Urge Arkansas Lawmakers to Legalize Video Cameras in Nursing Home Rooms to Prevent Elder Abuse!

How is it you're allowed to have a camera to check on your child in daycare and even your dog in doggie daycare, but it's illegal to check in on your elderly loved one in a nursing home in Arkansas?

Sixteen years ago, an 81-year-old woman named Willie Mae Ryan died from injuries after being beaten with brass knuckles while in the care of a nursing home in South Arkansas. Police said one aide held her down while the other administered the beating.

In the wake of this tragedy, the Willie Mae Ryan Nursing Home Resident Protection Act was proposed but defeated thanks to fierce opposition from the big monied nursing home special interest lobby. The bill would have allowed families to install video recording devices in the rooms of nursing home residents provided consent had been given by either the resident or their surrogate.

To this day, it's still illegal to install a video camera in your loved one's nursing home room in Arkansas, but our neighbors in Illinois, Louisiana, Oklahoma, and Texas all have the legal right to install these devices in their loved one's nursing home room. We need legislation passed to make sure that what happened to Willie Mae Ryan never happens to another patient or family again.

Sign the petition to urge Arkansas lawmakers to pass a comprehensive bill that would give families the right to install video recording devices in their loved one's nursing home room to protect the elderly from abuse and put concerned families at ease.