Families of elderly or disabled patients may at some point have to make the difficult decision to place a loved one in a long-term care facility or nursing home. Placement in a facility may be for any number of reasons, but it certainly does not mean that friends and family stop caring about the person. In fact, families are so concerned about avoiding any instances of abuse or neglect in these facilities that they have started to place surveillance cameras in the rooms of their loved ones.
Although New York has not passed legislation that expressly permits long-term care facilities to use surveillance cameras in rooms, the state has used evidence from hidden cameras in the past in abuse and neglect cases. Instances of abuse have been caught in New York by relatives who took it upon themselves to hide cameras or webcams around a patient’s room.
For many families, using a camera is reassuring and gives them peace of mind that their loved one is in good hands. Other families may even suspect nursing home abuse and use a monitoring device in order to prove their suspicions.
Opponents of the monitoring say that there are both legal and ethical issues involved. They say the cameras are an invasion of privacy for the resident or patient, as well as for the staff and others who come into the room. Some residents have the privacy of roommates to consider. Additionally, elderly patients or long-term care residents may not have the mental clarity to give their consent to monitoring.
Camera or no camera, families and friends should always be on the lookout for signs of abuse or signs of neglect. If they believe that a situation involving abuse or neglect exists, then the patient or relatives can speak with a New York nursing home negligence lawyer. Residents should be able to trust their caregivers and if there is a breach of the standard of care, legal recourse may be available.
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Deterring nursing home abuse with hidden cameras
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Jay W. Dankner
JAY W. DANKNER was born, raised and educated in Brooklyn, New York. After graduation from law school in 1973, he joined the firm of the legendary, Harry H, Lipsig, under whose tutelage he learned the intricacies of civil litigation and trials. He tried and won his first case against General Motors in a case involving a design defect within weeks after his admission. Thereafter, he focused his attention on the emerging and developing field of law known as products liability litigation.
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