Are there any laws besides the elder abuse law that covers abuse against a patient with Alzheimer's?

If you select google and type in Nursing home workers have been posting abusive photos of elderly on social media and then select the washington post article it will give you a lot more information. Unfortunately these sad morons should never be allowed to take breath let alone work in such an environment as caring for the desperately vulnerable.

IMHO the manager should be sacked for not controlling this. All care homes should have a no mobile phone policy.

In the UK this would be a really serious offence in terms of exploitation and sexual abuse of an elderly mentally frail person and would carry stiff penalties. PLUS depending on hw graphic the photos were there is an issue of pornography potentially. Certainly it will breach snapchat's terms and conditions I am sure so they to might sue.

Still a grey area and I hope they throw the book at her and throw away the key. More significantly if the person is on some form of Isurance it may have far deeper repercussions because there will be some serious rules in there about what can and cannot be done and this definitely falls into the latter

Office of Long Term Care or its equivalent in your state needs to be involved.

Adult Protective Services needs to be involved. If the facility failed to make a report to them they are in flagrant violation of their requirements.

Either way the person who did this needs to never be allowed to work as a caregiver again.

Jude, I found that Post article. Thanks for the tip.

Garcia, the filters created by the Admins will delete a dot com article, so I've forwarded the link to you by PM.

The article states that posting such photos may be a violation of the HIPAA Act. There's a lot of good information, including charges brought against some of the people who took the photos. This should help the police; they can access the crimes and charges through their law enforcement networks.

Garcia, your profile doesn't indicate what state you or your FIL are in so you'll have to rely on Federal laws, but there may be some for your state that would apply as well.

I believe there are statutes addressed "protected individuals". I don't recall offhand what the definition is and don't have time to research it, but someone with dementia might fall into that category.

Research your state's website to see if there is an elder care agency to contact about what state laws might apply. Michigan has such an agency, with resources to provide legal advice for income qualified individuals.

Other options: focus on the issue of manipulation of a compromised individual, public (within the facility) humiliation, bullying and embarrassment, as well as intent to humiliate and mock someone. I'm inclined to think the bullying charge might be construed to apply.

Posting it to SnapChat involves public humiliation, and could possibly be stretched to include character defamation.

Your FIL likely couldn't give permission, so there might a law addressing unauthorized taking of photographs and posting in a public forum. That's a touchy issue now because so many people have no sense of decency and post inappropriate photos.

You might want to research to determine what that congressman from NY was charged with - he was the one sending intimate photos of himself. Of course the difference was that he voluntarily sent the photos.

There might be an intent aspect to gross indecency charges, i.e., the girls had the intent to create such a situation.


Beyond the laws, I would most certainly file a protest with the facility and demand discipline, such as firing, for those involved. I would research and find out what state and/or federal agencies monitor that facility and report to it. Medicare should be notified, as well as Medicaid if your father is getting it.

You might also do some federal research and determine what the soldiers were charged with when they allegedly humiliated the Abu Gharaib prisoners.

I feel for your family; this must be so frustrating, and I do hope you get redress and assistance from the police as well as the facility. And I hope those who did it are fired and the CNA's license (if she has one) is revoked. She should be ostracized, in my opinion.

Just thought of something else. It might be a stretch, but perhaps some of the laws addressing hate crimes might apply. I think there are some similarities with anti-black, anti-Muslim and anti-gay activities that could apply to anti-Alzheimer's persecution. I would think that the behavior of the idiots involved would reflect a level of discrimination against an Alzheimer's patient.

Another long shot would be for the police to contact the service provider of the CNA's Internet Service, inform them she used the service for inappropriate, unauthorized, and what might be considered persecutorial and/or obscene purposes and see if they'll cancel her service.

Sexual harassment of a patient?

Thank you so much for the help....

I would make an appointment with an Elder Law attorney to have him/her advise you on what to do next.

I would contact your Attorney General..