Can a nursing home tie my dad to a wheelchair if he has had episodes of wandering around the facility?
-Sam, Memphis, TN After a recent post about a nurse tying a resident to a wheelchair with a bed sheet, I received several emails from concerned people regarding the use of restraints in nursing homes with their loved ones. Restraints among nursing home residents are only permitted when a physician orders them to protect the resident and with the approval of the resident or his representative. Federal law prohibits nursing homes from using restraints for the convenience of the facility or as a way of punishing the patient. (Code of Federal Regulations, 483.13(a). A restraint is considered to be: “any manual method or physical or mechanical device, material or equipment attached or adjacent to the resident’s body that the individual cannot remove easily which restricts freedom of movement or normal access to one’s body.” According to this definition, almost all medical equipment found in a nursing home could be used in this capacity to restrain a patient. Rather than rely on restraint de
