As awareness of the importance of safe and pleasant nursing home facilities continues to grow, more and more individuals also want to find better ways to ensure that safety.
One potential method involves requiring prospective nursing home residents to undergo background checks. But is this a good option?
What would the bill do?
The CT Mirror discusses the opposition to a recent bill proposed which would require background checks for residents to gain admittance into nursing homes. The proposal of this bill ended up propelled by a recent case in which an alleged assault happened at a nursing home.
The proposed bill would simply require any long-term care facility to check for a criminal history of any potential applicants, as well as to see if the applicant is on the sex offender registry.
However, opposition came immediately from organizations that represented providers, as well as an advocate aiming to ban the sex offender registry.
Applying pressure to nursing homes
Proponents of the bill want to put more responsibility on nursing homes to report when they accept residents with a criminal history. They want to hold nursing homes accountable by enforcing background checks.
Without a waiver, facilities could no longer admit people with a “disqualifying offense”. This includes rape, kidnapping, burglary and assault, along with slightly lesser crimes such as trespassing and criminal mischief.
As of right now, the onus is on the individual to report that they are on the sex offender registry or have a history of criminal convictions. Needless to say, this does not happen often.