Nursing home prevents mom from visiting daughter
Chico enterprise Record had a tragic story about a nursing home preventing a mother from seeing her disabled daughter. This is clearly in violation of the Resident's rights and should not be tolerated. Gladys McManaman says she's miserable because a nursing home has limited the time she can visit her disabled daughter. Gladys said the nursing home's administration will only let her visit Patricia between 9 a.m. and noon and only on weekdays.
There are no exceptions, she said. She couldn't visit on Mother's Day, Easter or her daughter's birthday. And if she stays a bit longer than the three hours she's allowed, a staff member will tell her sharply, "It's four minutes past noon — you have to go!" she said. "It's hateful."
The facility's administration is retaliating against McManaman for filing complaints about the place. McManaman said she's lodged complaints with the state Department of Public Health about Patricia's care. She said Patricia has had many falls and has often been neglected by the staff. Also, the facility has not responded when her daughter has needed urgent medical care, she said. McManaman said Patricia was born with severe disabilities.
She admits she's gotten mad at times when Patricia was neglected or given improper care at the nursing home but what mother wouldn't get mad when the facility is neglecting your child.
"She knows me, she responds to me," McManaman said. "I would think more than anyone, they would welcome my being there so I could alert them to what her needs are." The nursing home prohibits her from doing just about anything for her daughter. She can't even comb Patricia's hair without worrying a staff member might come in and reprimand her.
The only thing she's allowed to do is her daughter's laundry — something the facility is happy to have her do. McManaman recently filed a lawsuit against Riverside, hoping to win more visiting time, but she said she is frustrated at how long that is taking.
What Riverside is doing is clearly illegal, but it's done by nursing homes quite often, said Pat McGinnis, director of the San Francisco-based California Advocates for Nursing Home Reform.
McGinnis said patients' families have the right to visit whenever they want, although they don't always realize this.
McManaman said she's not in good health and, at her age, wonders how long she'll live and what will become of her daughter if she should die.
"In the last years of my life, I sure didn't expect this," she said.
