My father lived in an assisted living memory care facility for 14 months and recently passed away. He was incontinent and needed constant supervision to not urinate and defecate in various places in the facility, not just his room, the entire time he was there. (Did not have this issue before he moved there) Unfortunately the supervision in this facility was sorely lacking and the carpet in his room was soiled multiple times by both him and other dementia patients who did the same thing-sometimes in his room even! The soiling was rarely cleaned up despite multiple requests and by the time he passed his room smelled strongly of urine and stool. When he passed away the facility kept what they touted as the $1500 “fully refundable” admission fee as well as 2 days of room fees owed back to us for the month he died to replace the carpet. This was never discussed or disclosed that we would be responsible for carpet replacement. My understanding is that assisted living memory care facilities by law are not allowed to keep a resident who has unmanageable incontinence for more than 21 days. He did this for 14 months! We fully expected they would ask us to move him to a nursing home at any time but they never once brought this up as a concern. This facility was not even at half occupancy which leads me to believe they couldn’t afford to lose a resident by their own request. Had they cleaned up after him every time the carpet wouldn’t have needed to be replaced. Isn’t wear and tear on a carpet in a facility like this just the cost of doing business?
Als are residences that assist people with their daily ADLs. Just like renting an apt. You pay a security depost when you rent and its refundable only if you don't damage something. Your Dad damaged a rug that now needs replacing. If you leave an apt 2 days before the end of the month, you don't get those days refunded. Same with an AL.
When someone pees its not just the carpet that is effected but the mat underneath. No amount of shampooing will get that smell out of the mat. Actually, even if just a rug, no amount of shampooing is going to completely take the smell out. Not fair to the next resident to have to live with it.
To be honest, I am surprised your Dadvwas allowed to stay at this AL. IMO he need more care than they could give. He should have been in LTC.
I find complaining about this ridiculous since they weren’t holding him hostage there. You could have moved him but you didn’t .
You can’t have it both ways. You complain they didn’t kick him out in 21 days to a much more expensive alternative ( nursing home ) but also complain about some cleaning / replacement fees.
Bottom line is you chose to keep him there to avoid the price of a nursing home and are now not wanting to pay these extra fees either.
Consider yourself lucky . Dad got to stay in AL cheaper than a nursing home . And you didn’t have to move Dad and both of you didn’t have to deal with him adjusting again to a new facility.
My husband’s father was in an upscale AL with dementia , refusing help with incontinence and hygiene/showers . We were always worried he would get kicked out and we would have to deal with him blowing up over getting kicked out to SNF . He had the money, that was not the issue. The issue was it would have been a scene if he had to move from his nice apartment . We lost 2 years of sleep . When he passed away 3 months ago we gladly accepted the cleaning and replacement fees.
2. Long-term-care, despite how it looks and seems, is still a home rental situation. The apartment or room is the person's home and those laws actually govern many aspects of the situation, even though most owners and managers don't operate that way (they want control beyond what is afforded by the law). So you may want to look to your state's or municipality's laws regarding rental deposits.
3. My guess: The cost for the carpet replacement is legal. However, the 2 days may be sketchy - but challenging it could be more costly than the charge. See 2 above.
Btw, no AL on earth refunds 2 days of unused room fees. And deposits are not "fully refundable" for precisely the reasons you mention. If dad were renting an apartment in Any Town USA, do you think his deposit would be refundable with a destroyed carpet? Of course not. Let common sense prevail.
My condolences on your loss.
I honestly have a hard time believing that this is a real question.
I can only advise you not to take this one before a court.