Disturbing Report on Nursing Home Employees Posting Inappropriate Resident Photos and Videos on Social Media

In a disturbing report, ProPublica, the nonprofit investigative news organization, says it has identified 35 instances since 2012 in which nursing home and assisted-living center employees have posted embarrassing photos or videos of residents on social media sites. The residents were sometimes partially or completely naked and some were using the toilet.

At least 16 cases involved the service Snapchat, where photos appear briefly then disappear with no lasting record. ProPublica says some of the incidents have resulted in criminal charges. Posting photos of patients or residents without their permission may violate the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA), the federal patient privacy law that carries civil and criminal penalties.

While abuse and neglect in nursing homes, assisted living centers, and rehab facilities is not new, posting explicit, sometimes embarrassing, photos or videos is a new kind of mistreatment, according to ProPublica.

In February 2014, a nursing assistant at Prestige Post-Acute and Rehab Center in Centralia, Washington shared a Snapchat video with a coworker of a resident sitting on a bedside portable toilet with her pants below her knees. The following month, an assistant at Rosewood Care Center in St. Charles, Illinois, recorded another assistant slapping the face of a 97-year-old woman with dementia with a nylon strap. On the video the woman could be heard crying out as she was being struck and the employees were heard laughing. Also in 2014, at Gridley Healthcare and Wellness Centre in California, a nursing assistant reported a co-worker for using Snapchat to send pictures of residents who were “inappropriately exposed” or who appeared to be dead. The assistant said she was “absolutely disgusted” by the lack of respect for human life and for a person who has died, according to ProPublica.

ProPublica uncovered these incidents by searching federal inspection reports, court cases and media accounts, but says such incidents are likely underreported. Many of the victims have dementia and may not realize what has happened or their claims are dismissed because they are “confused.” Inappropriate social media postings have come to light mostly through tips from other staff members or members of the community, ProPublica says.

ProPublica says the Office for Civil Rights in the Department of Health and Human Services, has not penalized any nursing homes for violations involving social media or issued any recommendations to health providers on the topic. Deven McGraw, the deputy director for health information privacy, expressed outrage about the incidents. “If we don’t have pending investigations on any of these cases … they would be candidates for further inquiry from our end,” she said, adding that the office also should issue guidance on social media and the privacy law.

The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, which regulates nursing homes, has cited individual facilities for deficiencies related to privacy. CMS will more explicitly address the issue more explicitly when it revises definitions of “abuse,” “neglect,” “exploitation” and “sexual abuse” in updated regulations governing nursing homes.

 

 

 

 

from Parker Waichman http://www.yourlawyer.com/blog/disturbing-report-on-nursing-home-employees-posting-inappropriate-resident-photos-and-videos-on-social-media/