A federal agency is cracking down on a disturbing new form of elder abuse: nursing home workers using social media to share degrading pictures and videos of nursing home patients.
Now that most people have smart phones, most people also have cameras with them at all times. Many people like to use those cameras to take embarrassing photos of others in public and post those pictures on social media accounts. It is a common enough practice that entire websites are dedicated to collecting the photographs for other people to laugh at.
When the picture was taken in public there is normally very little that can be done about it. However, it does not just happen in public. It also happens in nursing homes and the pictures are taken by nursing home employees.
That is elder abuse as WTSP reports in “Feds crack down on degrading nursing home patient pics.”
This abuse happens often enough that the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services has decided that action is needed. It has warned state agencies to check that nursing homes in their states have a policy on employee cell phone use that prohibits employees from taking demeaning or degrading pictures of patients in their facilities.
While a policy in and of itself cannot stop all instances of elder abuse, this is a good and necessary step.
Nursing home residents and their families should not be abused by those they entrust with their care. If you (or a loved one) is ever the victim of elder abuse in a nursing home, please call an elder law attorney for assistance and report the nursing home to the appropriate agency in your state.
Reference: WTSP (Aug. 23, 2016) “Feds crack down on degrading nursing home patient pics.”