CCTV Frequently Asked Questions
1. What is CCTV?
2. What sort of technology is used in CCTV systems?
3. Can CCTV reduce crime?
4. What does the public think of CCTV?

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A frame from a video shot by Chantal Contant allegedly showing her father,
Leandre, 78, being abused by staff is shown at a news conference in Montreal
Thursday, Oct. 12, 2006. (CP / Ryan Remiorz)

 View larger image

A frame from a video shot by Chantal Contant allegedly showing her father, Leandre, 78, being abused by staff is shown at a news conference in Montreal Thursday, Oct. 12, 2006. (CP / Ryan Remiorz)

 

Image taken from hidden video that was placed in the nursing home.  View larger image Chantal Contant, whose father Leandre is seen in the video, pauses during a news conference in Montreal on Thursday. (CP / Ryan Remiorz) Lawyer Jean-Pierre Menard gestures while speaking to media during a press conference on Thursday.

Hidden camera used in elder abuse lawsuit

Updated Thu. Oct. 12 2006 2:22 PM ET

CTV.ca News Staff

The family of an elderly Alzheimer's patient is suing a nursing home near Montreal after a hidden camera allegedly revealed the patient being mistreated by staff.

The images were captured by Chantal Contant, whose 78-year-old father Leandre was a patient at the CLSC-CHSLD Meilleur long-term care facility in L'Assomption, Que.

Video footage from the hidden camera allegedly reveals poor hygiene at the home and an orderly dragging a frail Contant on the floor after a fall in Dec. 2005.

The orderly has since been fired and is facing possible criminal charges.

CTV's Stephane Giroux, reporting from Montreal, said the family had hired high-profile Montreal lawyer Jean-Pierre Menard and was suing the long-term care facility for $80,000.

"Chantal felt that there was something wrong, so she installed a hidden camera inside his room and she caught an orderly dragging her father on the floor in a very rough manner," Giroux told CTV News Thursday.

Giroux said after the family complained about the treatment, the orderly was promptly fired and is still under investigation for "possible criminal" actions.

However, Giroux continued, the problems did not end there.

"Mrs. Contant said the staff became extremely cold and uncooperative the second she denounced the woman who abused her father," said Giroux.

Contant then reinstalled the camera in her father's bedroom, only to find he was still being neglected and mistreated.

Footage revealed staff changing her father's diaper "without cleaning him up" first and her father not being fed properly. 

"This is an Alzheimer's patient who cannot complain, who cannot talk, who cannot do anything," Giroux said.

Alzheimer's disease is a progressive brain disorder that gradually destroys a person's memory and ability to learn, reason, make judgments, communicate and carry out daily activities.

After several complaints to the nursing home, Contant decided to hire Menard to take legal action on behalf of her father.

"The amount is symbolic, but there's a history of abuse here that they want addressed," Giroux told CTV News.

"It's one case after another after another," Menard told reporters Thursday. "At some time, this has to change. People are fed up with this kind of situation."

CLSC-CHSLD Meilleur has so far made no comment on the lawsuit, Giroux reported.

What is 

EXview HAD CCD is a trademark of Sony Corporation. EXview HAD CCD is a CCD that drastically improves light efficiency by including near infrared light region as a basic structure of HAD (Hole-Accumulation Diode) sensor.

In the field of surveillance cameras and on-board cameras, there are needs to film with high sensitivity in not only light but also in dark environments.  To answer these needs, Sony has developed the new structure "EXview HAD CCD", which is capable of detecting with great sensitivity near infrared light region which is unable to be discerned by the naked eye.  Light in the near infrared light region which has long wavelengths is converted into photoelectricity deep in the semiconductor's silicon, so in conventional CCD structure, sensors were incapable of efficiently gathering the charge which has undergone photoelectric conversion.  This "EXview HAD CCD" structure has made it possible to use as video information the charge of near infrared light which was hitherto invalid.  This resulted in a dramatic region improvement in sensitivity.  This in turn made it possible to film in the dark by radiating near infrared light which is invisible to the naked eye onto the object being filmed, which opens up applications in a broad range of applications, such as surveillance cameras, on-board cameras and scientific measurement cameras.

Comparison of Image of EXview HAD CCD and Conventional CCD

Imaging conditions: LED illumination in completely dark room

LED specifications: light source output 8.9 mW, wavelength 945 nm, half width 45 nm, illumination distance 1m

EXview HAD CCD (Black and White mode)

Conventional CCD (Black and White mode)

The graph below shows a comparison of the spectral sensitivity characteristics of the EXviewHAD CCD and a conventional CCD.  With a wavelength of 945 nm, EXview HAD CCD achieves sensitivity approximately 4 times that of a conventional CCD.  With regard to smears, with Diagonal 6 mm interline transfer, an industry best of -115 dB (compared to conventional CCD -20 dB) is achieved.  Furthermore, by possessing a conventional HAD sensor structure it has a low dark current, and it also supports electronic shutters.

Comparison of Spectral Sensitivity Characteristics of EXview HAD CCD and Conventional CCD

 

 

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