The home care bill of rights provides that clients have the right to “be free from physical and verbal abuse, neglect, financial exploitation, and all forms of maltreatment covered under the Vulnerable Adults Act and the Maltreatment of Minors Act.” (Minnesota Statutes, section 144A.44).
Home care providers are required to comply with all requirements for reporting maltreatment under the Vulnerable Adults Act and the Maltreatment of Minors Act. (See Minnesota Statutes, section 144A.479, Subd. 6).
Definitions
For clients who are age 18 or older, maltreatment is defined by the Vulnerable Adults Act to include abuse, neglect, or financial exploitation. All adult clients are considered vulnerable adults for purposes of the reporting requirement.
Abuse: abuse includes physical abuse; sexual abuse; use of malicious language; treatment of a vulnerable adult that is humiliating, harassing, or threatening; and unreasonable confinement. See Minnesota Statutes, section. 626.5572, subdivision 2 for the full definition.
Neglect: caregiver neglect means the failure or omission by a caregiver to supply a vulnerable adult with care or services, including but not limited to, food, clothing, shelter, health care, or supervision which is:
- reasonable and necessary to obtain or maintain the vulnerable adult's physical or mental health or safety, considering the physical and mental capacity or dysfunction of the vulnerable adult; and
- which is not the result of an accident or therapeutic conduct.
See Minn. Stat. 626.5572, Subd. 17 for the full definition.
Financial Exploitation: financial exploitation includes “willfully uses, withholds, or disposes of funds or property of a vulnerable adult” without legal authority to do so, or “acquires possession or control of, or an interest in, funds or property of a vulnerable adult through the use of undue influence, harassment, duress, deception, or fraud,” among other things. Examples include theft of money or property, exploitative or fraudulent transactions, and drug diversion. See Minn. Stat. 626.5572, Subd. 9 for the full definition.
For clients under the age of 18, maltreatment is defined by the Maltreatment of Minors Act. This includes egregious harm, neglect, physical abuse, sexual abuse, substantiated child endangerment, threatened injury, and mental injury, as each of those are defined in Minn. Stat. 260E.03. If you have any clients who are under 18, it is important to review these definitions.
