawyer's fees."

In contract law, a promise made by someone about a certain state of affairs, like "the plumbing was replaced last year" or "I had a vasectomy two years ago." See "misrepresentation."