According to Policy Matters Ohio, a non-profit, nonpartisan policy research organization, approximately 15,000 cases of nursing home abuse are reported each year in Ohio. However, the actual number of cases is far higher. The organization estimated that cases of elder abuse in Ohio are above 214,000 annually but most of the cases go unreported. This is a serious problem as the senior population in the state continues to grow. To help combat this problem, on Dec. 22, 2021, Ohio Governor Mike DeWine signed a bill known as “Esther’s Law,” allowing long-term care residents to install and use video cameras and recording devices in their rooms.
The bill was named after Esther “Mitzi” Piskor, a 90-year-old resident of a Northeast Ohio nursing home. Esther’s son grew concerned when he noticed unexplained bruises on her person and an increasing decline in her mood and disposition. After installing hidden cameras in her room, he discovered that Esther was being regularly assaulted and otherwise mistreated by her caregivers. The camera footage was decisive evidence against several of Ether’s nursing home aids who lost their jobs and were convicted of patient abuse and neglect.
Esther’s Law provides that:
- A resident or a resident's guardian or attorney-in-fact may authorize the installation and use of an electronic monitoring device in the resident's room in a long-term care facility.
- The installation and use of an electronic monitoring device may be authorized only if both of the following conditions are met:
(1) If a long-term care facility has prescribed a form for a resident or a resident's guardian or attorney-in-fact to authorize the installation and use of an electronic monitoring device in the resident's room in a long-term care facility, and the resident or resident's guardian or attorney-in-fact completes the form and submits it to the facility, and
(2) The cost of the device and the cost of installing, maintaining, and removing the device, other than the cost of electricity for the device, is paid for by the resident or the resident's guardian or attorney-in-fact.
- A long-term care facility may prescribe a form for use by a resident or resident's guardian or attorney-in-fact seeking to authorize the installation and use of an electronic monitoring device in the resident's room in a long-term care facility. If a long-term care facility prescribes the stated form, it shall, at a minimum, include all of the following:
(A) An explanation of all of the sections of Esther’s Law.
(B) An acknowledgment that the resident or resident's guardian or attorney-in-fact has consented to the installation and use of the device in the resident's room;
(C) In the case of a resident who lives in a room with another resident, an acknowledgment that the other resident or other resident's guardian or attorney-in-fact has consented to the installation and use of the device and a description of any conditions placed on that consent;
(D) A section for providing the facility with information regarding the type, function, and use of the device to be installed and used; and
(E) A section stating that the facility is released from liability in any civil or criminal action or administrative proceeding for a violation of the resident's right to privacy in connection with using the device.
- A resident who has authorized the installation and use of an electronic monitoring device may withdraw that authorization at any time.
- If a resident wishing to conduct authorized electronic monitoring of the resident's room lives with another resident in a long-term care facility, the consent of the other resident or the other resident's guardian or attorney-in-fact to the installation and use of an electronic monitoring device in the room is required before any installation or use of such a device may occur.
- If the long-term care facility has prescribed the above-described form for a resident or a resident's guardian or attorney-in-fact to authorize the installation and use of an electronic monitoring device in the resident's room in a long-term care facility, the other resident or other resident's guardian or attorney-in-fact shall consent by completing the relevant part of the form.
- If a resident living in a room with another resident wishes to conduct authorized electronic monitoring of the resident's room, but the other resident or other resident's guardian or attorney-in-fact refuses to consent to the installation and use of an electronic monitoring device, the facility shall make a reasonable attempt to accommodate the resident wishing to conduct authorized electronic monitoring by moving either resident to another available room with the consent of the resident being moved or resident's guardian or attorney-in-fact.
- In the case of a resident living in a room with another resident, the other resident or other resident's guardian or attorney-in-fact may place conditions on any consent to the installation and use of an electronic monitoring device, including conditions such as pointing the device away from the other resident or limiting or prohibiting the use of certain devices. If conditions are placed on consent, the device shall be installed and used according to those conditions.
- A resident whose consent is required under Esther’s Law may withdraw that consent at any time.
- A long-term care facility may post a notice in a conspicuous place at the entrance to a resident's room with an electronic monitoring device stating that an electronic monitoring device is in use in that room.
- No person or resident shall be denied admission to or discharged from a long-term care facility or otherwise discriminated or retaliated against because of the decision to authorize the installation and use of an electronic monitoring device in a resident's room in the facility
- No person other than the resident or resident's guardian or attorney-in-fact who authorized the installation and use of an electronic monitoring device in the resident's room in a long-term care facility shall intentionally obstruct, tamper with, or destroy the device or a recording made by the device.
- No person other than the following shall intentionally view or listen to the images displayed or sounds recorded by an electronic monitoring device installed in a resident's room: (1) the resident; (2) the resident's guardian or attorney-in-fact; (3) law enforcement personnel, or (4) a person authorized by the resident or resident's guardian or attorney-in-fact to view or listen to the images displayed or sounds recorded by an electronic monitoring device installed in a resident's room.
Esther’s Law became effective on March 23, 2022.