Hidden cameras keep a watchful eye on care

New York's attorney general is expanding the use of hidden camera technology to the Buffalo region.

The Attorney General's Medicaid Fraud Control Unit has been a national leader in using this high-tech surveillance to expose and prosecute the mistreatment of residents in nursing facilities, according to news reports. Nearly 30 convictions related to endangering residents' health and falsifying records to hide neglect have stemmed from use of this technology.

It involves the placement of cameras in resident rooms to secretly document the level of care provided by the facilities' staff. Residents' families provide full consent. 

Recently, Attorney General Andrew Cuomo announced the arrest of four employees of a Medford, Long Island, nursing home in connection with neglect of a resident who required assistance with all activities of daily living, as well as other conduct that endangered the resident.