Are hospitals in NJ allowed to record patients in their room?

[The0Walrus, BSN, RN]

I'm debating with a friend on whether hospitals are allowed to record patients in their own rooms. Quiet rooms are obviously recorded, but their personal rooms? I'm curious.

[VivaLasViejas, ASN, RN]

I should hope not. Being in a psychiatric hospital is bad enough with the 15-minute checks and having your room tossed every day to look for contraband. There is no expectation of privacy, because the staff may have to accompany you to the bathroom and shower. But I’m afraid I’d balk at a camera in my room—way too intrusive—and I for one would not go to a facility that forced this on the patients. JMHO.

[SarahMaria, MSN, RN]

I do not know about NJ.  In CT, we can have cameras in private rooms with either a patient's or conservator's written consent.  It happens more often than you may think.

[Melilem]

According to HIPAA, security cameras are not permitted in areas where people have a “reasonable expectation of privacy” such as patients bedrooms. That would cover all of the United States. However, I've worked with patients who had cameras in their room with their knowledge and consent- mostly to monitor for seizure activity. 

[deza, MSN, NP]

In TX some places do. My last job the bedroom cameras did not record. My current job the cameras do record in the bedroom. They are a tool used to review personal restraints, chair restraints, unwitnessed patient claimed falls, observing a patient that was recently highly agitated etc.