Living In A Nursing Home
A.R.S. 46-455 — a felony for neglect by a paid caregiver, and a civil action within two years of discovery
In Arizona, a nursing care institution is a health care institution that provides inpatient beds or resident beds and nursing services to persons who need continuous nursing services but who do not require hospital care or direct daily care from a physician.
Before admission. A nursing care institution, before admitting a patient, gives the patient and the patient's representative a booklet describing in clear and simple language the services and benefits available from the Arizona long-term care system. It explains preadmission screening of the patient's functional, medical, nursing and social needs, the public and private services available in institutions and alternatives to them, and the financial eligibility standards and their effect on separate and community property. Existing patients not enrolled in that system receive it too.
Clergy visits. If a health care institution's visitation policy allows in-person visitation of any kind, it must allow a clergy member to visit a resident who requests or consents to an in-person visit for religious purposes, including during a declared state of emergency. When a resident's death is imminent, the visit is allowed if the resident or the resident's legal representative asks for it. The institution may require reasonable health and safety precautions, and a person or religious organization may bring a civil action over a violation.
Neglect is a felony. A person employed to provide care to a vulnerable adult, or appointed by a court to provide it, who causes or allows the adult's life to be endangered or health to be injured or endangered by neglect is guilty of a class 5 felony. A vulnerable adult is an individual eighteen years of age or older who is unable to protect himself from abuse, neglect or exploitation by others because of a physical or mental impairment. Neglect is the deprivation of food, water, medication, medical services, shelter, supervision, cooling, heating or other services necessary to maintain minimum physical or mental health.
The civil action. A vulnerable adult whose life or health is being or has been endangered or injured by neglect, abuse or exploitation may file an action in superior court against any person or enterprise employed to provide care, that has assumed a legal duty to provide care, or that has been appointed by a court to provide care. After liability is determined, the orders may include actual and consequential damages and costs of suit, and punitive damages under common law principles. The action is commenced within two years after actual discovery of the cause of action, is not affected by the vulnerable adult's death. The person who files it serves notice and a copy of the pleading on the attorney general within thirty days after filing.
Rules adopted for licensed facilities, the federal rules for facilities that take Medicare or Medicaid, assisted living facilities, and the limits the section places on a physician's liability are not on this page. Whether care in a particular facility amounted to neglect is a question for a licensed Arizona attorney.
Sources for this section (5)
- A.R.S. 46-455 — Allowing life or health of a vulnerable adult to be endangered by neglect; violation; classification; civil remedy; definition
- A.R.S. 46-451 — Definitions; program goals
- A.R.S. 36-447.01 — Nursing care institutions; notification of services; screening; annual reviews
- A.R.S. 36-407.02 — Health care institutions; clergy visitation; health and safety precautions; immunity; civil action; definitions
- A.R.S. 36-401 — Definitions; adult foster care
Legal information, not legal advice. Verified as of September 2026. Applying it to a particular situation is the work of a licensed Arizona attorney.