The state of New York is expanding a program to keep a high-tech eye on some of the state’s most vulnerable residents based on recommendations of Attorney General Andrew Cuomo. Recently, an actual video of patient abuse, taken by a hidden camera, showed a nursing home worker slapping a patient. Cuomo used those pictures to prosecute 14 workers at a nursing home in Rochester, New York, which was eventually forced to close, but is the target of a Medicaid fraud civil suit. “If there is a bad act happening, we don’t just want the video evidence, we actually want to stop it,” said Cuomo.
This was not the only incident that was caught on these cameras. Cuomo has used hidden cameras to prosecute patient neglect and abuse four times in other parts of the state, and is now putting this technology to use in western New York. “I want the industry to know, it is a different day. Maybe you have been allowed to get away with something for many, many years, today, is a different day,” said Cuomo.
The use of hidden cameras has come under some scrutiny due to the invasion of privacy of residents. However, experts believe that it is necessary, especially for residents with Alzheimer’s or dementia due to the difficulty in prosecution. Heidi Wendel, Medicaid Unit Fraud Supervisor said, “What we have found in the four hidden camera cases that we have done thus far is truly shocking neglect and abuse of residents. Fraud and abuse have no place in our nursing homes, and must be stamped out at every turn.”
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[...] mentioned in a recent blog, Cuomo has implemented video cameras in some NY nursing homes and two of the four workers were [...]