Ohio Nursing Home Camera Laws: Esther's Law Explained

Ohio's Esther's Law, R.C. sections 3721.60 through 3721.68, gives a nursing home resident the right to install an electronic monitoring device in their own room with facility and roommate consent, but the law does not extend to assisted living or residential care.

Information last verified on 2026-08-14.

This page covers Esther's Law: what it grants, why assisted living is excluded, and what protections apply once a device is in place. For Ohio's general recording-consent law, see Ohio Recording Laws. See the Nursing Home Camera Laws by State hub for how every state approaches this issue, and the existing 50-state statute comparison table for a side-by-side look at every enacted law.

Does Ohio Law Allow Cameras in Nursing Home Rooms?

Yes. Esther's Law, enacted through Senate Bill 58 and signed by Governor Mike DeWine on December 22, 2021, gives a nursing home resident the right to have an electronic monitoring device placed in their room. Per the Ohio Department of Aging's official summary, the resident, or their representative if the resident is unable, must provide consent before a device may be placed. If the resident shares the room with a roommate, the roommate or the roommate's representative must also provide authorization, and any conditions the roommate places on their authorization must be honored. A roommate may withdraw consent at any time.

The law is named for Esther Piskor, a woman in her 70s with dementia who was abused and neglected in an Ohio nursing home for the last three years of her life. Her son, Steve Piskor, placed a hidden camera and documented verbal and physical abuse and neglect. She died in May 2018, and her son worked with Ohio lawmakers, Senators Nickie Antonio and Andrew O. Brenner, to pass the law that carries her name.

Esther's Law Does Not Cover Assisted Living

This is the single most important scope fact for the Ohio page. The Ohio Department of Aging's own FAQ states directly: "Though Esther's Law only applies to the nursing home setting, residents in assisted living/residential care facilities may also be interested in using electronic monitoring. An ombudsman can assist with options in other long-term care settings." A resident of an assisted living or residential care facility in Ohio has no statutory monitoring right under Esther's Law and must work through the Long-Term Care Ombudsman informally, negotiating directly with the facility rather than relying on a state-created legal right.

Pending Bills Would Expand Esther's Law to Assisted Living

Two bills introduced in the current Ohio General Assembly would expand Esther's Law's coverage beyond nursing homes. Senate Bill 154, sponsored by Sen. Catherine Ingram, and House Bill 809, sponsored by Reps. Melanie Miller and Bride Rose Sweeney, would both extend electronic-monitoring rights to assisted living and residential care settings, the exact gap this page describes above. Coverage reported on the bills describes fee caps tied to actual installation and service costs, added protections for Medicaid recipients, and an explicit retaliation ban for residents who choose to use a device. Both bills remain in committee as of this writing and have not passed either chamber. Neither is law, and a resident or family in Ohio assisted living or residential care today still has no statutory monitoring right; check with the Ohio Department of Aging or a state legislator's office for the bills' current status before relying on either changing the law described above.

If a Roommate Refuses to Consent

If the resident's roommate does not consent, the nursing home must make reasonable accommodations to the resident seeking electronic monitoring by moving them to an available room, provided the resident consents to the move.

Signage: Permissive, Not Mandatory

Esther's Law "allows nursing homes to post a notification in a clearly visible location outside the resident's room that electronic monitoring is being conducted in that room," per the Department of Aging's own description. The verb is "allows," not "requires," a real distinction from states that mandate signage. Ohio's statute has a section titled "Posted notice," R.C. 3721.64, and a reader who needs the exact statutory wording, rather than the agency's practical framing, should confirm it directly with the Department of Aging or a copy of the enrolled bill.

Who Pays and Who Can Access the Footage

Ohio Revised Code section 3721.61 is generally understood to place the cost of the device, its installation, maintenance and removal on the resident or the resident's guardian or attorney in fact, other than the cost of electricity, which the facility covers. Only the resident, their representative, law enforcement, or anyone the resident or representative permits may watch or listen to recordings from the device.

Retaliation Ban and Tampering

A nursing home cannot deny admission, discharge, discriminate against, or retaliate against a resident who decides to install an electronic monitoring device, under R.C. 3721.65, titled "No discrimination for use of electronic monitoring device." The nursing home also cannot obstruct, tamper with, or destroy the device or any recording made from it. Ohio's statutory framework, per its own section title, addresses tampering under R.C. 3721.66, treating intentional interference by anyone other than the resident or an authorizing representative as a criminal offense; the reader should confirm the exact statutory language and penalty classification directly with Ohio's official code publisher before relying on a specific criminal grade.

R.C. 3721.67 lets the Director of Health adopt implementing rules, and R.C. 3721.68 is understood to carve out devices installed by a law enforcement agency for a bona fide law-enforcement purpose from the Esther's Law framework.

Using Camera Footage as Evidence of Abuse or Neglect

Esther's Law exists precisely because a hidden camera exposed abuse that had gone undetected for years. Footage that appears to document abuse or neglect can support a report to Ohio's Long-Term Care Ombudsman or Adult Protective Services, and can support a civil claim. Footage alone rarely settles a claim; it is typically reviewed together with the resident's medical and care records, staffing history and the facility's own compliance record.

Audio Recording and Ohio's General Consent Law

Ohio is generally classified as a one-party consent state for recording conversations. Esther's Law's own consent process governs an authorized monitoring device; a device that captures a conversation outside that process, for instance if it is not properly authorized, is governed by Ohio's general recording-consent law instead. See Ohio Recording Laws for that general framework.

Getting Help

Ohio's Long-Term Care Ombudsman program is the practical first stop for a resident or family navigating an Esther's Law request, a facility's refusal to accommodate one, a monitoring dispute in assisted living where the law does not reach, or a suspected abuse or neglect situation.

Related Resources

• Nursing Home Camera Laws by State is the hub page for this cluster, covering every state's regime at a glance.
• The 50-State Nursing Home Camera Law Comparison covers the full 18-state comparison and how Esther's Law compares to its peers.
• Ohio Recording Laws covers the state's general one-party consent framework for recordings made outside Esther's Law.
• Ohio Power of Attorney Laws covers how a representative gets authority to request monitoring on a resident's behalf.
• Nursing Home Abuse & Neglect covers how an abuse or neglect claim works once evidence, including camera footage, is in hand.
• Surveillance Camera Laws by State covers the general legal framework for security cameras outside a nursing home setting.

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Last updated: 2026-08-14.