Hidden video surveillance

The indictments follow the guilty plea of a third nursing aide, Jaclyn Dawn VanWinkle. Van Winkle was sentenced to 12 months in jail but will serve two years probation for agreeing to testify against other cases of criminal conduct at the nursing home.

Family members of Madison Manor resident Armeda Thomas became suspicious about her care and placed a hidden video camera in her room. The videotape showed a total of nine nursing assistants physically abusing the woman and failing to clean or feed her. Thomas’ family members moved her out of the home, and she later died from complications from Alzheimer’s disease.

Extendicare, the Wisconsin-based company that owns Madison Manor, fired the nine nursing assistants, made staff changes, and set up a retraining program for staff as a result of the videotape. “We do not condone this kind of behavior,” said a spokesperson for Extendicare.

Hidden video surveillance has led to convictions of numerous nursing home residents since the practice has been approved in select states. New York has used the practice throughout the state, which has led to the conviction of more than 25 nursing home employees.

SOURCE: Nursing Home Abuse › Hidden cameras lead to nursing home abuse charges

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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 family members raised concerns of their aunt’s welfare, and questioned the choices of a third niece, who had power of attorney over the aunt. It was she who placed the elderly woman at Bissell Hospital.

After communicating by e-mail with the hospital, the two nieces in late July released the DVD evidence to the Delaware Division of Long Term Care Resident Protection. The agency inspects the 46 skilled nursing homes and four intermediate-care facilities and oversees licensing, conducts criminal background checks, enforces regulations and monitors the welfare of nursing-home patients.

Shortly thereafter, all three nieces were banned from the facility until mediation of a public guardian. The guardian requested the elderly woman be moved to another facility. The move was approved and is planned to take place in January.

The investigation resulted in the firing of three employees and the suspension without pay of two others. Four of the five employees also have been placed on the state’s Adult Abuse Registry, a list of caregivers who have been accused of abuse. Three of those employees are appealing to be removed from that list. There are 246 people on that list and 25 are pending appeal.

The Delaware Attorney General’s Office did not say why it will not prosecute the caregivers in this case.

SOURCE: Nursing Home Abuse › No charges filed against caregivers who abused ailing aunt

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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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But hidden surveillance cameras set up over a six-week period in some patient’s rooms by the Attorney General’s office told a different story, according to the North County Gazette.

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. And that one patient 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.

The four nursing home employees were charged with criminal neglect and charges against more employees are expected.

Hidden video surveillance is not an uncommon practice in New York. The state leads the nation in using such forms of surveillance to investigate the abuse of nursing home patients. To date, 26 New York nursing home employees have been convicted based on hidden video recordings.

SOURCE: Nursing Home Abuse › Hidden cameras reveal neglect at NY nursing home

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