The Senate has okayed a bipartisan bill that allows nursing home and long-term care facility residents and their families to install cameras in their rooms to prevent abuse and neglect.
The bill's sponsor Sen. Nickie Antonio (D-Lakewood) said 11 years ago, the family of 90-year-old Esther Piskor was concerned about her quiet moods and unexplained bruising they saw in their visits to her northeast Ohio nursing home.
鈥淗er family then placed videocameras in her room and caught horrific footage of her being assaulted by health care professionals," Antonio . "Unfortunately, this is not unique to Esther.鈥�
Antonio said the state got more than 19,000 reports of elder abuse, neglect and exploitation in 2018, the most recent year for which stats are available.
, sponsored by Antonio and Sen. Andrew Brenner (R-Delaware), would allow a resident鈥檚 family to put up cameras trained on that resident, with permission from a roommate if there is one.
The bill requires that the resident鈥檚 family pay for installation and removal of the camera, which will be trained on the resident, as well as secure permission from a roommate if there is one. It also says a facility can鈥檛 discriminate or retaliate against those who use cameras.
鈥淓sther鈥檚 Law, we believe, can provide families peace of mind by allowing them to check up on their elderly loved ones. COVID-19 pandemic further highlighted the necessity of this legislation when in-person visits were not even possible,鈥� Antonio said.
The bill passed the Senate unanimously. There鈥檚 a .
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