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Ever wish you could monitor your loved one in a nursing home with a Granny camera? New Jersey just made that easier for its residents. Attorney General Chris Porrino announced recently that the State of New Jersey’s Division of Consumer Affairs will sponsor a program to distribute mini surveillance cameras for use inside nursing homes to monitor care provided to residents. The program, known as Safe Care Cam Program, was initially created for in-home use with home health aides. Due to the success of the hidden camera program, the government recently expanded the free camera rental program into nursing home and assisted living facilities.
Safe Care Cam Programs Promotes Patient Safety and Deters Nursing Home Abuse
Many times, family members cannot visit their loved ones every day inside the nursing home. This is due to geographical reasons, work, school or child commitments. However, as New Jersey has displayed, a Safe Care Cam Program is an affordable and easy solution to check in on mom or dad inside the facility. Using these free rental cameras, family members can keep an eye on the resident at their convenience and at off-hours. This is important, as nursing home abuse lawyers, we know that most incidents of abuse or neglect occur when visitors are not around. “At a time when the home healthcare industry is experiencing explosive growth and the issue of patient abuse has become a national concern, New Jersey must do everything it can to ensure the safety of its most vulnerable citizens – the elderly and disabled,” Porrino said. “By expanding the Safe Care Cam program and eliminating conditional certifications, we’re not only enhancing oversight of caregivers,” the attorney general said. “We’re advancing New Jersey’s role as a leader in the nation’s efforts to prevent patient abuse.”
Launched in December of 2016, New Jersey’s Safe Care Cam Program is an example that other states should follow. Through affordable and reasonable patient rights legislation like this, we can all combat nursing home abuse and neglect.
If you would like to receive a free Safe Care Cam from the State of New Jersey, call 973-504-6375 and leave a voicemail explaining your request.
Is it Legal to Record my Family Member Inside their Nursing Home Room?
Filming with a hidden camera inside a nursing home is tricky from a legal perspective. This depends on which state the nursing home is located in. Assuming that your loved one consents to the filming, the issue becomes whether the caregivers consent to being filmed. This is an issue of state law. Upon admission, you can get the nursing home to include in the admissions paperwork that you are permitted to set up a hidden camera inside the private room. If they resist, ask them what the facility has to hide. Dealing with this issue on the front end is a lot easier than dealing with it once a problem arises.
If you have questions on reporting or filming potential elder abuse in your state, please click on the link to learn how to report nursing home abuse to the proper legal agency.
Legal Nurse Consultant
