‘Cameras now’: Bradenton woman fights for cameras to prevent elder abuse in Florida
A few days every week, Stephanie Sifrit finds herself standing on the sidewalk along the 6000 block of Cortez Road in Bradenton waving signs outside a short-term rehabilitation center as cars zoom past.
The signs convey varying messages like "We need law now, yes to cameras," while the other side lists a Manatee County civil court case number along with the words: "86-year-old sexually assaulted, need cameras now."
Sifrit is advocating to have a law passed in Florida that would give families and guardians the right to place video cameras inside the rooms of their elderly and cognitively impaired loved ones living in nursing homes and assisted living facilities to help prevent elder abuse.
"I'm here to be an advocate for patients who cannot tell someone that they were physically touched or handled or mishandled," Sifrit said.
For Sifrit, the cause is personal.
In 2021, her 86-year-old mother, Janet Smith, lived at Bradenton Health Care for a month between Feb. 15 and March 11 following a brief stint at a local hospital, according to Sifrit and court records in a civil lawsuit she filed against the facility.
The lawsuit alleges that around March 4, Smith suffered unexplained and severe bruising to her private areas, as well as internal trauma that was later discovered during a visual pelvic exam. Smith also suffered bruising and swelling to her right temple, forearm and other parts of her body.
At the time, the facility's staff told Sifrit and her father, Smith's husband, that Smith had "self-reported a fall during the night.”
Sifrit said in an email that her mother had endured dementia and Alzheimer's disease since 2012 that was so severe at the time that Smith didn't know who she was and couldn't remember what had happened two minutes earlier, let alone what happened hours prior.
Sifrit said she had wanted to place a camera in the room initially and even called ahead of her mother's stay about it, but was denied three separate times by the facility's staff.
When Sifrit tried to bring her mother home early, she was told she would need to pay a $6,000 self-pay bill, as her mother's stay at the facility was mandated as part of her rehab following her hospital stay.
While the facility was known as Bradenton Health Care while Sifrit's mom was there, it has since changed its name to Aspire at Palma Sola Bay. The organization named in the lawsuit is 6305 Cortez Road West Operations, LLC, which was doing business as Bradenton Health Care.
The business 6305 Cortex Road West Operations, LLC remains as an active entity on according to state business records on the site SunBiz, and its principal address is listed as 6305 Cortez Road W.
The Herald-Tribune left a message at the office of the facility's attorney, Antonio A. Cifuentes, seeking comment but no response was received by the time of publication.
"Defense counsel in this instance forced the plaintiff into a pre-suit mediation given the seriousness of the allegation and defense counsel's pre-suit investigation showing no confirmation on the part of law enforcement, DCF or physicians of the alleged assault," court records from the defense said.
Additionally, the defense said in response to the lawsuit that Sifrit's counsel does not understand the significance of insurance coverage under the facility's general liability policy, according to court records.
"Not satisfied with the information she has been provided on insurance coverage, plaintiff's counsel is now inappropriately using this Court to amplify her attempts to harass and intimidate this defendant on matters related to insurance coverage," court records from the defense said.
Elder abuse under-reported
Elder abuse isn't as uncommon as many might think. According to the Area Agency on Aging for Southwest Florida's website, it's estimated that one in 10 Americans over the age of 60 have experienced some form of elder abuse, but only one out of every 14 cases of abuse is reported.
Sarah Gualco, director of programs and planning with the Area Agency on Aging for Southwest Florida, said that those numbers are most likely higher now since the statistics are from 2018 and there has been an increase in the 60-and-over population since that time.
Michael Brevda, a managing partner at Senior Justice Law Firm, which solely focuses on elder abuse and neglect lawsuits and accepts hundreds of cases annually, said for families who don't live in the same area, having a camera in their loved one's room could grant peace of mind.
"In Florida, most nursing homes refused to allow that, and the claim is that it might violate HIPAA by filming another patient or it would violate the privacy of the staff," Brevda said.
Brevda explained a simple solution would be to have facilities ask staff to sign a consent form upon hiring and acknowledge that there will be cameras in the rooms. The form could also be a way to address Florida's two-party consent law, which states that all parties must give consent before being recorded.
Brevda added that as long as the camera is visible and only pointing at the resident's bed and doesn't capture other residents or private areas such as bathrooms, he doesn't see the harm in a camera being used.
It's also an extra set of eyes to watch vulnerable patients, Brevda said, with families able to check in throughout the day and night to see what's going on with their loved ones.
"I think it's worth mentioning that too often when we prosecute a nursing negligence case here in Florida the records are either suspiciously silent as to what happened to the resident, or they directly contradict what other records state," Brevda said.
Placing a camera in a patient's room could not only help families with neglect or abuse cases, but it could also be a preventative measure.
Added safety
Sifrit added that while her father was in Brookdale Pointe West, a long-term care facility in Bradenton, there was a camera in his room that caught him tripping over his oxygen cord. Sifrit was able to alert staff to his fall and have peace of mind in knowing that the injury wasn't caused by mistreatment.
"On the other hand, the cameras don't only, you know, catch bad people doing bad things, cameras can help others support the facility if something comes up," Sifirt said. "Working in those facilities is extremely demanding and they can’t be there in every room to monitor everything."
Following Smith's traumatic experience, Sifrit moved her mom to Brookdale Pointe West, where she could have a monitoring device in her mom's room. Her mother would stay there until her death on March 2, 2022.
Brookdale Senior Living is one of the country's largest senior housing operators with over 60,000 residents and over 670 communities across 41 states.
“Brookdale Senior Living allows residents and/or their legal representatives the use of electronic monitoring devices in accordance with Brookdale policy and in compliance with State law," a Brookdale spokesperson said.
John O'Sullivan, executive director at Brookdale Gardens, said that his facility authorizes camera monitors inside rooms, but voice monitoring isn't allowed due to federal health privacy regulations. Brookdale Gardens and Brookdale Pointe West are two different long-term care facilities in Bradenton owned by Brookdale Senior Living.
The usage of cameras in the 120-bed facility is common, O'Sullivan added. For many families, the camera usage is not only to monitor the safety of their loved ones but also to connect with them virtually through video calls.
A 2019 study from the University of Washington surveyed 273 staff members from nursing home facilities across 39 states on the perceived risks and benefits of in-room cameras.
Of the 273 staff members surveyed, 172 wrote that the privacy of residents would be inappropriately invaded, and many extended those concerns to roommates, staff and visitors. This referenced intimate activities including bathing and using the bathroom.
Thirty-two respondents said that the use of cameras on staff had the potential to demoralize, offend, stress and show a lack of confidence in staff.
“Respondents noted that such invasion of privacy undermines a home-like experience, and others likened it to processes of institutionalization,” the study said.
While the policies of implementing camera monitoring devices vary from state to state and even facility to facility, O'Sullivan said that he hasn't received any complaints from his staff regarding cameras and that residents need to consent to the camera usage. If a resident is cognitively impaired, the power of attorney document would allow a designated individual to make those decisions on the resident's behalf.
The most commonly raised advantage in the study by 111 respondents was the use of cameras to deter abuse or determine the truth in abuse or theft allegations.
In Florida, agencies like the Florida Department of Aging Affairs, Area Agencies on Aging, and Adult Protective services under the Florida Department of Children and Families work to help prevent elder abuse or investigate when it occurs.
Gualco said the Area Agency's role is to help educate seniors and caregivers about the different areas of elder abuse, demonstrate preventative measures against the abuse and also try to help seniors remain at home for as long as possible. Gualco explained that there are five commonly identified areas of abuse which include physical, emotional or psychological, financial, sexual and neglect.
Other states allow cameras in nursing homes
Sifrit's efforts to pass the bill are aimed at preventing others from having to go through what her family has gone through.
She's also not alone in her efforts. Similar laws allowing cameras in nursing homes have been passed in nine other states, including Illinois, Kansas, Louisiana, Minnesota, New Mexico, Oklahoma, Texas and Washington.
In Ohio, Steve Piskor was successful in getting Esther's Law passed in 2022. The law, named for his mother who had Alzheimer's disease, went into effect almost a decade after Piskor placed a hidden camera in his 78-year-old mother's nursing home room in 2011 capturing proof that she was being physically abused by staff. Two nurse assistants ultimately ended up pleading guilty to the abuse, according to reporting by CantonRep.com.
Esther's Law requires that nursing homes and assisted living facilities allow the families of patients to place monitoring devices, either video cameras, audio recorders or both, in their loved one's room.
Piskor also echoed the sentiment that the cameras aren't supposed to be used for "I gotcha moments" but rather as preventative measures to stop abuse from happening. He is all for facilities informing employees of the cameras by placing signs up warning them there are cameras recording in certain rooms.
Now, the 68-year-old retiree works on helping other advocates in different states to get similar laws passed. He's currently helping advocates in Wisconsin and Sifrit in Florida. He said the key to getting laws passed despite opposition is to know all the details to answer any questions from the opposition about what you're hoping to get passed and applicable privacy laws.
The hope is that one day there will be a federal law so that all states allow families the right to place cameras.
Sifrit has met with Manatee County Republican state lawmakers Sen. Jim Boyd and Rep. Will Robinson, the chair of the Florida House of Representatives’ Civil Justice Subcommittee, about the usage of monitoring devices in long-term care facilities. She said that they were both compassionate, understanding and sympathetic to her experience.
Sifrit pointed out that Florida was on the path toward passing a measure similar to Esther's Law last year with SB 1486 which was sponsored by Florida Senator Travis Hutson, but the bill died in the Health Policy Committee in May 2023.
If it had passed, it would have authorized residents or their representatives to install and use an electronic monitoring device in the resident's room in long-term care facilities and would have prohibited facilities from denying a person that right, discharging them or otherwise discriminating or retaliating against the resident for installing a camera, according to the bill's description. It would also have provided a criminal penalty for unlawfully obstructing, tampering with or destroying the monitoring device.
"I cannot rest until facilities that house cognitively impaired patients have given the undeniable right to the family, to the caretaker, the healthcare surrogate to have a watchful eye over them [the residents]," Sifrit said.
This article originally appeared on Sarasota Herald-Tribune: Bradenton woman pushes for Florida camera law to prevent elder abuse
