Illinois Attorney General Lisa Madigan is pushing a proposal to allow audio and visual monitoring in nursing homes. The cameras wouldn’t be owned or operated by the state. Instead, the proposal would allow families to buy and install a monitoring device. Madigan says it’s an obvious move.
"Low-cost technology allows somebody to actually see their dog at the kennel on their computer or on their cell phone during the day, but we don’t have the ability to see our own parents if they’re in a nursing home."
Madigan says there are over a hundred thousand people in nursing homes in Illinois, a number that’s expected to balloon with the aging Baby Boomer population.
The Illinois Department of Public Health investigates about 5-thousand complaints a year. Those complaints range from physical abuse to neglecting patients. Howard Mendelsohn is one of the people the measure is designed to protect.
"If they were recorded and somebody could see what actually goes on in some of these institutions, they would change things for the better."
Five other states already have similar laws in place.