Retaliation Survey Summaries

Below are one-page summaries for each of the 100 standard surveys and complaint investigation reports examined in this project. Each summary includes a summary title, the deficient practice statement, a summary of evidence relevant to project’s goals, and summary information about the nursing home and the deficiency identified by the surveyor. Links to the SODs are available within each report summary. Click here for archives of SOD PDFs.

Reader Tip: Though the report summaries are loosely organized by topic and theme (e.g., privacy, food, bathing, etc…), we encourage you to read in whatever order – or depth – that you please. If a title catches your attention, jump right to it!

  1. “They Make You Pay”
  2. A Culture of Fear
  3. “Because it Backfires”
  4. No Voice in Their Home
  5. Scared to Call for Help
  6. Keeping His Mouth Shut
  7. Stay Quiet
  8. Not Asking Why It Took Three Hours
  9. Four-Hour Bowel Movement
  10. “Extremely Fearful”
  11. “Like a Sack of Potatoes”
  12. Fat Shaming
  13. “I’ll Be Right Back”
  14. “I Felt Threatened for My Life”
  15. “Oh, It Will Come Back on Me”
  16. “It Breaks My Heart”
  17. Degrading Treatment
  18. Honey. Sweetie. Baby.
  19. Forced Out of Bed at 5 AM
  20. “Scared to Death of What He Will Do”
  21. Reluctance to Report
  22. Tasted Like an Eraser
  23. I Won’t Help You
  24. Soiled for Several Hours
  25. Fear of Repercussions
  26. Frustrated, Mad, and Scared
  27. Burned
  28. “A Lot of Anxiety”
  29. “It Will Come Back to You”
  30. “Worried All Day About What Will Happen at Night”
  31. Taking It Out on the Residents
  32. Unchanged for Hours
  33. “We Are Scared of the Nurses”
  34. Afraid of Speaking with Surveyor and Ombudsman
  35. Fear of Retaliation from Sexual Abuser
  36. “It Would Come Back to Haunt Me…”
  37. Abuse Allegation Recanted
  38. “I Don’t Know What Would Happen If They Kicked Me Out”
  39. Terrified, Powerless, and Helpless
  40. Bored and Fearful
  41. Invading Privacy of Resident Council
  42. Shhh, Do Not Disturb!
  43. Intruding a Private Resident Council Meeting
  44. Staff’s Derogatory Facebook Post Results in Fear of Retaliation
  45. The Price of Dignity
  46. Robbed and Scared
  47. Gaslighting After Credit Card Theft
  48. “I See Everything. It’s Humiliating.”
  49. “I Am Not Saying More”
  50. “This Is My Home. I Do Not Want to Live Here and I Fear Retaliation.”
  51. “I Don’t Want to Talk Anymore”
  52. No Eating, No Church
  53. No Food for You
  54. “If You Thought I Was Late Before, Watch Now”
  55. “Don’t You Ever Call and Tell Someone I Am Not Doing My Job”
  56. “You Reported Me”
  57. “If You Fall, I Won’t Let You Up”
  58. “She Was Trying to Punish Everybody”
  59. “They Would Turn on You Like a Pack of Wolves”
  60. Swept Under the Rug
  61. “I Am Going to Rip That Thing Off”
  62. Whispers to Surveyor, “I Am Afraid They Are Going to Retaliate”
  63. Threatening Discharge
  64. Froze In the Moment
  65. Sexual Abuse Followed by Threat of Retaliation
  66. Refusal to Speak and Provide Care
  67. “No Matter What You Say, They Will Make You Pay for It”
  68. Staff “Would Get Back at Them”
  69. “Put Through Hell” for Reporting Medication Error
  70. The Silent Treatment
  71. “If I Do Speak Up, She Will Retaliate Against Me”
  72. “Total Terrors”
  73. Moved To the “Slow Answer List”
  74. “You Will Just Have to Wait”
  75. Uncomfortable Speaking Up
  76. Residents “Get Chewed At”
  77. Fearing the Administrator
  78. Call Light Out of Reach
  79. Life After Reversal of Inappropriate Discharge
  80. Locked Up
  81. “Done With the Abuse”
  82. Mocked for Physical Disability
  83. Retaliation for Advocating
  84. “She Was Out for Blood”
  85. Demeaning, Demoralizing, and Belittling
  86. “You’re Too Old for This S***”
  87. “A Lapse in Judgment”
  88. Ice Water on the Head
  89. Wash Basin with Urine in Bedside Drawer
  90. Shower Scalding
  91. Be Quiet About What Happened…
  92. Fear of Reporting
  93. “Honey, They Almost Broke Me in Half”
  94. “Never Saw Such Evil”
  95. Struck Out
  96. “Reflexive” Hitting
  97. Punched in the Face
  98. Cursed and Slapped
  99. “Please God Help Me”
  100. Threatened to Turn Her Water Off

Select Quotations

“I prefer to stay quiet to prevent retaliation” 

“I am afraid they are going to retaliate against me” 

“They make you pay” 

“No matter what you say, they will make you pay for it” 

“Can’t say their names. Don’t want to pay the price.” 

“They will come at me”   

“It backfires on you” 

“Residents get chewed at when a concern is voiced”  

“I feel like I am retaliated against when I complain” 

 “You did not want to be on the wrong side when it went off” 

“I was worried that she would try to kill me by overmedicating me” 

“Filing grievances was pointless as staff back each other up when asked about a situation and then become total terrors” 

“It was like she was out for blood”  

“Never saw such evil”  

A blind resident “put through hell” for reporting incorrect dosage of blood pressure medication 

“If I told you what she has done to me, she would just make my life worse” 

“I didn’t like to complain because it would come back to haunt me, the staff would retaliate”  

“You have to be careful of what you say around here, it will come back to you” 

“They would just gang up on you like a pack of wolves” 

“Oh, it will come back on me. It would be abusive, it would be bad. She would figure out a way where I couldn’t defend myself.” 

“I am literally afraid of her. She intimidates. Are you sure nothing is going to happen to me?” 

“I felt threatened for my life” 

“Terrified of being evicted and feels powerless and helpless”  

“This is my home. I do not want to live here, and I fear retaliation.”  

“What am I supposed to do when you leave? I still must live here. I don’t want to talk anymore”