While Kellie Bingham’s father was residing in a memory care facility to be treated for dementia, she began to notice bruising on his body.
Bingham eventually installed a camera in his room — as he was unable to speak — to try to determine the source of the bruising. But several times Bingham went to check the footage only to find the camera had been unplugged.
A clip from the footage Bingham was finally able to capture was shown to a Utah legislative committee last month as it considered a bill to enhance protections for patients at such care facilities.
House Majority Whip Karianne Lisonbee, R-Clearfield, introduced the “disturbing” video to the House Health and Human Services Committee on Feb. 20, alongside Bingham, who spoke in favor of Lisonbee’s HB495.
The black-and-white video shows a facility employee pull a blanket over Bingham’s father’s legs, before turning back to strike him in the torso. The patient grunts in pain and the employee says, “Knock it off.”
Bingham told the committee her father has since died.
“It’s important to note, as well, that video camera only recorded four nights worth of footage, and in four nights my father was assaulted like that six times,” she said. “And that’s just until I could get a good angle to catch him, but that happened for months.”
Bingham’s story is likely not unique, as research from the National Library of Medicine published in 2023 estimates up to 23.1% of older adults with dementia experienced physical abuse, and as many as 62% suffered psychological abuse.
Lisonbee noted that the man was previously asked to leave his job at a separate facility or be fired, and Bingham said although he pleaded guilty and served time in prison, he was able to obtain certification as a nursing assistant while incarcerated.
“He was never flagged as an abuser because he didn’t have his CNA when the assault happened. He got it afterward,” she said.
“So the concern is that this individual could go and apply and be hired and work for a memory care facility, work for a nursing home in the state of Utah and continue to abuse vulnerable adults,” Lisonbee said. “I would like to find a solution.”
That’s why she sponsored HB495, which requires fingerprint background checks for some employees who have direct access to patients such as Bingham’s father, requires facilities to report incidents of abuse, neglect or exploitation, and requires the Department of Health and Human Services to compile data on such incidents.
It also prohibits people from receiving nursing assistant training while incarcerated and makes it illegal to deactivate or interfere with monitoring devices in patients’ rooms.
“Colleagues, this is not acceptable,” Lisonbee told House colleagues on the floor on Feb. 26, after describing the video of patient abuse. “This bill fixes all of those problems.”
HB495 was passed unanimously by both the House and Senate during the last week of the recent legislative session. It was one of 81 bills signed by Gov. Spencer Cox on Thursday and will take effect July 1.
Cox has now signed 326 bills of the 591 approved by the Legislature. He has until March 21 to sign or veto any legislation.
Also among the recent batch of bills signed was HB560, which repeals parts of last year’s abortion clinic ban. That bill was also sponsored by Lisonbee, who said it is meant to “simplify” legal questions that have held up the clinic ban and the state’s near-total abortion trigger ban in court.