Cal. Code Regs. Tit. 22, § 87468.1 - Personal Rights of Residents in all Facilities

(a) Residents in all residential care facilities for the elderly shall have all of the following personal rights:

(1) To be accorded dignity in their personal relationships with staff, residents, and other persons.

(2) To be accorded safe, healthful and comfortable accommodations, furnishings and equipment.

(3) To be free from punishment, humiliation, intimidation, abuse, or other actions of a punitive nature, such as withholding residents' money or interfering with daily living functions such as eating, sleeping, or elimination.

(4) To be informed by the licensee of the provisions of law regarding complaints and of procedures for confidentially registering complaints, including, but not limited to, the address and telephone number for the complaint receiving unit of the Department, and how to contact the Community Care Licensing Division of the California Department of Social Services, and the long-term care ombudsman regarding grievances in regard to the facility.

(5) To have the freedom to attend religious services or activities of their choice either in or outside the facility and to have visits from the spiritual advisor of their choice. Attendance at religious services, either in or outside the facility, shall be on a completely voluntary basis.

(6) To leave or depart the facility at any time and to not be locked into any room, building, or on facility premises by day or night. This does not prohibit a licensee from establishing house rules, such as locking doors at night to protect residents, or barring windows against intruders, with permission from the Department.

(7) To visit the facility prior to residence along with their representatives.

(8) To have their representatives regularly informed by the licensee of activities related to care or services, including ongoing evaluations, as appropriate to their needs.

(9) To have communications to the licensee from their representatives answered promptly and appropriately.

(10) To be informed of the licensee's policy concerning visits and other communications with residents, according to Health and Safety Code section 1569.313.

(11) To have their visitors, including ombudspersons and advocacy representatives, permitted to visit privately during reasonable hours and without prior notice, provided that the rights of other residents are not infringed upon.

(12) To wear their own clothes; to keep and use their own personal possessions, including their toilet articles; and to keep and be allowed to spend their own money.

(13) To have access to individual storage space for private use.

(14) To have reasonable access to telephones, to both make and receive confidential calls. The licensee may require reimbursement for long distance calls.

(15) To send and receive unopened correspondence in a prompt manner.

(16) To receive or reject medical care or other services.

(17) To receive assistance in exercising the right to vote.

(18) To move from the facility.

(b) All residents in all residential care facilities for the elderly shall be protected from all of the actions specified in this subsection. A licensee or facility staff may not take any of the following actions, which also includes taking these actions wholly or partially on the basis of the actual or perceived sexual orientation, gender identity, gender expression, or human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) status, of a resident:

(1) Deny admission to a facility, transfer or refuse to transfer a resident within the facility or to another facility, or discharge or evict a resident from a facility.

(2) Deny a request by residents to share a room.

(3) Where rooms are assigned by gender, assign, reassign, or refuse to assign, a room to a resident who is transgender other than according to the resident's gender identity, unless at the request of the resident who is transgender.

(4) Prohibit a resident from using, or harass a resident who seeks to use or uses, a restroom available to others of the same gender identity, regardless of whether the resident is making a gender transition or appears to be gender-nonconforming. Harassment includes, but is not limited to, requiring a resident to show identity documents to gain entrance to a restroom available to other persons of the same gender identity.

(5) Willfully and repeatedly fail to use a resident's preferred name or pronouns after being informed of the resident's preferred name or pronouns in a clear manner.

(6) Deny a resident the right to wear or be dressed in clothing, accessories, or cosmetics permitted for any other resident.

(7) Restrict a resident's right to associate with other residents or with visitors, including the right to consensual sexual relations.

(A) A licensee is not precluded from restricting or banning sexual relations as long as the restriction or ban is applied uniformly to all residents in a nondiscriminatory manner. All residents and their representatives, including potential residents prior to the time of signing the admission agreement, shall be notified in writing of any such facility restriction or ban.

(8) Deny or restrict medical or nonmedical care that is appropriate to a resident's organs and bodily needs, or provide medical or nonmedical care to the resident in a manner that, to a similarly situated reasonable person, unduly demeans the resident's dignity or causes avoidable discomfort.

(c) The provisions of subsection (b) shall not apply to the extent that they are incompatible with the professionally reasonable clinical judgment of a medical professional.

(d) The Department does not have the authority to waive the personal rights specified in subsection (b).

Notes

Cal. Code Regs. Tit. 22, § 87468.1

1. New section filed 8-24-2018; operative 10-1-2018 (Register 2018, No. 34).

Note: Authority cited: Section 1569.30 and 1569.318, Health and Safety Code. Reference: Sections 1439.51, 1569.1, 1569.31, 1569.312 and 1569.313, Health and Safety Code.

1. New section filed 8-24-2018; operative 10/1/2018 (Register 2018, No. 34).