The U.S. Department of Justice said in a report issued Thursday that two veterans' homes in New Jersey were found to have violated the U.S. Constitution through deficient care and inadequate infection control practices amid the COVID-19 pandemic.
According to the DOJ's report, an investigation "found reasonable cause to believe the residents of the New Jersey Veterans Memorial Homes at Menlo Park and Paramus face unreasonable harm and risk due to inadequate infection control practices and inadequate medical care, in violation of the U.S. Constitution," specifically the 14th Amendment.
The veterans' homes are operated by the New Jersey Department of Military and Veterans Affairs, an agency which is supposed to provide quality long-term nursing care to veterans and their family members.
According to the 43-page DOJ report on its findings:
The Coronavirus disease 20191 (COVID) outbreak in March and April of 2020 devastated the Veterans Memorial Homes at Menlo Park and Paramus (collectively, the Veterans Homes). One worker described the situation in Paramus as “pure hell.” Another described Menlo Park as“a battlefield.” Even by the standards of the pandemic’s difficult early days, the facilities were unprepared to keep their residents safe. A systemic inability to implement clinical care policy, poor communication between management and staff, and a failure to ensure basic staff competency let the virus spread virtually unchecked throughout the facilities. During the first wave of the pandemic, the Veterans Homes had the first and fourth highest number of publicly reported resident COVID deaths of all long-term care facilities in the State of New Jersey.
The DOJ found that the "initial chaos" eventually "decreased but did not end," and said investigators found "continuing issues that place the residents of the Veterans Homes at an ongoing risk of harm."
What's more, even after the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs "arrived at the Veterans Homes in late April 2020" and "implemented basic infection control protocols and provided needed leadership," the state officials charged with running the homes "failed to implement." a "set of detailed recommendations" to improve conditions and care for veterans or "otherwise meaningfully reform their infection control practices."
Beyond the homes' handling of COVID, the investigation found that there are "ongoing failures" in keeping veteran residents safe beyond just infection control. "The clinical care currently provided by the Veterans Homes is inadequate in multiple areas, including monitoring residents for changes in condition, care planning, implementing a falls program, administering medication, providing wound care, and ensuring basic care competencies." These ongoing failures, DOJ said, "harms residents and places residents at a substantial risk of harm" going forward.
As U.S. Attorney for the District of New Jersey Philip R. Sellinger rightfully noted in a statement that, "Those who served to protect this nation and their families are entitled to appropriate care when they reside at a veterans’ home. The Paramus and Menlo Park veterans’ homes fail to provide the care required by the U.S. Constitution and subject their residents to unacceptable conditions, including inadequate infection control and deficient medical care," Sellinger reiterated. "These conditions must swiftly be addressed to ensure that our veterans and their families at these facilities receive the care they so richly deserve. We will not stop working until they do," he pledged.
The DOJ's report recommended a number of corrective actions including work on the homes' infection control practices, improving general medical and physical health care, ensuring quality management, and providing systems for oversight and accountability.
If the "deficiencies identified" in the DOJ's report are not "satisfactorily addressed" within 49 days of the report's issuance, the U.S. Attorney General may "initiate a lawsuit" to force needed corrections.