GrannyCams Don’t Lie
Posted by Patti on March 29th, 2007 / Print This Post
This should raise the level of awareness of just how GrannyCams are being used with legal issues in nursing homes. The nurses and aide AND owner, in this article should be punished with the full weight of the law. It’s just strange to know they are charged based on a video…which doesn’t lie.
The Cortland County nurse has been found guilty of violating health laws and falsifying records.Steven Nadeau worked at the Northwoods Rehabilitation and Extended Care Facility in Cortland from 2001 to 2006. He now faces up to two years in prison and a fine up to $2,000.
Nadeau was convicted of failing to provide necessary care to a 59-year-old patient in a chronic vegetative state and then falsifying documents by indicating he had provided the care.
Steven Nadeau has been found guilty of violating health laws and falsifying records while working at Northwoods Rehabilitation and Extended Care Facility.
The Attorney General’s Medicaid Fraud Control Unit used an undercover camera in the resident’s room to monitor Nadeau’s actions.
This was the first case to go to trial in New York State using video surveillance in a resident’s room as evidence. It’s led to pending prosecution of three other nurses, a certified nurse’s aide and the owner of the Northwoods facility.
So there we have it. Don’t do the care just because a camera is watching you. Do it because it’s your job. Remember: the cameras are there to bear witness to what you do…so do it good, as ordered. Be proud of the care you give and don’t be nervous because of the camera. It can also come back to prove you did everything you were supposed do.
March 29th, 2007 at 10:05 pm
This is why I hate these cameras.
March 30th, 2007 at 4:55 pm
I have to ask. DId the nurses and aides even care that they were being videoed? I also have to ask. Do they know for sure care wasn’t given? Can they prove the camera was on 24/7? I wish there were more details. I agree the people involved should get the full extent of penalty avaliable from the law, but this just doesn’t sound like enough evidence. If I were a jury member on this I don’t think I could sentence someone. But we don’t have all the details.
April 3rd, 2007 at 9:10 pm
The cameras we have at my work are only used for resident monitoring; we have several residents who have seizure disorders or who have been known to get OOB and fall. At night or other times, when the residents are in their rooms unsupervised is when the cameras are on. During care and any other times they shut them off.
April 3rd, 2007 at 9:11 pm
Holly you bring a good question. I wonder and think that the lawyers will consider this. I would hope they would anyway.
August 12th, 2008 at 4:28 pm
I often wonder… why would you have such an issue with cameras if you were doing the job you are expected to do in the first place? Is the issue of being caught doing somthing you shouldnt be doing? Hmmm. I have worked as a nurses aide for ten years and i have seen much abuse and neglect.I have reported to my supervisor numerous times and still nothing was done on any case. even the sexual abuse that was founded to be true in the end. This is when I wished that we had the cameras to prove what is really going on in nursing homes and other facilities.I dont feel that the staff should know about these cameras and also feel it should be the patients and family members rights to be safe and know that their family members are safe when the leave the facility. There are people who take the role of nurses aides to prey on elderly and disadvantaged patients, not because the care.