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Minnesota Bill Would Let Families Install Cameras in Private Nursing Home Rooms

A bill proposed in Minnesota would allow families to monitor their loved ones with cameras without retaliation from the nursing homes in question. The families would need to notify the nursing homes of the cameras, so that the nursing homes could tell visitors as well. However, many of those opposed are arguing that such obvious cameras might affect the treatment that patients with and without cameras receive.

The Star Tribune discusses the issue in more detail.

The proposal would make Minnesota the sixth state to explicitly permit residents of long-term care facilities to install surveillance equipment in their private rooms. The legislation, which comes before a Senate hearing Monday and has already been dubbed the “Granny Cam Bill,” would prohibit nursing homes from retaliating against residents who choose to use electronic monitoring equipment.

It comes on the heels of several well-publicized cases in which hidden-camera footage was used to corroborate reports of abuse and neglect at Twin Cities-area nursing homes, some of which have led to criminal charges.

“No one should be treated differently because they choose to have a camera in their room,” said Sen. Alice Johnson, DFL-Blaine, the bill’s main sponsor, who said she drafted it partly in response to recent cases of abuse and neglect caught on camera.

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Modeled after a bill signed last year in Illinois, the legislation would require a nursing home resident to consent to the use of a camera before it can be installed and to notify the facility of their intent to use electronic monitoring. In addition, signs must be clearly posted notifying visitors of the devices, among other rules. In effect, the bill would end the use of “hidden” cameras in Minnesota nursing homes.

Jean Peters and Kay Bromelkamp, two sisters who have helped other Twin Cities families install cameras in senior homes since they used a camera to uncover maltreatment at their now-deceased mother’s senior home in Edina, say they oppose the bill. The sisters said many families prefer to hide the cameras because they fear retribution by caregivers.

“It’s traumatic to put a loved one in a facility, and you’re paying a ton of money for the care, and now you’re expected to notify the facility when you use a camera?” asked Peters, who plans to testify on the bill.

Mistreatment complaints in Minnesota nursing homes have more than doubled since 2012.

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