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 and Legal Issues When Living in Residential Care · 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