Nursing Home Residents Abused by Social Media Photos and Videos

The popularity of smartphones and social media can be a bad combination for nursing home residents when employees abuse their positions. Nursing home residents, especially those with dementia, can become the subjects of social media posts without their consent. This loss of privacy shows a fundamental lack of respect for residents and is a form of abuse.

Satterley & Kelley, PLLC represents Kentucky abused and neglected nursing home residents. If your parent or loved one was physically, emotionally, financially, or sexually abused at their nursing home, contact us so we can find out what is happening and stop it from continuing. Call us today at (855) 385-9532.

Taking away a nursing home resident’s privacy without their consent is a form of emotional abuse. Depending on the images, it may be a form of sexual abuse as well.

Newspaper Reports Numerous Times Employees Violated Residents’ Privacy at Iowa Nursing Homes

The Iowa Capital Dispatch reports that over the past five years, there have been fifteen documented cases of nursing home staff taking photos or videos of often vulnerable and cognitively impaired residents. They can end up on social media in demeaning, humiliating, or exploitative ways.

These are only the ones state authorities learned about. There may be many more that nursing homes don’t report to Iowa’s regulatory agency, as well as additional instances that facilities aren’t aware of.

The documented examples include the following:

• At the Bishop Drumm Retirement Center in Johnston, a resident was photographed sitting in a wheelchair wearing a bonnet, with the caption, “Like, why are you stealing my bonnet?”
• At the same facility, a resident on a toilet with pants around their ankles was videoed, with an employee waving their feet under the resident’s nose while the resident protested, “Stop doing that, your feet stink.” The caption read “Gassed.”
• Another employee videoed a resident lying in bed while another worker “twerked” in front of the resident’s face
• A resident was photographed on a toilet with their pants pulled down, her shirt off, with one side of a breast exposed

The Nora Springs Care Center was fined $500 for failing to report a staff member’s complaint that another employee livestreamed a partially undressed resident on Snapchat. The nursing home stated it investigated the claims but found no evidence to support them. However, they were obligated to report the complaint, whether or not they substantiated it.

This Problem is Not Limited to Iowa, According to Reports on Incidents Across the US

Colorado’s Long-Term Care Ombudsman published a report in October examining 100 incidents of privacy violations in 30 states that happened between 2017 and 2025. The information came from state agencies regulating nursing homes.

The incidents involved caregivers taking unauthorized photos and videos of residents and posting them on social media. The report states there were “many disturbing incidents” of pictures and videos, “showing naked residents in compromised positions in their beds or in their bathrooms with feces on them, or verbal/mental or physical abuse of residents with demeaning captions.”

Colorado authorities found the following:

• The most common social media platform used by abusers was Snapchat, followed by Facebook. Other platforms used include TikTok and Instagram
• The reports covered 209 unauthorized social media posts
• Videos were used in 68% of the cases, and a quarter used photos
• 31% of the reports involved social media captions that were demeaning or abusive
• Unauthorized videos and pictures were taken in a variety of locations, but were most commonly shot in bedrooms

The report also finds the following:

• The reports involve 117 victims with information about their cognitive abilities
• 103 (88%) have some level of cognitive impairment. Nineteen have a moderate impairment, while 37 have severe impairment
• 14 (12%) were reported as cognitively intact

Investigators also looked at the perpetrators:

• 154 individuals (153 employees and a boyfriend) were directly or indirectly involved in the incidents
• 73% were Certified Nursing Aides or Nursing Assistants
• The rest of the direct perpetrators worked in various positions

Excuses and reasons for these privacy violations stated in the investigation reports include the following:

• The employee was mad at someone and accidentally posted the material
• The person had a bad day and wanted to “vent”
• Grandchildren played with her phone and posted a photo
• The employee claimed she didn’t know her phone was livestreaming
• Frustration with other employees for not helping her
• The employee thought the resident looked “cute”
• “We were having a good time.”
• Other employees posted photos, so she thought it was OK

These acts represent intentional humiliation of a vulnerable adult in a setting where the resident should be safe, respected, and protected.

How These Incidents Violate Nursing Home Residents’ Rights

Nursing homes must provide an environment that safeguards their health, safety, dignity, respect, and privacy. If staff deliberately record and or distribute images of residents without their consent, in compromising positions, with captions mocking them, residents suffer from abuse, neglect, and exploitation.

What You Should Do If Your Loved One is Exploited or Abused by Nursing Home Staff

Contact Satterley & Kelley, PLLC to discuss the situation. We can go over your loved one’s legal rights, what they’re entitled to, possible compensation for what they’ve endured, and how we can make the situation right.

A nursing home will probably take a complaint and inquiry from a law firm more seriously than if it comes from a family member. They know we will take the issue seriously, will not let it drop, and that their indifference will have consequences.

Your loved one deserves a safe nursing home where staff respect and care for them, not exploit them and make them the butt of social media jokes. To set up a free initial consultation with an experienced nursing home abuse lawyer at our firm, call our Louisville office at 502-589-5600 (toll-free at 855-385-9532) or contact us online.