HB4534eng 94TH GENERAL ASSEMBLY

HB4534 Engrossed LRB094 15830 DRJ 52365 b

AN ACT concerning regulation.

Be it enacted by the People of the State of Illinois, represented in the General Assembly:

Section 5. The Nursing Home Care Act is amended by changing Section 2-108 as follows:

(210 ILCS 45/2-108) (from Ch. 111 1/2, par. 4152-108)

Sec. 2-108. Communications; visits; married residents. Every resident shall be permitted unimpeded, private and uncensored communication of his choice by mail, public telephone or visitation.

(a) The administrator shall ensure that correspondence is conveniently received and mailed, and that telephones are reasonably accessible.

(b) The administrator shall ensure that residents may have private visits at any reasonable hour unless such visits are not medically advisable for the resident as documented in the resident's clinical record by the resident's physician.

A resident has the right to immediate access by his or her immediate family or other relatives. The facility in which a resident resides must permit immediate access to the resident by the resident's immediate family or other relatives, subject to the resident's right to deny or withdraw his or her consent to such access. In particular, a resident's immediate family members are not subject to visiting hour limitations.

(c) The administrator shall ensure that space for visits is available and that facility personnel knock, except in an emergency, before entering any resident's room.

(d) Unimpeded, private and uncensored communication by mail, public telephone and visitation may be reasonably restricted by a physician only in order to protect the resident or others from harm, harassment or intimidation, provided that the reason for any such restriction is placed in the resident's clinical record by the physician and that notice of such restriction shall be given to all residents upon admission. However, all letters addressed by a resident to the Governor, members of the General Assembly, Attorney General, judges, state's attorneys, officers of the Department, or licensed attorneys at law shall be forwarded at once to the persons to whom they are addressed without examination by facility personnel. Letters in reply from the officials and attorneys mentioned above shall be delivered to the recipient without examination by facility personnel.

(e) The administrator shall ensure that married residents residing in the same facility be allowed to reside in the same room within the facility unless there is no room available in the facility or it is deemed medically inadvisable by the residents' attending physician and so documented in the residents' medical records.

(Source: P.A. 81-223.)

Section 99. Effective date. This Act takes effect upon becoming law.