Can You Install a Hidden Camera in a Nursing Home Room?

One of the scariest things about having loved ones in nursing homes, is the sense of helplessness—not just for them, but for you, as the loved one or relative of the resident. That’s because as much as you want to protect and look over your loved one in the nursing home, you simply can’t be in the room with them all the time. As a result, you often don’t really know what’s happening to your loved one.

Yes, you can look at secondary evidence—things like physical markings on your loved one, or his or her physical or emotional changes, and get some idea when and if something is wrong. But if there is abuse or neglect going on, it is happening behind closed doors, and away from your eyesight, and the medical records certainly aren’t going to say that your loved one is being neglected, nor is nursing home staff going to admit to abusing anybody.

What About Using Cameras?

But we do live in a modern age, where cameras are smaller than ever, and are nearly ubiquitous in our daily lives. And pursuant to Florida’s nursing home bill of rights, nursing home residents have rights, the same way that you or I would in our own homes—if we can put up cameras or surveillance in our homes or rooms, can you also put up one, in the nursing home room of your loved one?

Not Illegal, But Possibly, Not Always legal

The answer to that question is more difficult than you may at first think it is.

Technically, it is legal to put up a camera in the nursing home room of your relative or loved one. By “technically,” we mean there is no law that says that you cannot. But if you do choose to go this route, you need to be careful.

Remember that just because it may be legal to record your loved one in his or her room, that doesn’t mean that it is legal to record others that may be in that room, such as roommates, or other visitors of your loved one or his or her roommates. While there are no known cases settling this issue, nursing home staff or others who are recorded without permission, could complain-and possibly, bring an invasion of privacy lawsuit against you for recording them without their permission.

And even if you do not get sued, if the footage was found to be obtained illegally, it may be excluded from being used as evidence.

Video Only

Additionally, the law provides a lot more leeway to record video than it does audio. And there are laws that make recording audio without someone’s permission illegal. So, any installation of any recording device, should be limited to capturing pictures, and not recording audio.

If you have a loved one getting abused or neglected in a nursing home, get help now. Contact the Tampa personal injury lawyers at Barbas, Nunez, Sanders, Butler & Hovsepian and schedule a consultation today.

Sources:

casetext.com/case/minotty-v-baudo?resultsNav=false

leg.state.fl.us/statutes/index.cfm?App_mode=Display_Statute&URL=0900-0999/0934/Sections/0934.03.html