Now Maryland may be following suit. MSNBC reports that a bill is making its way through the house that would require nursing homes in Maryland to let people install cameras into patients rooms. The cameras would have to be purchased by the patients or their families and would not be allowed in bathrooms, according to the report.

According to the bill, the cameras could not be hidden, and a sign would hang on the door announcing that the room as being monitored. But even if staff is aware that a patient’s room is being monitored, it may serve as a deterrent against potential abuse and neglect.

The cameras would also give family members peace of mind, especially for those family members of patients who have lost the ability to speak, says Tyonja Bathgate, whose husband lives in a Maryland nursing home.

“He can no longer talk, so if something happens during the day, he can’t tell me any longer. If he wants a drink, he can’t call out,” she told MSNBC.

SOURCE: Nursing Home Abuse › Maryland may allow video surveillance of nursing home rooms

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The violent acts are hard to fathom. Corey Austin, a certified nursing aide (CNA), was convicted of using racial epithets and attacking a patient by assisting another staff member in taking the patient back to his room and then repeatedly pushing the patient onto the floor. Austin then allegedly pinned the patient to the bed with his knee. Austin, who will be sentenced in January, faces a two-year sentence.

Those charged with crimes against the elderly include CNA Patricia Penman, who is accused of slapping a 100-year-old patient in the face. The patient has dementia and physical disabilities that left her unable to defend herself. Penman is charged with endangering the welfare of an incompetent or physically disabled person and willful violations of health laws, according to the news report.

CNA Jeffrey Perry was charged with the same offense stemming from a late August incident in which he tied a patient with dementia to a chair for two consecutive nights. Licensed practical nurse Jeanette Sovereign found the patient alone in his room and is accused of knowing about the abusive act but not reporting it to proper authorities.

SOURCE: Nursing Home Abuse › Cuomo continues to investigate nursing home abuse, neglect

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WKTV News Channel 2 featured a story of an 89-year-old resident of Bethany Gardens Skilled Living Facility in Rome, N.Y. The elderly woman wore two rings on her fingers – a gold-and-diamond engagement ring given to her in 1940 by her husband, and a family ring made of various gemstones. The rings hung loose on her frail fingers, and when Certified Nurse Aide (CNA) Amanda Thaler offered to take the rings and have them fitted for her, the elderly women obliged. But Thaler never returned the rings, probably thinking the nursing home resident would forget. But she didn’t. She asked Thaler about the rings a half hour later and then later that day in the dining room. Finally, Thaler returned the family ring but kept the engagement ring.

When questioned about the engagement ring, Thaler suddenly claimed to feel ill, and caught a ride with her boyfriend, Sheldon Stoddard, who was a dietary technician at the nursing home. The two then drove to a pawn shop and sold the heirloom ring for a mere $15.

Bethany Gardens, rightly so, fired the couple over the incident, and the ring was recovered. It is currently being held by Rome Police as evidence. Attorney General Andrew Cuomo said his office will take significant steps to protect New York’s seniors from those who abuse or steal money or personal possessions from seniors. “These employees are accused of stealing a personal heirloom with priceless sentimental value from a vulnerable nursing home resident for whom they were supposed to be caring,” he was quoted by the station.

SOURCE: Nursing Home Abuse › Nursing assistant caught stealing rings from elderly woman

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Early last month we reported that four employees of Medford Multicare Center for Living in Medford, NY were charged with criminal neglect after investigators reviewed tapes from video cameras hidden in some residents’ rooms.

The videos showed that one patient wasn’t turned and positioned to prevent painful pressure sores or given range-of-motion exercises to keep his muscles from contracting. One patient also didn’t receive water through his feeding tube – his only means of hydration. The staff charged with the neglect also administered heart medication without first checking his pulse rate, which could have resulted in an adverse response in his medication. And rather than changing his briefs every two hours as per doctors’ orders, the patient was left to sit in his waste for hours. The video also showed that the resident had not been bathed in a week.

Hidden video surveillance is not an uncommon practice in New York and has lead to numerous convictions of nursing home employees. Last week, New York Attorney General Andrew Cuomo announced that more hidden cameras will be installed in the rooms of nursing home patients in western New York in an effort to curtail abuse and neglect against the elderly.

The most recent arrests include two licensed practical nurses (LPN) and two certified nurse’s aides (CNA) at the same Medford facility. The charges include endangering the welfare of a physically disabled person by failing to provide basic standard care and falsifying business records.

One of the LPNs, Kim Purdum, was charged with falsifying business records based on evidence unrelated to the video surveillance. Purdum is accused of changing a resident’s chart to conceal that she had not done the necessary blood tests to monitor her blood thinning medication. This caused the resident to suffer internal bleeding and extensive external bruising. The patient required immediate emergency medical attention.

SOURCE: Nursing Home Abuse › Video surveillance leads to more arrests at NY nursing home

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Earlier this month we told you how hidden surveillance cameras installed at Medford Multicare Center for Living in Suffolk, New York gave the attorney general’s office evidence enough to charge at least four nursing home employees with criminal neglect.

New York leads the nation in using hidden video surveillance to investigate whether there is abuse in its nursing homes. At least 26 of the nursing home employees in New York have been convicted based on hidden video recordings.

The hidden cameras are installed in residents’ rooms with prior permission of family or legal representatives and without the knowledge of the nursing home. Gov. Cuomo hopes the cameras serve as more of a deterrent than means for evidence.

“We’ve had reports [of abuse] for many years, but they are hard cases to make,” Cuomo said in the story. “This allows us to make cases we couldn’t make before.”

While the practice has been lauded by the president of New York AARP, some individuals in the nursing home industry argue that the cameras bring up concerns of a patient’s privacy violation.

According to the National Center on Elder Abuse (NCEA), statistics on abuse, neglect or exploitation among the elderly is hard to track. However, according to the best available estimates, as many as 1 to 2 million Americans age 65 years and older have been injured, exploited or otherwise mistreated by a caregiver.

SOURCE: Nursing Home Abuse › New York puts more hidden cameras in nursing homes

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