Earlier this month, Oklahoma became the third state to pass a law allowing residents of long-term care facilities to have surveillance cameras in their rooms.
According to an article on ABAJournal.com, Oklahoma joins New Mexico and Texas and will allow cameras in a resident’s room if a consent form is filed to notify the facility. The law gives the family exclusive rights to the video recording and allows the recording to be used in court.
The law came about as the result of a case where a family planted a hidden camera in the hopes of catching another resident who they suspected of stealing items from their family member’s room. What they caught instead was nursing aides mistreating their loved one by stuffing latex gloves into her mouth, taunting her by tapping on her head, and flinging her onto her bed from her wheelchair.
Other states are working to pass similar legislation, but are sometimes hindered by liability issues and privacy rights. But hidden cameras have caught other abuse situations in New Jersey, New York, and our own state of Pennsylvania.