Advise regarding whether fitting a camera is ethically right !

[Aliharper22]

Hi my mom was diagnosed with Alzheimer’s March last year , she is still able to do her own personal care slowly ,prepare ready meals ,basic salad and sandwiches, but noticed over lockdown quite a rapid deterioration,she has seen only me as I do her main items of shopping ,although she was still managing to order her own Wiltshire farm food meals via phone.
i have joint account internet banking On my moms account and have noticed she hasn’t been ordering any ready meals over the last few weeks, and the ones she did have do not seem to be going down, this week I’ve noticed there is still quite a bit of un eaten food in the fridge.i did ask her about it and mom tells me she is eating ?i understand about what is ethically right,but does me fitting a camera in her kitchen ,go against her rights , I do have power of attorney ,however am torn between what is ethically right and trying to gauge ,whether mom is reaching a point where she now needs some form of help with regards to meal preparation , she is desperately trying to hold on to her independence,which I have tried to encourage ,but am now reaching a point where I feel she is so distracted by things ,rearranging ,moving things around in her cupboards ,sorting paperwork (although I have organised things with her and put them in her box )she is forgetting to eat .any advice would be really appreciated

 

[karaokePete]

Hello @Aliharper22, you are welcome here and I hope you find the forum to be a friendly and supportive place.

I know that camera installations have been discussed before so maybe use of the 'Search' facility would throw up these discussions for you.

I hope you have time to take a good look around the site as it is a goldmine for information. When I first joined I read old threads for information but then found the AS Publications list and the page where a post code search can be done to check for support services in ones own area. If you are interested in these, clicking the following links will take you there

https://www.alzheimers.org.uk/get-support/publications-factsheets-full-list

https://www.alzheimers.org.uk/find-support-near-you

You will see that there are Factsheets that will help with things like getting care needs assessments, deciding the level of care required and sorting out useful things like Wills, Power of Attorney etc., if any of that hasn't already been done. There is also a Dementia Guide in the list.


Now that you have found us I hope you will keep posting as the membership has vast collective knowledge and experience.

 

[marionq]

She is your mother and you want to protect her and look after her. You have POA. I would say install the camera. She may or may not remember it's there. I had one when I left my husband with his sister for an hour or so to go shopping. Neither was reliable so to be able to look at my phone and see them drinking tea or watching TV eased my mind.

 

[canary]

I dont see anything wrong with it - you are trying to enable her independence.

The usual pit-falls are the person with dementia unplugging or even removing the camera as they dont recognise what it is!

 

[nellbelles]

Hello @Aliharper22 a warm welcome to DTP from me also
I personally can see nothing wrong with a camera you are only helping to keep her safe it’s important that she eats.

 

[Jale]

A friend put cameras in her Mum's house - but not in the bathroom and her bedroom. Personally I can't see anything wrong with it, it was something that we discussed doing but Mum had to go into a nursing home before we could act on it. Good Luck

 

[Lynmax]

We installed cameras outside mums house to help prevent unwanted callers ( one in particular was demanding money and a recording of him talking to mum was used by the police to arrest him!) and also one in the lounge and kitchen - all without mum knowing. We had to get the Internet in first but managed it while my brother took her out. The kitchen camera was very useful to check on her to see if she was eating ( no she wasn't) or drinking ( again some problems)

I think you should install them as you are looking after your mums best interests. We were able to keep mum living independently for quite a while with supervision via cameras until a fall led to a hospital admission when we had to admit it was no longer safe for her to live alone.