Livingston Manor: Memory Care Food Choice Failures - MO
That finding sits at the center of a complaint inspection completed August 21, 2025, at Livingston Manor Care Center, a nursing home at 939 East Birch in Chillicothe. Federal inspectors documented that residents in the memory care unit were not being given a choice of what to eat at meals, that the wrong menu was posted on the unit, and that staff had stopped talking to family members about food preferences. The deficiency was cited as F0803, indicating a failure to ensure residents' food and nutrition needs were being met in a manner that respects their preferences.
The menu posted in the memory care unit was not the correct one for the day. Menus are supposed to change daily. The dietary department is responsible for making that happen. An alternate menu is also supposed to be available. None of that was consistently occurring.
When inspectors interviewed the Activities Director on August 18, 2025, she confirmed that residents in memory care do have the right to choose what they eat. Then she said she doesn't ask them.
Her explanation: the kitchen staff were responsible for that.
The kitchen staff, for their part, were not asking either. And staff had stopped talking to family members, who often serve as the practical voice for memory care residents who cannot reliably communicate their own preferences. The inspection report does not say when those conversations stopped or whether they had ever been consistent. It says they were not happening.
The deficiency was tagged at a level of harm described as minimal harm or potential for actual harm, and inspectors noted that some residents were affected. Memory care units house people with dementia and other cognitive conditions that limit their ability to advocate for themselves at the dinner table or anywhere else. When a facility stops asking what a person wants to eat, and stops asking the people who know them best, the meal that arrives is whatever the kitchen decided to make, served to someone who had no say in it.
Food choice is not a minor amenity in long-term care. For residents who have lost mobility, independence, and in many cases the ability to recognize their own family members, deciding between two entrees can be one of the last remaining acts of personal preference in a given day. It is also among the most concrete ways a facility demonstrates whether it views its residents as people with preferences or as bodies to be fed on a schedule.
The Activities Director's answer, that it was someone else's job, points to a breakdown that goes beyond a forgotten task. Someone in the memory care unit was responsible for learning what residents wanted to eat. The Activities Director knew residents had that right. The kitchen staff were named as the responsible party. The result was that nobody was doing it.
Livingston Manor has not publicly responded to the findings. For information on the facility's plan to correct the deficiency, CMS directs the public to contact the nursing home or the state survey agency directly.
The inspection covered a complaint filed under intake number 2586257. It does not describe how long the wrong menu had been posted, how many meals passed without a resident being asked for their preference, or whether any resident or family member had raised the issue before the complaint was filed.
What it describes is a unit full of people with dementia, a posted menu that was wrong, and a staff that had quietly stopped asking.
Full Inspection Report
The details above represent a summary of key findings. View the complete inspection report for Livingston Manor Care Center from 2025-08-21 including all violations, facility responses, and corrective action plans.
Additional Resources
Data source: This article is based on inspection data downloaded directly from the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) via Medicare.gov. CMS releases inspection reports in bulk; we publish the findings as documented by state surveyors in the official Form CMS-2567 Statement of Deficiencies.
Plan of correction: The CMS report we receive does not include the facility's plan of correction. Facilities submit plans of correction separately to state survey agencies and those responses may not be reflected in CMS data at the time of publication. The absence of a plan of correction in our data does not mean one was not filed. Readers who want information about corrective steps taken are encouraged to contact the facility directly or their state survey agency.
Corrections may have occurred: Inspection reports reflect conditions observed on the date of the survey. Facilities may have implemented corrections, staffing changes, additional training, or other remediation since the report was issued. We report what CMS provides and encourage readers to seek current information from the facility.
Editorial process: Inspection findings are extracted from CMS source documents and synthesized using AI, reviewed for factual accuracy against the original report by our editorial team.
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Last verified: October 11, 2026 · Our methodology
LIVINGSTON MANOR CARE CENTER in CHILLICOTHE, MO was cited for violations during a health inspection on August 21, 2025.
The menu posted in the memory care unit was not the correct one for the day.
Health inspections identify deficiencies that facilities must correct. Violations range from minor documentation issues to serious safety concerns. Review the full report below for specific details and facility response.