Maryland Nursing Home Abuse
Nursing Home Abuse – Are Surveillance Cameras the Answer?
As our elderly loved ones age, it becomes an increasing priority to care for them and their health. If affordable, nursing home care can be an option to care for our elders. In fact, an article in the Elder Law Journal states that approximately half of Americans over age 65 will be admitted to a nursing home in their lifetime, and projects such numbers to increase in the future. Although we would much rather be by our loved one’s side caring for them, often this is not a possibility. Paying someone else to care for them on a full- time basis should be the next best thing.
Although many nursing homes provide exceptional care for residents, sometimes the staff members allow patient’s needs to suffer. This is a problem affecting many nursing homes throughout the country. There is a wide range of estimates regarding instances of neglect and deficiency in such homes. An estimate at the low end of the scale finds that approximately 30% of the nursing homes nationwide have such severe deficiencies to warrant the implementation of sanctions. Additionally, a study by the Florida Agency of Health Care Administration has reported that about one out of 20 nursing home patients will experience some sort of abuse while in the facility.
In New York, Attorney General Andrew Cuomo has decided to use hidden cameras (often dubbed “granny cams”) in nursing homes to help reduce the incidences of such abuse, and aid in prosecution when it does occur. The way this procedure works in New York is that the hidden cameras are placed in the rooms of residents with the knowledge and permission of the residents and their families. The nursing home staff, however, will remain uninformed. The video cameras have the additional capability to be monitored in real time. The reasoning for not telling the nursing home staff is that the nursing home abuse will not be captured if the staff knows they are being watched. This camera monitoring system has already proven useful, and has been used by the attorney general’s office in the prosecution of four cases, which resulted in 26 convictions.
Other states are also taking steps to prevent elder abuse in nursing homes. New Mexico and Texas have also recognized the utility of using video cameras to monitor the rooms of patients in nursing homes. Both state legislatures passed laws giving patients and family members the right to place a video camera in the patient’s room. Although this monitoring system may not allow a third party to catch and stop abusive behavior while it is occurring like in New York, this technology can certainly aid in the prosecution of abusive and negligent staff members. Video camera surveillance is not limited to catching active abuse. In New Mexico, video camera footage was used to substantiate a claim of patient neglect. The footage made it clear that a patient’s bedsores had resulted from the nursing home staff’s failure to regularly turn the patient in bed.
Technology retailers have begun to market these cameras as a safety trend. Camera suppliers have begun to specifically market cameras to the elderly. Purchasers are even given the option to hook up the video camera to a local server for at home monitoring (with of course, an additional fee). With just a quick Google search I was able to find such a camera, one disguised as a clock radio, for about $260.00.
Yet mixed among the success stories of prevention and prosecution, are doubts about the usefulness of such video monitoring systems. Currently, no state has a law which explicitly prohibits the placement of cameras in the rooms of nursing home patients. However, the laws of many states require that the patient or their family members inform the operators of the nursing home about the plan to place a camera in the patient’s room. Nursing home care is already cost-prohibitive, and the addition of video monitoring systems only exacerbates this problem.
While the biggest reward of implementing a video monitoring system is the piece of mind of knowing your loved one will not be receiving abusive nursing care, there is the possibility of additional benefits. The installation of such surveillance technology may help lower the cost of insurance premiums. The hope for advocates of such technology is that soon, surveillance cameras will be placed in all of the patient rooms in nursing homes, resulting in a better quality of care for all patients, and increased confidence in nursing care facilities nationwide.
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