Cameras: Friend or Foe?
Posted by Patti on August 13th, 2007 / Print This Post
Do cameras lie?
(August 13, 2007) — An ex-employee of a Rochester nursing home admitted today that she neglected a patient in a case that included the use of a hidden camera.Tammy Devos, 43, who worked as a certified nurse’s aide at the former Jennifer Matthew Nursing and Rehabilitation Center on Portland Avenue, pleaded guilty to the misdemeanors of second-degree falsifying business records and willful violation of health laws.
Monroe County Judge Alex R. Renzi sentenced her to spend 16 weekends in county jail, beginning Sept. 1. As a condition of her plea, she agreed to surrender her nurse’s aide license.
She’s one of five former employees of the nursing home to face felony charges.
She was initially charged with first-degree falsifying business records, a felony.The other four are scheduled to go to trial Sept. 4. They are registered nurse Nada Jadrovska, 53; and certified nurse’s aides Marguerite Carrington, 49; Tamiko Goodlet, 29; and Janell Thompson, 20.
Nine other former employees pleaded guilty to misdemeanors and received probation. The nursing home was sold to a new owner in February.
The employees were charged after an investigation by the state Attorney General’s Office that involving putting a hidden camera in a patient’s room in the spring of 2005.
According to court documents, the 70-year-old patient, who suffered from dementia, was not turned regularly, was allowed to lie in his own waste, and was not given adequate food or hydration. False entries were made in the patient’s records to show that proper care was given, the documents said.
Signing off care as being “given”, when it was not, is falsifying records. Not doing care is bad enough…together CNA’s are looking at a felony, at the least. The punishment here is abit extreme I think…since the aides probably tried. Not knowing all the details we can’t judge. I have heard of a case where cameras caught aides on 3rd shift sleeping on couches in resident living rooms, and not providing care BUT signing it all off as done. I have no sympathy for those cases. Bottom line: Don’t blindly sign off books if the care wasn’t given. It is management’s problem to make sure we have staff to get the job done. If all aides were to be honest, perhaps change would happen. But not all aides are willing to admit they are not perfect…one way to get this across is to keep the records honest. At least this leaves a paper trail, and when the state surveyors come in they will pick up on this and cite the facility.
August 14th, 2007 at 4:12 pm
Do they have cameras in the med rooms or where the med carts are parked? They should. Then they could tell when a nurse passes meds late. This is a form of neglect as well.
I think these cameras are a bad thing. They keep staff on edge and take away the desire to do all those little extra things we good aides do, for our residents. When I know a camera is watching me, I go in, speak little, do the task and leave as fast as I can. That’s sad and it’s not in the best interests of the residents, who see us as robots.
August 15th, 2007 at 6:05 am
I think cameras are just bad policy. For everyone. Staff have rights to, to do their job without the ever present watchful eyes of a camera, just waiting for THAT moment to launch a lawsuit.
One missed turn or one 30 minute late brief change could be the moment.
No thanks.
August 15th, 2007 at 1:55 pm
hi there,
i’ve been a cna off and on for the past 23 years. not much has changed, working short, not enough pay, call offs, no-shows, the same s—, different yr. now a days we have e-z lifts (hoyers), e-z stands, maxi-slides, and electric beds.
where i currently workthey put in cameras last summer due to “thefts” and wierdos hanging around outside at night. at least that is what we have been told….nothing has happened, that i know of, like in the story above. i’m sure it is bound to happen though.
the part about falsifying records hit a sore spot with me. even if we do leave it blank due to the fact we didn’t get it done or something else came up that we weren’t expecting we are called in on our days off to fill in the blanks!!!! working “challenged” (short) isn’t an excuse for not getting our work done.
i do my damnedest to get all of my work done and i do feel like crap when i can’t. but we can’t have any “holes” in our charting. i’m almowt sure that this goes on in other nh also. i feel bad for the workers that probably were doing what they were told and of course none of the higher ups will stick up for them.
thanks for this site
rhonda