A caregiver at an Iowa nursing home resident recorded video of a resident urinating and then shared the video with others at a local high school and in a Snapchat group, state inspectors reported.

The Iowa Department of Inspections, Appeals and Licensing has fined the Clearview Home in Mount Ayr $500 for failing to report resident abuse.

According to inspectors, a caregiver at the home used her cellphone at some point prior to April 1, 2026, to record video of a male resident who was diagnosed with a severe cognitive impairment. The video allegedly captured the man urinating into a trash can in the facility’s chapel.

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On May 20, a certified nursing assistant gave a written report to the home’s administration that she had been walking into “the locker room at school” — the report suggests some of the workers at the home are high school students — when she was approached by another girl who worked at the facility. The CNA wrote that the girl said to her, “Hey, look at this, it’s funny,” and then showed her a video of a male resident urinating into the trash can as the video zoomed in on him.

“We both laughed, then the bell rang so I left to go to class,” the CNA wrote in her report, according to inspectors. “I don’t remember how long ago it happened, probably over a month ago. I did not report it because I did not feel like I saw anything inappropriate in the video because he was fully dressed.”

On May 19, 2026, the CNA allegedly reported the video to a registered nurse. By that time, the resident in the video had been discharged to a nearby assisted living facility, according to inspectors.

The employee who shot the video, who served as a CNA in the home, was then interviewed by the home’s administration, and stated that she had shared the video with others in a Snapchat group consisting of five other CNAs who work at Clearview, but said she no longer had the video on her phone.

According to inspectors, the girl was asked how she was able to show the video to someone in the local high school’s locker room if it wasn’t saved on her phone. She allegedly replied that she couldn’t recall how she was able to do that, adding that the video was “taken a while ago — like, months ago.”

The girl was fired that day and Clearview subsequently updated its cellphone policy and educated the staff on residents’ privacy rights and reporting requirements related to resident abuse.

Previous privacy incident involved teenage caregiver

It’s not the first time a teenage caregiver at Clearview has allegedly violated a resident’s right to privacy and dignity through social-media sharing.

In December 2022 or January 2023, a caregiver at the home recorded video of a male resident in bed tearing up his briefs. The worker later explained that she shot the video because she thought it was funny, and asserted that when she placed the phone in her pocket, she accidentally uploaded the video to Snapchat.

According to inspectors, an assistant administrator stated that initially, management of the home dismissed the matter as “teenage drama” between the worker who shot the video and the worker who saw it on Snapchat. However, months later, when another worker was alleged to have taken photos of a different resident, the investigation into the May 2023 incident was reopened and the employee admitted shooting the video.

The home failed to report the matter to the state as required, inspectors alleged.

‘This man is literally dying’

In 2025, an Iowa Capital Dispatch review of state records showed that over the previous five years, there had been at least 15 cases of Iowa nursing home workers being accused of taking photos or videos that violated residents’ right to privacy and dignity.

Among the cases were several at Bishop Drumm Retirement Center in Johnston. In January 2024, the inspectors cited the home for four separate instances of social-media abuse. In one instance, a male resident was photographed sitting in a wheelchair with a blue bonnet on his head with a caption underneath stating, “Like, why are you stealing my bonnet?”

In another instance, video was recorded of a resident sitting on a toilet with their pants around their ankles while an unidentified individual waved their stocking feet back and forth under the resident’s nose as the resident protested, saying, “Stop doing that, your feet stink.” A caption underneath the video read, “Gassed.”

In the third instance, a resident was photographed sitting on a toilet with their pants around their ankles with their shirt off and exposing one side of their breasts. A caption underneath the picture “was not able to be read,” inspectors reported.

In the fourth instance, inspectors reported that a video showed a resident of the home lying in bed with their eyes open and a blanket over them while another individual was “shaking their butt — twerking — in front of the resident’s face.”

The available records indicate each of the four residents was “exposed to social-media abuse by a member of staff,” but they don’t indicate how the photos or videos were shared.

No fines or penalties were imposed by the Iowa Department of Inspections, Appeals and Licensing as a result of the inspectors’ findings.

In November 2024, state officials cited the Good Samaritan Home in Algona with failing to protect residents from personal degradation. The violation was tied to a video posted to social media of a CNA having a conversation with a resident sitting in her wheelchair in her room.

In the video, the worker was seen talking about being the resident’s friend, pulling the woman’s pants up and sitting on her lap. “You can clearly see and hear the resident in the video,” an employee who reported the matter allegedly told inspectors.

In addition, inspectors reported that a dietary aide indicated she had received “a couple of videos” and photos from a former colleague, one of which showed a resident’s feet with a caption stating, “This man is literally dying.” Another photo was of a catheter bag with the caption, “The color of a resident’s p—.”

The Iowa Department of Inspections Appeals and Licensing imposed a $500 fine for resident abuse and the personal degradation of residents, plus a $500 fine for failing to adequately report resident abuse to state regulators.

Privacy violations documented in 2025

In 2025, Colorado’s Long-Term Care Ombudsman published a report that examined 100 incidents of privacy violations in 30 states that took place between March 2017 and April 2025.

The incidents involved caregivers taking unauthorized photos and videos of residents and posting them to various social media platforms. The report cited “many disturbing incidents” of photos 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.”

According to the ombudsman’s report, the states with the most incidents of social-media abuse were Illinois, with nine; Michigan, with eight; and Minnesota, with seven. Along with Iowa, the states of Ohio, Indiana, California, Kansas and Oklahoma each had six incidents detailed in the report.