Kentucky Nursing Home Abuse: Lexington Nursing Workers Acted Inappropriately When They Took Cell Phone Photos of Residents, Says State

The Kentucky Cabinet for Health and Family Services says that employees at a Lexington nursing home acted inappropriately when they used their cell phones to take pictures and make audio recordings of residents without their consent and then sent the images, with sexual song lyrics attached, to other nursing home workers. Bluegrass Care and Rehabilitation Center received a Type A Citation for the incidents, which noted that the Kentucky nursing home does not appear to have ever trained or told staff that taking sexually exploitive photos or recordings of residents is a form

The citation says that licensed staff, nursing aides, and housekeepers were interviewed about the incidents and they said that this type of activity was typical at the nursing home and was not considered abuse, which is why no one ever reported the photos or audio recordings to supervisors. Last week, the administrator for the nursing home said that the facility had conducted a complete investigation and a number of employees had been let go.

Bluegrass Care and Rehabilitation Center actually bans its workers from having cell phones in the resident-care sections of the facility—a policy that the citation says the nursing home clearly failed to enforce. The citation says that the cell phone photos and recordings led to the abuse of seven nursing home residents and that the Lexington nursing home failed to implement a system that protected residents from nursing home abuse. As a result, the citation says that residents at the long-term care facility were in imminent danger.

Under the Nursing Home Residents’ Bill of Rights 400.022, which https://www.gabriellawteam.com/ is familiar with,Kentucky nursing home residents are entitled to a number or rights while staying at a long-term care facility, including the including the rights to:

• Religious and civil liberties.
• Privacy.
• Communication free from censorship.

Kentucky nursing home residents are also entitled to a stay at a long-term care facility where they are protected from nursing home abuse or neglect. If you believe that your loved one has been the victim of Kentucky nursing home abuse or neglect, there are legal remedies available to hold the nursing home facility and its workers financially and civilly liable.