State Senator Pat Billie Miller (D-Stamford), Chair of the Aging Committee, led unanimous passage of a bill that would allow residents of long-term care facilities the right to treat their living spaces as their homes and have better access to virtual monitoring or virtual visitation.
The bill, Senate Bill 975, An Act Strengthening The Bill Of Rights For Long-Term Care Facility Residents now heads to the state House of Representatives for consideration.
“Residents in Connecticut, no matter where they reside, should have the opportunity to use the technology of their choice to see their loved ones,” said Sen. Miller. “Numerous residents were isolated during the pandemic which placed a terrible mental and emotional strain on far too many of our elderly and disabled. This bill is an important reform to strengthen the rights of long-term care residents who deserve to feel at home and to have the same opportunities we all take for granted.”
This bill adds to the nursing home patients’ bill of rights which applies to patients in nursing homes, residential care homes, and chronic disease hospitals. For these patients, the bill adds the right to treat their living quarters as their own home. It also specifies that they have no fewer rights than other state residents, subject to rules designed to protect other patients’ privacy, health, and safety at the facility.
Under the bill, this includes the right to associate and communicate privately with people the patient chooses and purchase and use technology the patient chooses, including technology that facilitates virtual visitation with family and others.
The bill also extends these rights to residents of managed residential communities (e.g., assisted living facilities) under their bill of rights, which is generally similar to the nursing home patients’ bill of rights.
