Can we be sued by resident families who say their loved ones contracted COVID-19 because we did not do enough to keep to keep them safe?
The government, understandably, is expecting good accounting of borrowed COVID-19 funds during the public health emergency. How do I comply when it seems they are accepting a wide range of “COVID-19-related” expenses?
We’ve had families acting more suspicious of us than usual, with people complaining about allegedly missing resident clothes or belongings. It’s not unexpected, I guess, with family members’ access cut off to their loved ones for so long due to the pandemic. But how can we a) protect ourselves from typically unfounded claims of theft or wrongdoing and b) soothe anxious and jittery family members?
It almost sounds crazy, given the staffing shortages everywhere, but can we fire someone for not letting us know they have COVID-19 symptoms and coming to work anyway?
I am not the chief executive officer, but other middle-level managers and I have reason to believe the chief financial officer has been double-dealing with contracts with third parties and skimming profits. How should we out this conduct and illegal behavior? We do not want to jeopardize our jobs or give the CFO the ability to slip out of criminal prosecution. We also want to protect our organization’s reputation.
Perhaps against better judgment, we gave a guitarist/singer second and third chances to entertain our residents on a contracted basis. Twice this performer has canceled at the last minute, leaving us high and dry for entertainment and with agitated patients (and sometimes family members). But once we had to cancel a couple hours ahead of time due to a room being inadvertently double-booked. Now the entertainer is threatening to sue for breach of contract. Can he do that? Can we go after him for stiffing us twice?
Some employees are making a fuss about the personal protective equipment we use, claiming it’s substandard and not safe. The heck of it is, they might be right, but I don’t have the time or ability to investigate our overseas sellers. How do I legally quell the loud employees who are threatening to sue, and handle the possibly shady supplier?
We have had some family members disagree with our visitation policy. The tension has worsened due to the pandemic, and state and local authorities clamping down to protect long-term care residents. How stringent can we be about visitation times and what can we do to or about violators?
We tell our employees that they may not speak to the media about our infection rates (including COVID-19 rates) or other caregiving or sensitive matters. This would include disclosing health information about specific residents. Yet, someone keeps leaking information out and the information does not always put us in a good light. Can we limit disclosures that breach our privacy policy? Also, can we take action against such employees?
What are the scenarios under which organizations serving seniors are being sued by plaintiffs such as residents, their families, employees or regulatory entities due to COVID-19?
