The bathroom door is the last stop on the route, and most people never look at it twice. At 3am it decides whether she can get in, sit, get up, and get back out without a fight with a hinge. Before you touch a screwdriver, decide which of three jobs this is: reverse the swing, change the lock, or take the door off altogether.
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Check which way it swings
Stand in the hall and open the bathroom door. If it swings in toward the toilet, it has to clear her body and whatever she holds on to, and it cannot be closed while someone is standing where it lands. If it swings out into the hall, it can block the route when she comes back. Note the direction as it is now, then test it: sit on the toilet the way she sits, lean forward to stand, and watch where the door edge lands. Mark that spot on the floor with painter's tape.
Check the lock from both sides
A privacy lock that only opens from inside is a problem if she falls against the door or loses her footing inside. Look for a small hole on the outside of the lock that takes a thin tool to release it. If there is none, the lock is the first thing to change, and it is usually the simplest job on this list. Read the package for the word emergency or an outside release, and make sure it fits the holes already in your door.
Decide whether this is your job
Do it yourself if the door is a standard hinged door, the hinge pins come out with a hammer and nail set, the frame is square, and you can lift the door off its pins with one other person. Reversing the swing on many hinged doors means moving the stop, the latch plate, and the strike to the other side, then filling and re-drilling the old holes. That is a full day of patience, not an emergency job.
Hire it out if the door is solid and heavy and you cannot lift it safely with help, if the frame is out of square or split, if the door slides on a track or folds, or if the fix means cutting new openings into the frame. If you are unsure which of these applies, ask the contractor to say so in writing before any work starts.
Ask the same questions of every quote
Whether you do the work or someone else does, get the answers to these in writing:
Does the job reverse the swing, or does it replace the door? If it replaces the door, is the new one the same width, and will it clear the frame and the trim? Does the job include a lock with an outside release, the trim, the paint match, and removal of the old hardware? Who fills and sands the old holes? If a hinge fails in a year, whose name is on the warranty?
Test before you call it done
Close the door with someone else outside, sit the way she sits, and have her stand up. Watch the door edge against the toilet paper holder, any grab bar, and the chair she uses. Lock the door from inside, then have the other person open it from outside with the release. Run the test with the lights she will actually use, because the hall light is the one she will walk into. Repeat the check after the first few weeks, since new hinges settle.
What to write down
Write the swing direction before and after the change, the clear distance you measured from the door edge to the toilet and to the wall behind it, the lock type and model number from the package, and the name of whoever did the work. Keep the warranty card, the work order, and the parts list in the same folder as the rest of the night route papers. If someone refuses the job or cannot say in writing what they will change, keep their paper too. If you need someone to do the work, the local help page is a place to start in St. Louis.
When the trouble is confusion
If she tries the wrong door, stands in the hall without finding the bathroom, or cannot find the lock at all, the door is no longer the only problem. Take that to her doctor and describe what you saw, when it happened, and at what hour. A change to the door does not answer a clinical question.