VA Patient Deaths Lead to Bill on Security Cameras

While much of the security talk in healthcare facilities remains centered on protection against cyberattacks and ransomware, more traditional security issues remain high priorities for managers.

In the wake of security lapses that allowed a nursing assistant to kill multiple patients at a West Virginia veterans hospital, the U.S. House of Representatives recently passed a bill meant to increase the use of video cameras for patient safety, according to WV Metro News.

Increased use of cameras in veterans healthcare facilities was a key recommendation of a 100-page probe of the deaths at Louis A. Johnson VA Medical Center in Clarksburg. The inspector general for Veterans Affairs concluded installation of cameras in sensitive areas of hospitals could suppress criminal behavior, one of several recommendations made through the probe. Former nursing assistant Reta Mays was sentenced last week to consecutive life terms for the deaths of eight veterans.