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Question: The day program provider found a series of bruises on an individual (female) on both her inner thighs. The individual left the day program on a Friday afternoon without bruises and returned on Tuesday after a holiday and the staff while providing personal care noticed the bruising which amounts to at least 14 small bruises on her thighs and one large on her back upper buttock area and two small ones same area (back) except it was right under buttock area. Unfortunately the day program staff did not follow protocol and did not document bruising at the time it was found. It was documented on Wednesday and reported then.

Due to the day program finding the bruises and reporting it, HCSIS required an investigation which I do not question; however, the residential provider decided to conduct  a joint investigation which is fine with me as well. I have participated in those before without any problems. Anyway, after I completed all the necessary interviews I asked the residential provider for the one or two sentences in their policy stating the staff responsibility on reporting injuries and such. I have been denied access to this information. This part of the information could determine very clearly whether the bruising was neglect on their part since the interviews from direct support staff demonstrate a lack of reporting. The interviews suggest employees felt it was not necessary to report because the individual is always bruised due to her level of agitation and activity.

Can I be denied of this information which I believe to be important in the investigation?

Response: Your question is interesting from the perspective of the joint investigation you conducted with the residential provider. I think the answer is probably simple. You would not have the authority to demand access to the document you requested, even though it certainly is relevant to the outcome of the investigation. In fact, it might make the difference in determining whether there is truly a systemic problem within the organization rather than the type of individual human error that we often too quickly associate with abuse and neglect.
 
On the other hand, in writing a final report and submitting it to HCSIS and I am supposing to the County Office, I would make clear the frustration you encountered in requesting relevant information from the provider. At some point I would suspect that those entities that do have authority in such matters could secure the documents you were denied.