Is it legal to put a spy camera in my aunts room in a nursing home?

Answer:
I don't care about legal...DO IT to protect her.

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no, its against the law, invasion of privacy

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It is if you don't get caught!

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If you get her permission, then its ok.

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I don't see why not. I would say yes.

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Are you back in the porn business again?

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As long as it doesn't record sound and it isn't
put there to record pornographic material ...
well, you're on the hairy edge of the law.

Most of the case law surrounding wire tapping
and other similar forms of covert surveillance
are aimed at sound, not video.

If your aunt is aware of the camera, then
there's no problem. If you are the only one aware,
you might have a problem, but you'd be
making new case law.

Remember, if she is a tenant of the nursing home,
she has most of the rights that any other tenant
would have, and that includes having her own
security.

You couldn't publish any pictures you took,
of course, without the permissions of the people
in the shots.

You could, however, use it as evidence in a court
of law.

If your aunt was being abused, say, then this
is a perfectly fine way of collecting evidence.

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You're opening a real can of worms here, Terry. Nursing homes have a duty of care to know if their residents are in trouble, and cameras are sometimes used, especially at night, or after some surgery or serious illness. Staff cannot be at a resident's side 24 hrs a day - there just aren't enough staff anywhere for that.
You don't say why you are asking. Is it something to do with privacy? If so, read the above again - it may help.

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Do you have reasons to believe she is being abused? Have you voiced these concerns to the Admin of the nursing home?
Working for a doctor who has many nursing home patients I do know that we get calls all the time, required by law and by him, that EVERY skin tear or fall HAS to be reported and noted on the patients chart. Also, the reason has to be given of how it happened....such as moving from bed to wheelchair or falling etc.....then there are standing orders on how to take care of such....BUT they still have to report time of injury, care taken, location of injury, and any further orders needed by phone to the doctor.
With the nursing homes having over 100 residents that 90% of them with loss of mental capacity and mobility it is unreal to think one on one care can be given every minute. They have a set routine to wake up, change them, dress them, check vitals, etc. We encourage families to visit often.....do you?
My mother and mother-in-law both had super care in our nursing home but we live in a rural area and it is run by local nurses that we go to church with, visit with and know.

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Hello there. I鈥檓 one of the writers for Gilbert Guide (the foremost resource for everything senior care) and I鈥檝e recently done some research on this topic. Nursing home surveillance has been a controversial topic for quite some time now. Over the past few years, over a dozen states passed legislations allowing residents or their loved ones to install monitoring cameras in their rooms so long as they inform the nursing home management. If they do not inform the management, it is considered covert surveillance鈥攚hich is illegal. Which state do you live in?

I commend you for considering this step. At least one-third of the country鈥檚 nursing homes have been sanctioned for deficiencies and abuse. I wrote a blog just recently about a nursing home that鈥檚 currently at the center of a scandal. In the last two weeks, Illinois state police exhumed a deceased woman (removed her body from the grave) to see if an overdose was the cause of death. It鈥檚 alarming to think a nursing home staffer may have been involved in an intentional overdose, but it just may be reality. I鈥檝e attached a link to the blog in case you鈥檙e interested in reading it.

http://www.gilbertguide.com/blog/2007/04...

If you have any other questions I may be able to answer for you, feel free to email me at info@GilbertGuide.com.

Lori
www.GilbertGuide.com