An action or failure to act that results in unintended injury to a resident is best described as which term?

• A. Involuntary Seclusion
• B. Neglect
• C. Laws
• D. Negligence

Answer: (D)

Negligence is the failure to provide the standard of care that a reasonably careful caregiver would, and when that lapse results in unintended injury to a resident, it describes what happened. In practice, this means missing a needed intervention, failing to monitor a risk, or not responding promptly, and those omissions lead to harm that wasn’t intended. Involuntary seclusion involves isolating a resident against their will, which is a different abuse-related issue and not about injury from standard care. Laws are general rules and don’t pinpoint the specific act or omission causing harm. Neglect can describe failing to provide necessary care, but the term that most directly encapsulates harm caused by a care lapse, even if unintended, is negligence.