Stronger protection for Washington men and women least capable of fending for themselves is merely a gubernatorial signature away from becoming the law of the state.
A Clark County lawmaker has won full legislative support for his proposal (House Bill 1003) aimed at “fully embracing our responsibility to protect the most-vulnerable folks among us — elderly people, developmentally delayed citizens, and any others who cannot guard their own safety and well-being.”
Rep. Jim Moeller said the bill “strengthens our existing system for safeguarding these folks — for ensuring that the system actually works.
“This bill is dedicated to the late Mildred Newman,” Moeller said. “One awful day Ms. Newman, who most everyone called Mickey, was assaulted by her caregiver in the adult family home in Clark County where Mickey lived. After the incident, the adult family home did its job and fired the nursing assistant accused of the assault. The Department of Social and Health Services investigated the crime and found the caregiver guilty. Sadly, that’s when the system failed.”
Moeller explained that the duty for removing the caregiver’s license — for making sure that the caregiver was never again allowed to work with or around vulnerable adults — fell into the hands of a different state agency, the Department of Health.
“It took two years for the appeals process to be completed. Meanwhile, the woman who assaulted Mickey continued to work with vulnerable adults.”
Moeller’s bill, which has cleared the House and Senate unanimously, “will tighten the process and timeline for licensed caregivers accused of abusing persons who are in their care” by requiring the Department of Health to suspend the license of an accused person during the review and investigation process.
According to terms of Moeller’s bill: A credentialed health-care provider or applicant for a health-professions credential will be prohibited from employment in the care of vulnerable adults based upon a finding of either neglect or abuse of a minor child — or abuse, abandonment, neglect or financial exploitation of a vulnerable adult. A health-care provider’s credentials will be suspended until the disciplinary proceedings are completed.