Missouri state Representative, Andrew McDaniel, R-Deering, recently introduced House Bill No. 843 to the Missouri General Assembly which would allow monitoring devices in nursing homes across the state. “Monitoring device” is defined as “a surveillance instrument that broadcasts or records activity, but does not include a still camera.” Representative McDaniel stated that the reason for his proposal is that he “had a constituent call me and talk about different things about people with bedsores, not rolled over right, and stuff like that.”
Under the Bill, facilities would be required to offer residents the option of having a monitoring device at the time of admission. Written consent for the monitoring device is required by each resident or their surrogate occupying the same room. The resident is responsible for the cost of installation, maintenance and removal of the device at discharge. It shall be a felony for anyone other than the resident or his/her surrogate to intentionally hamper, obstruct, tamper with or destroy the monitoring device or its recording.
The original wording of House Bill 843 can be found here.
If you would like to track the process of the bill, please click here.
Five other states currently allow electronic monitoring of resident rooms in nursing homes.
