New Ohio law would let families put cameras in nursing home rooms

Nurses General Nursing

Published

https://www.wtsp.com/article/news/local/ohio/ohio-bill-would-allow-families-to-place-cameras-in-rooms-of-elder-care-patients/95-b3c950eb-8b44-433c-a963-856761865991?fbclid=IwAR2ZNhc4oynwA1NHzwjsC4qP5hWXrbZNlVyctY_hFe3CeAE9nw2KT7GEpUE

What do you think of this law that would allow families to place cameras in the rooms of elderly patients. I'm pretty against it mostly because we do a lot of cares in the patient's rooms and I think it violates the privacy of the patient. I mean does anyone want to see their demented parents throw their feces across the room because they were confused? Doesn't the patient have the right to have privacy and dignity when they have dementia or are going through delirium. I also worry about OTHER resident's privacy. Many times we have one resident go into another resident's room to hang out and talk or do whatever. Does that random resident have the right to be recorded.

I can also see the flip side in concerns about abuse. I'm wondering what you all think about this new bill?

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I think this issue is very similar to the issue of police wearing body cams.

Generally, I support the rights of patients and/or their legally appointed decision maker and actually celebrate any increase in their rights.

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1 minute ago, Asystole RN said:

I think this issue is very similar to the issue of police wearing body cams.

Generally, I support the rights of patients and/or their legally appointed decision maker and actually celebrate any increase in their rights.

I believe there is a significant difference between police wearing body cams when approaching someone and there is ZERO expectation of privacy, and a patient who is having a bowel movement cleaned on camera for the family's viewing.

We pull curtains and close doors to protect privacy of patients. I also very much support the rights of patients but in this case I believe it is the patient's rights that are being violated here.

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Specializes in OB.

My Mother requested a camera in her room and only I have access to the feed and the alerts. I can check in on her any time of day or night and that makes both of us happy. If she is asleep I don't wake her, if she has been up multiple times during the night I can track that in the morning without missing any sleep myself. I fail to see why she shouldn't have the right to ask I monitor her room and fail to see why there should be a law supporting that. Camera's have become easy to install and cheap to buy for the general public. I pay for WIFI at her living facility, for 28 dollars (the cost of her camera) more I can have peace of mind she is safe and the care she is receiving is adequate.

If my Mother were incapacitated I would definitely want to have access to monitoring her while I wasn't there. We have cameras in daycares for our children, why not our elderly who maybe unable to speak for themselves?

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43 minutes ago, Sandy777 said:

My Mother requested a camera in her room and only I have access to the feed and the alerts. I can check in on her any time of day or night and that makes both of us happy. If she is asleep I don't wake her, if she has been up multiple times during the night I can track that in the morning without missing any sleep myself. I fail to see why she shouldn't have the right to ask I monitor her room and fail to see why there should be a law supporting that. Camera's have become easy to install and cheap to buy for the general public. I pay for WIFI at her living facility, for 28 dollars (the cost of her camera) more I can have peace of mind she is safe and the care she is receiving is adequate.

If my Mother were incapacitated I would definitely want to have access to monitoring her while I wasn't there. We have cameras in daycares for our children, why not our elderly who maybe unable to speak for themselves?

Thanks for the reply, does she ever have visitors in her room, and how does that work with monitoring? I guess that's the only thing that concerns me. My great grandpa was a wanderer and he would often visit people's rooms to chat. I would have worried about his own privacy under a bill like this.

Daycare's are also a little different because you often aren't changing them in the room, whereas in LTC we do a lot of changes in the room, so I think that that can also be a privacy concern. Otherwise I'm totally for this but do worry about the rights of my other residents .

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I am ambivalent. I get that loved ones want cameras to guard against neglect and abuse...as a patient, I would be horrified to have my privacy violated during sensitive moments.

Not an easy solution...

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Specializes in ICU.

Considering the level of abuse that is present in elder care facilities, I think it is a great option to have a camera present. Honestly, if you are just doing your job-it shouldn’t bother you. If it’s my loved one, you can BET I’d have a happy little camera sitting right there to monitor how they are treated. I’ve seen some god awful situations come in from the local nursing homes to the hospital before.

just a sign of the times-increased transparency. And if it keeps a loved one a little safer from the potential abuse subjected from nursing homes-I’m all for it.

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Specializes in Critical Care, ICU, Rehab.

I see no issues with this. The concern for "privacy" is rather moot as the cameras are generally set outside of bed range as to have a view of the general area, which means that for personal/privacy reasons the curtain can be pulled. Another option is to simply say "We're getting read to clean Mr/Ms Smith, we're going to block the camera. We will unblock is as soon as we are finished. Allowing footage like that to be recorded (because we all know these cameras record) is generally illegal and completely unethical. Who is to say what happens to that footage? Who is then responsible? Uncle Lewd sells grandma's footage of bathing on some fetish site... who is liable?

The other issue in question, which the article addresses, is the privacy of a roommate. In the case where there is a roommate, both parties have to agree. Or I imagine the camera has to be set up in some way to which no incidental filming of the neighboring party can occur.

Those issues aside. I have no problems with cameras in the room. If you're not going anything wrong, what are you so worried about someone seeing?

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Specializes in Mental Health, Gerontology, Palliative.

I dont have an issue with that, as long as there are precautions in place to protect patients privacy during personal cares

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7 hours ago, TheLastUnicorn said:

Those issues aside. I have no problems with cameras in the room. If you're not going anything wrong, what are you so worried about someone seeing?

This comment has been made a couple of times now and generally does come up whenever people might be concerned about increased scrutiny. I find it rather unthinking.

There is no law of nature dictating that everything shall be fine if you "aren't doing anything wrong" - which is a statement that doesn't define "wrong" and if there is a wrong, says nothing about who rightfully bears the brunt of the responsibility for it.

Example: Who is in trouble when there is one CNA for X (too many) patients and so the wrong that is captured on camera is, "CNA has not entered Mom's room for Y (length of time deemed to be inappropriate/neglectful)" -- ?

The idea of preventing abuse/neglect by focusing solely on the staff doesn't seem to be working real well, does it (overall)? If people really wanted to change anything they would demand cameras in the offices and board rooms.

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8 minutes ago, JKL33 said:

This comment has been made a couple of times now and generally does come up whenever people might be concerned about increased scrutiny. I find it rather unthinking.

There is no law of nature dictating that everything shall be fine if you "aren't doing anything wrong" - which is a statement that doesn't define "wrong" and if there is a wrong, says nothing about who rightfully bears the brunt of the responsibility for it.

Example: Who is in trouble when there is one CNA for X (too many) patients and so the wrong that is captured on camera is, "CNA has not entered Mom's room for Y (length of time deemed to be inappropriate/neglectful)" -- ?

The idea of preventing abuse/neglect by focusing solely on the staff doesn't seem to be working real well, does it (overall)? If people really wanted to change anything they would demand cameras in the offices and board rooms.

Interesting perspective! And an excellent one, thank you.

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This is the Ohio Law I submitted named after my mother Esther who was brutally abused in a nursing. The person that said “do you want to see throwing feces around”. No we want to stop 80 year old women from being raped, we want to stop aides abusing the elderly , and we want to stop nurses who don’t care what happens, even abusing them. This law allows the resident and or family to chose if they want to put in a camera. The only one who will view the videos is the person who puts it in, POA or legal guardian, no one else is allowed to see the videos not even the nursing home, they are also not allowed to tamper, block, move, shut off, refuse or retaliate, it will be against the law. The ones that are against this is the abusers. If your doing your job, you have nothing to worry, but if you are abusing, you go to prison. Nursing homes have hidden behind this fake privacy long enough. The only ones who have the right to privacy is the resident, no one else per the Residents Bill of Rights law 1987. Roommates who don’t want the camera are protected under Esther’s Law.

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