What rights do residents have regarding visitation and communication?

• A. The right to be visited only by immediate family.
• B. The right to limited communication with staff only.
• C. The right to private visits and to receive visitors of their choice, within reasonable facility policies and safety.
• D. The right to free visits from any person at any time.

Answer: (C)

Visitation and communication rights center on privacy and social support. A resident has the right to private visits and to receive visitors of their choosing, as long as those visits follow reasonable facility policies and safety precautions. This protects dignity and autonomy and helps maintain important relationships with family, friends, and others.

Facilities can set reasonable limits for safety, infection control, or disruption prevention (for example during outbreaks or to manage safety concerns), but these policies should be fair, not discriminatory, and applied consistently. Residents also have the right to communicate with others—by phone, mail, or other allowed means—in private and without unnecessary interference, again within the facility’s policies.

The other options imply too-narrow or too-lax restrictions (only immediate family, or communication only with staff, or unrestricted visits at any time); those do not align with the balance of resident rights and safety that these policies aim to uphold.