complaint·September 20, 2024

Staff pressured a resident with declining health and competency to make a financial deal for their personal gain. On the allegation that Staff pressured a resident with declining health and competency to make a financial deal for their personal gain, the reporting party’s (RP) concern is that the facility staff conducted themselves in an unethical manner by trying to coerce resident (R1) into a financial agreement with the facility staff. The RP stated that there was nothing in writing to document the coercion of the financial deal, that the coercion was done verbally. The LPA could not interview (R1), since R1 is no longer residing at the facility. To investigate the allegation, LPA Urena interviewed the Reporting Party (RP) on 09/09/2024. The RP’s interview revealed that on at least two different occasions (May 2023 and summer of 2023), staff made unethical financial proposals to R1, while R1 was residing at the facility. R1 told the RP that the Administrator offered R1 to live for the rest of their life at the facility, if R1 made a financial investment with the facility staff and gave all of their financial assets to the facility staff. At the time of the financial proposals (2023), the RP stated that R1 was declining in health, and could not make competent decisions. The RP’s report stated that R1 is now suffering from the effects of Parkinson's disease, is highly suggestible and has no reasoning skills. R1 hallucinates and rambles nonsense now. The LPA interviewed the Administrator, and they denied attempting to make financial deals with (R1) or pressuring them to make a financial deal for their personal gain. The Administrator stated that they often took R1 on outings (medical appointments, and lunch). On the day they went out to see properties, the administrator stated that they and another staff were talking about seeing some properties, and that R1 overheard them, and asked if R1 could go with them, and the administrator said, “yes”. However, the administrator denied making any financial offers to R1. On 09/14/2024, the LPA interviewed the Power of Attorney (medical POA) for R1. The POA stated that they were not aware of any coercion or financial deals being offered to R1. The POA stated that they spoke almost every day with R1, and R1 would have said something to them had such offer had been made by the staff. Furthermore, the POA stated that R1 liked being at the facility and liked the licensee and staff very much. POA stated that R1 was transferred to another facility to be closer to the POA. Although the allegation may have happened or is valid, based on the interviews, there is not sufficient evidence to prove that Staff pressured the resident to make a financial deal for their personal gain. Therefore, the allegation is deemed Unsubstantiated at this time. Interview exit was conducted. A copy of the report was issued.