A status register for a memory device. The status register provides a programming suspend status signal and a protection status signal. The programming suspend status signal indicates whether a programming operation is suspended. If the processor knows that a programming operation to a specific memory location is suspended, then the processor may request that a data modification operation to another memory location be performed while the programming operation is suspended. The protection status signal indicates whether an attempted data modification operation failed due to a protected memory block versus another type of device failure. Protecting or locking a memory block prevents the modification of data stored in a particular memory block.