Proposed legislation in Maryland aims to address vulnerable adult abuse with video surveillance
BALTIMORE -- Proposed legislation introduced in Maryland aims to address vulnerable adult abuse by requiring nursing homes and assisted living facilities to use video surveillance.
Under HB576, the facilities would be required to operate video surveillance specifically in common areas, including dining areas, meeting rooms, hallways, facility entrances, activity rooms, and living rooms.
The bill would also require video surveillance to operate continuously.
The surveillance requirements would exclude private living spaces and areas where residents receive medical care or nursing services.
A hearing on the bill is set for Feb. 13 at 1 p.m.
Elderly abuse in Maryland
Maryland is no stranger to incidents of elderly abuse.
In December 2024, a Baltimore County caregiver was sentenced to four years of probation for assaulting a resident in a housing facility for people with developmental disabilities in April 2024.
A neighbor living near the facility reviewed security footage from a camera on the side of her home that captured the facility, Creative Options, Inc. in Baltimore.
The footage showed a disabled man exiting the facility and throwing a chicken bone over the fence into a neighbor's yard, before the man's caregiver, Omubo Micah, 55, assaulted the man.
Approaching from behind, Micah grabbed the disabled man by the shirt and threw him aside before hitting the man in the head and throwing punches at him, the AG's office said.
In April 2024, Maryland Attorney General Anthony Brown announced a string of convictions for abuse of vulnerable adults.
One of them was a 28-year-old caregiver who was sentenced to 10 years in prison after verbally abusing, taunting, and pushing an 80-year-old patient to the ground.
In another case, 26-year-old caregiver Asia Williams was convicted after she was caught on security footage beating and abusing a 21-year-old intellectually disabled patient.
Another caregiver, Donna Myers, and her daughter Allysha Myers, who was not a caregiver, were found guilty of abusing a 30-year-old vulnerable adult with intellectual disabilities.
