Choosing a Health Care Provider: How Far Does That Right Extend For Nursing Home Residents?
How far does the right to choose a health care provider extend for nursing home residents? In Indiana, it stops at requesting caregivers based on race.
Brenda Chaney was a CNA working at Plainfield Healthcare Center, an Indiana nursing home. Plainfield was home to Marjorie Latshaw, a resident who preferred not to be assisted by a black nursing assistant. The facility honored this request by noting in writing on the nursing home's daily assignment sheet that Latshaw "Prefers no black CNAs" and that "no black" assistants should enter her room or provide her with care. Chaney, who is black, initially complied with this policy, although there were times that she was in a position to best care for Latshaw. In fact, one day Chaney found Latshaw on the floor and unable to stand. Rather than provide her with immediate assistance, Chaney was forced to locate a white CNA in another part of the building and request assistance. Despite the obvious problem, Latshaw remained on Chaney's assignment sheet until the day she was fired from the facility. There were at least two more residents at the facility who refused care from a "black" employee.
Chaney was fired from the facility three months after she began working there for using profanity in front of a resident, which she denied. Chaney sued Plainfield for employment discrimination arguing that honoring the racial biases of residents was illegal and created a hostile work environment. An Indiana District Court ruled that the nursing home was within its rights to allow patients to dictate caregivers based on race. The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit disagreed and reversed the decision citing that the nursing home's policy of allowing residents to select caregivers based on race violated federal employment discrimination law and stated "Plainfield acted to foster and engender a racially-charged environment through its assignment sheet that unambiguously, and daily, reminded Chaney and her co-workers that certain residents preferred no black CNAs."
Now, Indiana officials are forced to notify nursing homes that racial discrimination laws trump nursing home resident rights and Chaney v. Plainfield Healthcare Center could be cited as a national case precedent. To read the full case, click here.
