He installed cameras and shared clips as city officials face questions about Medicaid-funded home care oversight.
WASHINGTON — A District resident who was paralyzed in a wrestling accident says some of his overnight nurses and aides have slept through shifts in his apartment, prompting complaints to agencies and fresh warnings from advocates about weak oversight of Medicaid-funded home care.
The case centers on Damon Brooks, a wheelchair user who says he relies on city-managed caregivers to remain at home. Brooks says he documented repeated overnight sleeping by workers and reported it to nursing agencies and District officials. The Department of Health Care Finance oversees the Elderly and Persons with Physical Disabilities program that funds such care and says aides must be available and follow each patient’s plan of care. Long-term care ombudsman staff and legal advocates say the reports fit a wider pattern as D.C. struggles to staff difficult shifts and police misconduct in private homes.
Brooks, a sports writer, said the problem grew worse this fall. He described a reliable daytime nurse but a revolving door at night. “Every night since I’ve had this accident, I’ve had employees sleeping, snoring on the job,” he said, adding that he sometimes sat on wet bed pads or missed scheduled catheter care. He said he placed multiple cameras in plain sight, collected hours of recordings and emailed images to a deputy mayor’s office, council members and the nursing agencies. He said aides occasionally failed to show, leaving his mother to help. Asked if he believed he would be safe in an emergency overnight, Brooks answered, “Truthfully, I don’t know.” He estimates he has worked with more than 40 nurses through one agency.
Holly Eaton, a senior attorney with the D.C. Office of the Long-Term Care Ombudsman, told a council roundtable she has clients who report aides bringing “blankets, pillows and hair rollers” to overnight shifts “with no intention to work.” Mark Miller, also with the ombudsman’s office, said aides who sleep are “taking taxpayer dollars and not providing the service,” calling it potential fraud and neglect. The health finance department said aides must be “consistently available to deliver services as needed” and act according to each person’s plan of care. Advocates said agencies sometimes avoid assigning aides to cases where clients are vocal about needs or use cameras, and that some residents fear reporting issues could leave them with no aide at all. The scope remains unclear, in part because problems in private homes can go unreported.
Records reviewed by the News4 I-Team show at least one complaint in 2023 about sleeping at an agency Brooks previously used; the agency said it issued verbal warnings and retrained staff on a no-sleeping policy. Legal Aid D.C. told lawmakers this year that D.C.’s pool of licensed home health aides shrank by more than 1,700 between August 2023 and January 2024, contributing to chronic understaffing and missed hours. The department’s ombudsman office lists help lines and fair-hearing options for residents disputing services. The Medicaid waiver program that supports many people like Brooks is meant to keep residents at home and out of institutions, a goal advocates say becomes harder when overnight shifts go uncovered or poorly supervised.
The department has sanctioning and enforcement authority over agencies, Miller said, and advocates want stronger use of those tools, plus incentives for nights and weekends. Brooks said he has filed complaints with his case manager and agencies and remains in contact with District offices. Reporters said they sought comment from agencies that staffed his home but got no response. Advocates urged more inspections, quicker responses to complaints and clearer consequences for sleeping or no-shows. Some proposed changes are before the D.C. Council in separate workforce measures, including pay and licensing reforms intended to attract and retain aides for harder-to-fill shifts.
Brooks said he worries about other residents with fewer resources or weaker networks. “If others are subjected to this, we may have casualties,” he said. As of Thursday, he said he was still seeking consistent overnight coverage while his daytime care continued as scheduled. District officials have not announced disciplinary actions in his case. A council follow-up on long-term care oversight is expected in the coming weeks.
Author note: Last updated December 19, 2025.