NEGLECT ALLEGATION AGAINST NURSING HOME FOR SYSTEMIC FAILURE PROPERLY FOUND TO BE SUBSTANTIATED, EVEN THOUGH THE RELATED ALLEGATIONS AGAINST TWO EMPLOYEES WERE DEEMED TO BE UNSUBSTANTIATED (CT APP).
The Court of Appeals, in a full-fledged opinion by Judge Garcia, over a dissent, reversing the Appellate Division, determined that the Justice Center for the Protection of People with Special Needs had the statutory authority to find that a neglect allegation against a nursing home was substantiated, even though the neglect allegations against two employees of the nursing home were deemed unsubstantiated. A female resident had, for the third time, been sexually assaulted by another resident in the common room while the common room was unattended. The employees were not required to be in the common room at all times. But the nursing home, the administrative law judge (ALJ) found, should have increased the level of required supervision because of the prior assaults:
Petitioner’s narrow construction of the statute would paradoxically leave the Justice Center powerless to address many systemic issues, defeating the purpose of the Act and preventing the Justice Center from protecting vulnerable persons where it is most critical to do so. As noted throughout the text and legislative history, the statutory overhaul embodied in the Act was necessary not only to address isolated incidents of abuse and neglect, but also to resolve systemic problems, such as inadequate staffing, training, and supervision, which often cause or contribute to incidents of abuse and neglect… . Indeed, systemic deficiencies may present a greater hazard to vulnerable residents than do discrete instances of employee misconduct, since employee-related incidents can often be remedied through targeted disciplinary action. Latent systemic problems, by contrast, are often more challenging to identify and more complicated to rectify—and therefore more likely to recur. Matter of Anonymous v Molik, 2018 NY Slip Op 04779, CtApp 6-28-18
ADMINISTRATIVE LAW (SOCIAL SERVICES LAW, NEGLECT ALLEGATION AGAINST NURSING HOME FOR SYSTEMIC FAILURE PROPERLY FOUND TO BE SUBSTANTIATED, EVEN THOUGH THE RELATED ALLEGATIONS AGAINST TWO EMPLOYEES WERE DEEMED TO BE UNSUBSTANTIATED (CT APP))/SOCIAL SERVICES LAW (NURSING HOMES, NEGLECT ALLEGATION AGAINST NURSING HOME FOR SYSTEMIC FAILURE PROPERLY FOUND TO BE SUBSTANTIATED, EVEN THOUGH THE RELATED ALLEGATIONS AGAINST TWO EMPLOYEES WERE DEEMED TO BE UNSUBSTANTIATED (CT APP))/SPECIAL NEEDS (JUSTICE CENTER FOR THE PROTECTION OF PERSONS WITH SPECIAL NEEDS, SOCIAL SERVICES LAW, NEGLECT ALLEGATION AGAINST NURSING HOME FOR SYSTEMIC FAILURE PROPERLY FOUND TO BE SUBSTANTIATED, EVEN THOUGH THE RELATED ALLEGATIONS AGAINST TWO EMPLOYEES WERE DEEMED TO BE UNSUBSTANTIATED (CT APP))/JUSTICE CENTER FOR THE PROTECTION OF PERSONS WITH SPECIAL NEEDS, SOCIAL SERVICES LAW, NEGLECT ALLEGATION AGAINST NURSING HOME FOR SYSTEMIC FAILURE PROPERLY FOUND TO BE SUBSTANTIATED, EVEN THOUGH THE RELATED ALLEGATIONS AGAINST TWO EMPLOYEES WERE DEEMED TO BE UNSUBSTANTIATED (CT APP))/NURSING HOMES (SOCIAL SERVICES LAW, NEGLECT ALLEGATION AGAINST NURSING HOME FOR SYSTEMIC FAILURE PROPERLY FOUND TO BE SUBSTANTIATED, EVEN THOUGH THE RELATED ALLEGATIONS AGAINST TWO EMPLOYEES WERE DEEMED TO BE UNSUBSTANTIATED (CT APP))/NEGLECT (SOCIAL SERVICES LAW, NEGLECT ALLEGATION AGAINST NURSING HOME FOR SYSTEMIC FAILURE PROPERLY FOUND TO BE SUBSTANTIATED, EVEN THOUGH THE RELATED ALLEGATIONS AGAINST TWO EMPLOYEES WERE DEEMED TO BE UNSUBSTANTIATED (CT APP))/SUPERVISION (NURSING HOMES, SOCIAL SERVICES LAW, NEGLECT ALLEGATION AGAINST NURSING HOME FOR SYSTEMIC FAILURE PROPERLY FOUND TO BE SUBSTANTIATED, EVEN THOUGH THE RELATED ALLEGATIONS AGAINST TWO EMPLOYEES WERE DEEMED TO BE UNSUBSTANTIATED (CT APP))