submitting an anonymous neglect report

You are in a strange situation with this non legitimate home health agency or whatever it is.

You make a report of abuse with adult protective services. If the patient doesn't have food or basic hygiene items in the home provided by the family or the "agency", then there is neglect. The whole thing is really weird to me.

Run away. It sounds dodgy and you wouldn't want to be caught in the middle of it if the xxxx does hit the fan. I am sure the extra dollars are not worth it.

Make a anonymous report with social services or whatever they are called.

My question is why haven't you already run?

There is so much of this that is wrong. "I have to give notice because I can no longer work 2 jobs" And get the heck out of there.

And your unethical friend who is running this gig.....if she is a nurse, report her to the board of nursing. That she is delegating CNA's to do or not do in the case of not calling for an ambulance-- is putting her license at risk to begin with. That she is ok with the kind of treatment that this patient is getting is scary.

What is putting your license at risk is that you are in a home where an elder is being neglected. You are being paid (or not) cash for under the table shady stuff. And if there are no adequate food/supplies for even basic care of this patient, then it is an issue. That is where I would call APS. Not only because you are mandated to do so, but it is the right thing to do.

When all this comes crashing down, the signatures on the "charting" are those of you, of other licensed nurses who may also work there, and some CNA's who are delegated to.

Interestingly, I am sure that you all work for the "family" and not for your co-worker and her sister. They are some sort of "employment placement agency" and that you are paid for "by the family" and it is "none of their business" how you all are paid. Cause when the chips come tumbling down there is absolutely no way to prove that your co-worker et al has one thing to do with anything....all cash, no charting by them, and quicker than you can say "I just find employees. She is an RN, so I have NO IDEA what she was thinking, I had NOT A CLUE there was no food in the house..." etc etc. You are in a heck of a lawsuit because everyone has amnesia, and you are the licensed nurse holding the bag.

Your license is not worth it. If you have malpractice insurance, call them. If you have to work with this person in a charge nurse kind of a way, you may want to let your union or manager in on it. Because the last thing you need is grief at work due to this mess.

Question - Is the 99 y/o client within her right mind? I've had problems with APS not opening a case, because the person in the situation is "competent".

As nurses, we are 'mandatory reporters' for child, domestic & geriatric abuse. Legally, if we fail to report we could be considered to be complicit in the abusive behavior. PP is correct. Because this is apparently focused on a single (victim) individual, contact your state's agency for Adult Protective Services. I believe that if it was a systemic thing (affecting many patients) in a nursing home, it may also be in the purview of an Ombudsman as well as the agency that licenses nursing homes.

An anonymous report may not be in your best interests because if there is any fall-out, you want to be on record as one of the 'good guys' and you may also need evidence that you were compliant with your state's Nurse Practice Act.

Thank you for your responses - I found the APS information for my state. I'm actually a CNA, there aren't any nurses involved. I wanted to make sure my motives aren't influenced by my being angry at the family but I can see from your responses there is a legitimate concern. And thank you for pointing out that anonymity might be a bad idea, but (un)fortunately there have been HIPAA violations in the form of all the texts my boss uses to communicate with me, that nevertheless prove she knows what's going on.