The rape of an incapacitated Phoenix woman is spurring Arizona officials to catch up to 10 states with laws allowing electronic monitoring to deter abuse of vulnerable people at long-term care facilities, according to AZ Family.
The Arizona House of Representatives is considering a measure that would let certain facilities install video surveillance in common areas. The facility would have to detail appropriate steps to avoid privacy violations.
Arizona would join Illinois, Kansas, Louisiana, Maryland, New Mexico, Oklahoma, Texas, Utah, Virginia, and Washington with laws or regulations allowing surveillance equipment inside nursing homes, assisted living centers, and other group residential settings.
Most of those laws place the option and cost of electronic monitoring on residents and their guardians. A majority of the laws say residents or their surrogates can put a camera or monitoring device in their rooms but must notify the facility, among other conditions.
Cathryn Jakicic is healthcare industries editor of FacilitiesNet.com. For more information on hospital campuses and other medical facilities, click here.
