Community Grievance Decision Digest
TELEPHONE CALLS, RIGHTS TO MAKE AND RECEIVE
THE LAW:
Each patient
shall..."Have reasonable access to a telephone to make
and receive telephone calls within reasonable limits."
§ 51.61(1)(p), Wis. Stats. [Emphasis
added.]
"(1) Inpatients shall be
allowed reasonable access to a telephone
to make and receive a reasonable
number of telephone calls as authorized by s. 51.61(1)(p), Stats., and
this section.
(2) Patients shall be permitted to make
an unlimited number of private
telephone calls to legal counsel
and to receive an unlimited number of private telephone calls from legal
counsel.
(3)
(a) Except as provided in par. (b) each inpatient shall be permitted to
make a reasonable number of
private, personal calls. The number
and duration of the calls may
be limited for legitimate
management reasons, but the facility shall provide every patient the
opportunity to make at least one
private, personal telephone call per day.
(b) This
subsection does not prohibit a facility
under s. 980.065, Stats., from recording
patients’ personal telephone calls or monitoring the resulting
recordings.
(4) Inpatients
who have been determined indigent
under a facility’s operating policies shall be permitted to make
telephone calls under sub. (2), and at least one private, personal call
per day free of charge.
(5) Treatment facilities shall provide the number of regular or pay telephones necessary to meet requirements of
this section, subject to restrictions imposed by local telephone
companies regarding installation of pay telephones."
HFS
94.20, Wis. Admin. Code [Emphasis added.]
[NOTE: This right may be
limited or denied for cause under Sec. 51.61(2), Stats.
See the CRLD (Client Rights
Limitation or Denial) section in this Digest.]
DECISIONS:
-
An
inpatient was in a meeting with staff when his mother called.
Staff who answered the phone told her to call back later.
The patient was never informed of the phone
call from his mother. To
inpatients, calls from family and friends are an important link to the
outside world. Patients
should be informed of all calls.
The failure to so inform the patient here, even if it was
unintentional, was a violation
of his rights. (Level III
decision in Case No. 99-SGE-05 on 10/4/00, appeal dismissed at Level
IV -- See Entry 2, below.)
-
Where a Level III decision found that the patient’s right to make and receive a reasonable amount of phone calls was
violated, the complainant’s appeal
to Level IV on that issue was dismissed.
(Level IV decision in Case No. 99-SGE-05 on 3/29/02.)
Last Updated: November 13, 2006 |
