A Bill Allowing the Use of Cameras to Detect Nursing Home Abuse Stalls in the Senate

On Thursday, March 20th, a bill that would give families the ability to electronically monitor their loved ones to prevent or detect nursing home abuse stalled in the South Carolina senate.

The SC Senate’s Medical Affairs Committee was evenly divided on the bill, 7 to 7, preventing its advancement onto the Senate floor. The bill will return to subcommittee for more work, but proponents are concerned that it will fail there.

The nursing home abuse bill, modeled after similar bills in Texas and Oklahoma, would allow residents and their families to install cameras in their rooms to detect potential nursing home abuse. Video evidence often corroborates claims by elderly residents, and can speed up an investigation or lawsuit into the care facility’s practices.

The South Carolina bill would require the permission of the resident, as well as permission from the other resident of the room of two people shared a space.

“This is really about empowering an individual who’s in a nursing home,” said Sen. Paul Thurmond, the bill’s sponsor. “The older generation is fraught with neglect and abuse.”

Thurmond’s proposal was inspired by a case his Charleston-based law firm took on after the granddaughter of a Mt. Pleasant nursing home resident accused her granddaughter’s caretaker of serious elder abuse. The 101-year-old resident was physically and verbally abused, in one instance so severely that she required stitches. If not for a camera placed in the room, the caregiver may never have been arrested and charged with serious nursing home abuse.

Opponents of the bill, however, are concerned both with the rights of private businesses, and with the rights of residents to privacy in their homes. “Most residents won’t be making those decisions. Others will be making it for them,” said Randy Lee, president of the South Carolina Health Care Association. “We’re providing intimate care. That’s their home.”

Sen. Floyd Nicholson, D-Greenwood, questioned whether the bill would be a financial hardship and method of discrimination against families whose loved ones relied on Medicaid and Medicare to pay for their care. The bill currently requires the family to take on the cost of the camera and any monitoring services, rather than the nursing home itself. Residents that could not afford cameras might become the targets of nursing home abuse.

About 70% of care facility residents in South Carolina rely on Medicare and Medicaid to pay for their nursing home stays.

“I’m not debating whether or not there’s some good nursing homes out there, but there are certainly some that aren’t,” said Senator Paul Thurmond (R-41), who introduced the bill. “As a result, we’re putting our seniors at risk and I would like the opportunity for those seniors to say I would like to monitor myself in those circumstances.”

The Strom Law Defends Victims of Nursing Home Abuse

If your loved one has faced nursing home abuse, you do not have to suffer in silence. Contact the attorneys at the Strom Law Firm for a free, confidential consultation. We are here to help. 803.252.4800.