THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1996, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Saturday, March 16, 1996 TAG: 9603160012
SECTION: FRONT PAGE: A10 EDITION: FINAL
TYPE: Letter
LENGTH: Short : 40 lines
My mother is 82 years old and has late-stage Parkinson's disease. She has been a patient in a local nursing home for several years and has been well taken care of until recently.
Because of the severity of mother's illness, it is necessary to use a certain amount of restraint to keep her safe. When she is in a chair, the nursing home keeps a tray across the arms of the chair. This prevents her from trying to get up and walk, which she cannot do, and keeps her from falling out of the chair.
When she is in bed she has padded side rails to keep her from falling out.
A nursing-home employee recently called to say that mother had fallen out of the bed. He explained that because of a recent federal law requiring ``minimal restraints,'' the side rail on mother's bed had been left down. She fell out of the bed to the floor.
The nursing-home employee explained that according to Health Care Financing Administration Regulations F221 and 222, the home had to use ``minimal'' restraint unless it could document this to be inadequate. Minimal restraint was described as one side rail and the tray cross the chair only when eating or participating in an activity which involved doing something on the tray. Documentation was obtained when the patient fell out of the bed or out of the chair.
This regulation leaves elderly people vulnerable to falls and serious injuries.
Once more the federal government is interfering in something of which it obviously has no knowledge.
KATHERINE V. McWATERS
Chesapeake, Feb. 6, 1996 by CNB