Esther's Law Protects Ohio Seniors in Nursing and Rehabilitation Institutions by Permitting Cameras and Monitoring

Residents of Ohio’s nursing homes are permitted to place electronic monitoring devices in their rooms. “Esther’s Law” went into effect on March 23, 2022, after passing unanimously through the Ohio House and Senate and being signed by Governor Mike DeWine on December 22, 2021. This bipartisan legislation demonstrates that ridding Ohio is committed to reducing elder abuse generally, and particularly in institutions charged with caring for Ohio's vulnerable elderly residents. 

The genesis of Esther’s Law (Ohio Revised Code § 3721.60, et seq.), was a shocking video depicting the abuse of the bill’s namesake, Esther Piskor, at the hands of her nursing home care providers. Esther’s son Steve Piskor suspected his mother was the victim of abuse in an Ohio nursing home. In September 2011, Steve placed a hidden camera in his mother’s room which caught and documented six weeks of abuse. Nurses and aides threw Esther around the room, sprayed her in the face with unknown substances, and yelled at and neglected her. Mr. Piskor has since worked to ensure Elder Abuse will be driven out of Ohio’s nursing homes.

The law allows a nursing home resident, the resident’s guardian, or the resident's agent under a power of attorney, to authorize the installation of an electronic monitoring device in the resident's room under the following conditions: (1) the resident or the resident’s representative completes and submits a form to the facility, if the facility prescribes a form for the device and (2) the resident pays for the cost of the device and its upkeep. A resident may withdraw authorization at any time.

If the resident has a roommate, the consent of the other resident is required before any monitoring device may be installed. The roommate may consent based on certain conditions, such as agreed upon angling of the device, or limitations as to the use of the device. Devices must be installed and used in accordance with the consent of all residents residing in the room.

Nursing home operators and their staff should also be aware that the law requires reasonable attempts to accommodate residents to be made where a resident wishes to install an electronic monitoring device, but a roommate refuses to consent. Reasonable accommodation expressly includes moving the resident to another room where installation would be permitted if available.

The scope of Esther’s Law is currently limited to “long-term care” facilities defined as nursing homes and skilled nursing facilities and currently does not extend to assisted-living accommodations that do not meet the “long-term care facility” classification.  State legislators have indicated, however, that the scope of Esther’s Law may expand to other types of facilities in the near future.

Steve Piskor and the State Senators sponsoring Esther’s Law state that the goal of the law is to prevent abuse in the first instance, and not to be a reactive tool after abuse has occurred. This goal is made clear and is served by the law permitting long-term care facilities to place notices outside of the resident’s room to notify others that electronic monitoring is taking place.  In other words, the law is not intended to encourage secretive monitoring merely to encourage or facilitate litigation.

The law also prohibits any denial of admission, discharge, discrimination, or retaliation based on a resident’s decision to exercise the right to install an electronic monitoring device.  

Obviously, seniors and family members should seriously consider the use of such devices.  Keep in mind that even inexpensive and relatively unreliable devices will result in the placing of a notice that a device is electronic monitoring is taking place. Many home residents and merchants purchase signs advising that security systems and electronic surveillance exists, even where no such systems or devices are employed; deterrence is the first goal of any security or safety system or plan.