New Jersey Nursing Homes Were Unprepared for Covid, and They Aren’t Ready for the Next Public Health Emergency, Says Report

A state Department of Health directive about readmitting Covid-19 patients to New Jersey nursing homes from hospitals confounded operators, says a new independent report, and that confusion might have allowed for the spread of Covid-19 among New Jersey’s most vulnerable residents.

A recently released independent report on New Jersey’s Covid-19 response says the state was unprepared for the Covid-19 pandemic that ravaged New Jersey nursing homes, and it remains at risk for the next public health threat, according to a NJ Spotlight News article. While Governor Phil Murphy reviews its 33 recommendations to address the state’s shortcomings, the report brings to light why New Jersey nursing homes were unable to prevent the death of over 16,250 people in nursing homes through March 2022.

According to the article, New Jersey’s Covid-19 response in nursing homes was characterized by inconsistencies and confusion, primarily regarding the interpretation of state Department of Health directives. One such order, given on March 31, 2020, was that nursing homes should accept from hospitals discharged nursing home residents with Covid, provided they could be safely isolated. A third of the state’s nursing homes reported they did not have the personnel, protective gear, or other resources to admit Covid patients. But by the time the NJDOH revised the policy to prohibit admissions except for facilities capable of meeting strict infection-control guidelines, Covid had already begun its rapid spread in New Jersey’s nursing homes.

The following circumstances hindered New Jersey nursing homes’ ability to respond to a burgeoning, rapidly changing pandemic:

• Staffing Shortages—Low nursing home staffing is frequently tied to negligent care within nursing homes and is generally considered to be nursing home malpractice. Typically nursing home neglect as the result of understaffing can lead to nursing home illnesses, injuries, and even death, which would require the intervention of a wrongful death attorney.
• Lack of Personal Protective Equipment (PPE)— According to the report, with the state’s focus on acute rather than long-term care, the majority of masks, gowns, and other PPE went to hospitals rather than nursing homes, leaving long-term staff and residents vulnerable. Typically when nursing homes fail to do their part to prevent infections and residents become seriously ill or die, nursing home malpractice has occurred and loved ones must look into a nursing home lawyer or wrongful death attorney.
• A History of Deficiencies—Some nursing homes had a history of deficiencies even before Covid. For instance, the New Jersey nursing home Andover Subacute and Rehabilitation Center, where early in the pandemic 17 bodies were found piled in a makeshift morgue, had a 1-star rating for three years in a row prior to the pandemic. An inspection by the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services following the makeshift morgue incident revealed the facility’s inability to provide proper infection control, which is a clear incidence of nursing home malpractice.

Advocating for Your Loved One against Nursing Home Abuse, Neglect, and Wrongful Death

Attorney Brian P. Murphy is dedicated to protecting the safety and preserving the rights of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, or New Jersey nursing home residents. Your loved one living in a nursing home should not fear that their home’s negligence will result in illness or wrongful death. Attorney Brian Murphy has years of experience fighting negligent nursing homes in Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, and New Jersey. As a seasoned nursing home malpractice and wrongful death attorney, he holds accountable the Philadelphia/PA or NJ nursing homes responsible for elder abuse, neglect, and other types of nursing home malpractice. Should you find yourself needing to contact a nursing home malpractice and wrongful death attorney, or if you need guidance in choosing a nursing home, call Brian Murphy today to discuss your legal options.

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Head of Troubled N.J. Veterans Home Dismissed:

The CEO of a New Jersey veterans home that has had persistent troubles since the onslaught of the pandemic has been dismissed, says an article on northjersey.com. CEO Jennifer Causer is out of her job at Memorial Home at Menlo Park, following the emergence of evidence of nursing home malpractice in the form of serious health and safety violations that allegedly endangered residents’ lives. Causer’s replacement comes as part of Gov. Phil Murphy’s efforts to privatize management at this and two other troubled state-run veterans homes: Paramus Veterans Memorial Home and New Jersey Veterans Memorial Home at Vineland.

Following a recent months-long COVID outbreak that led to over a dozen deaths at Menlo Park as well as an inspection report that revealed unsafe infection control practices and other instances of nursing home malpractice at the home, the governor took the step to outsource the management of the home to a private company. Once the federal government put a stop to any new admissions to the facility until reforms addressing nursing home malpractice have been made,The Murphy administration also sent a team of “mission-critical” long-term care professionals to remediate safety violations and issues of nursing home malpractice at Menlo Park.

In the spring of 2020, Menlo Park, along with Paramus, made the news when over 200 residents from the homes died early in the pandemic. Infection control issues amounting to serious nursing home malpractice were revealed; despite the call for reforms and the replacement of the CEOs—Causer was the replacement in 2021 for former CEO Elizabeth Schiff-Heedles—the inspection conducted in August and September of 2022 revealed that proper infection control practices had never been implemented. The subsequent months-long COVID outbreak resulted in 225 staff COVID infections, 76 resident infections, and 17 resident deaths. Causer, head of troubled N.J. veterans home dismissed as the many violations and COVID-related malpractice has persisted.

Protecting Your Loved One from Neglect, Abuse, and Wrongful Death

As a nursing home malpractice and wrongful death attorney, Brian P. Murphy is committed to fighting for the health and safety of Philadelphia/PA and NJ nursing home residents. You should feel confident that your loved one living in a Philadelphia/PA or NJ nursing home will not have to be confronted with nursing home abuse and neglect.  With extensive experience as a wrongful death attorney fighting negligent nursing homes in Pennsylvania and New Jersey, Brian Murphy is committed to successfully resolving his clients’ nursing home malpractice cases. Should you find yourself needing to contact a nursing home malpractice and wrongful death attorney, call Brian Murphy today to discuss your legal options.

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Nursing Home Neglect Incites Plans for Federal Staffing Minimums: Decades of evidence shows that insufficient staffing leads to a higher occurrence of nursing home neglect, poor care, and other evidence of nursing home malpractice.

The Biden Administration is formulating plans for federal staffing minimum requirements for American nursing homes, says the Washington Post, as evidence continues to show that nursing homes with low levels of nurse staffing have more frequent occurrences of resident complications that demonstrate nursing home malpractice.

According to the National Institutes of Health, since the 1980s it has been “common knowledge” within the nursing home industry that inadequate nursing staff within a nursing home has a negative impact both on the quality of care residents receive and the quality of life residents can have—deficiencies that add up to a classic definition of nursing home malpractice. But even with the 2001 release of a study by the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) that found 4.1 hours of nursing care per resident per day (or one nurse per seven residents for day and evening shifts) was the minimum to avoid incidents of nursing home malpractice like allowing residents to fall or to develop bed sores, no requirement was implemented. And even with years of studies, inspections, and lawsuits since 2001 that have evidenced the link between low staffing and poor quality of care, a low percentage of American nursing homes—about 33 percent as of 2019, says the article—meet the 4.1 hours recommended by CMS.

The article included examples of enforcement actions and lawsuits filed against nursing homes to illustrate how insufficient staffing can result in incidents of nursing home malpractice. Among the cited examples of nursing home malpractice as a result of poor staffing included the following:

• A Washington state nursing home where there were four nurses for 110 residents; multiple residents received their insulin hours late, and others received insufficient wound care or were left untreated for pain.
• A Detroit nursing home where scheduled nurses called out for the weekend, leaving no nurses to distribute medications for pain, hypertension, blood clotting, and heart problems.
• A Chicago nursing home with between 2-4 caregivers for 72 residents, who often were left bedridden in their own urine and feces.
• The Brighton Rehabilitation and Wellness Center in Beaver, Pa., upon which Pennsylvania National Guard troops descended in the spring of 2020 during a COVID-19 outbreak that ranked among the worst in the nation. Allegations of staffing violations led to a subsequent federal investigation, resulting in criminal indictments against executives and administrators.

Nursing home neglect incites plans for federal staffing minimums, which are expected to come down in 2023. They will be formulated based on a new analysis of nursing home processes and will need to overcome nursing home lobbyists, who prevailed over a 2016 proposal for a national staffing minimum.

Defending Against Nursing Home Malpractice and Wrongful Death

As a nursing home malpractice and wrongful death attorney, Brian P. Murphy tirelessly fights to uphold the health and safety of residents in Philadelphia/PA and NJ nursing homes. You should feel confident that your loved one living in a Pennsylvania or New Jersey nursing home will receive the proper amount and quality of care he or she deserves. Years of experience as a wrongful death attorney fighting negligent Philadelphia/PA and NJ nursing homes has equipped Brian Murphy to successfully resolve numerous nursing home malpractice cases. Should you find yourself needing to contact a nursing home malpractice and wrongful death attorney, call Brian Murphy today to discuss your legal options.

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Families Sue Nursing Home due to Negligence in Death from COVID: The lawsuit alleges nursing home neglect led to the rampant infection of the coronavirus that caused their loved ones’ wrongful death.

A new lawsuit brought by 16 families of loved ones who died during a 2020 surge of COVID-19 at a New Jersey nursing home brings accusations of gross negligence, wrongful death, and medical malpractice, says an article in the New Jersey Herald. According to the article, the suit filed in Sussex County Superior Court in early April claims that the Woodland Behavioral and Nursing Center and Limecrest Subacute and Rehabilitation Center (previously known as Andover Subacute & Rehabilitation I & II) could have prevented residents’ deaths by implementing nursing home infection protocols. The complaint also claims that medical services performed “negligently and carelessly” contributed to the wrongful deaths of the facility’s COVID patients.

The sister homes first came under scrutiny in early spring of 2020, when the bodies of 17 victims of COVID-19 were found crammed into a morgue meant for no more than four bodies. By April of that year, more than 90 residents had died at these facilities.

According to the article, the suit outlines the following examples of nursing home negligence that allowed for extensive nursing home COVID infections in the spring of 2020, as well as illustrations of medical malpractice that contributed to residents’ wrongful death:

• Failure to issue the proper PPE to employees, or to require masks for visitors, housekeepers, recreation therapists, or nursing assistants
• Permitting employees and visitors to enter the facility without first taking their temperature
• Failure of doctors, nurses, physician’s assistants, and nurse practitioners to sufficiently deliver ordinary care or exercise a degree of skill while caring for sick patients
• Failure of medical providers to make timely diagnoses of, or to properly treat, residents with COVID
• Failure of medical providers to provide explanations to residents infected with COVID of the risks posed to them or the options available to them

Woodland meanwhile faces a host of challenges related to quality-of-care non-compliance. In February federal officials placed the home in an “immediate jeopardy” situation when facility workers were found to have committed acts consistent with nursing home abuse and neglect that jeopardized residents’ lives. The home was already in danger of losing federal funding due to poor quality of care; actions made by Woodland to improve matters preserved both federal funding and the facility’s license for now, although the termination of a provider agreement by authorities may proceed if more actions aren’t taken.

Many families sue this nursing home due to negligence in death from COVID; beyond the 16 families named in the suit, 50 additional families seek to join as class members if the complaint is certified by a judge as class action, the article says. Meanwhile, two other lawsuits against Woodland remain active in Sussex County Superior Court.

Seeking to Secure Your Loved One’s Safety

Your loved one’s Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, or New Jersey nursing home is required to meet every criterion in matters of hygiene as well as all other qualifications for safety. If you’re concerned about the quality of a Philadelphia/PA or NJ facility or you suspect neglect or abuse has occurred at the Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, or New Jersey nursing home where your loved one lives, please contact nursing home abuse attorney Brian P. Murphy to discover your legal rights and options.

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DOH Commissioner Defends NJ Nursing Home COVID Response:

Amid ongoing claims that the state’s efforts fell short in combatting the COVID crisis in New Jersey’s long-term care facilities, Health Commissioner Judy Persichilli defended the state’s response to the pandemic at a recent budget hearing, speaking to accusations that the NJ Department of Health delayed nursing home inspections during the critical early months of the crisis and forced ill-equipped homes to re-admit COVID-positive residents, two failures which critics feel contributed to the over 8,000 COVID-19-related deaths that occurred at New Jersey nursing homes since the onset of the pandemic.

According to an article on NJ1015.com, DOH commissioner defends NJ nursing home COVID response, during a hearing originally called to discuss the department’s budget, but shifting focus to its pandemic response. Persichilli was prompted to go on the defensive regarding measures taken by the DOH. Regarding last spring’s directive concerning the re-admittance of COVID-positive residents to nursing homes from hospitals, Persichilli argued that the directive was indicated only for those homes that could meet certain requirements, such as those that were able to isolate sick residents, provide adequate staffing, and supply their staff with adequate PPE. Persichilli furthermore stated that alternate arrangements had been made to address facilities that could not meet such requirements, including the creation of three COVID-only facilities that accepted over 3,000 residents between April and June.

A NJ.com article conveyed Persichilli’s response to the criticism of inspection delays. She claimed a lack of PPE initially prevented inspections, but that in the ensuing months numerous nursing home inspections—including over 1,000 infection control inspections—turned up more than 600 violations, which led the DOH to levy $2.2 million in fines against 79 operators. While the health commissioner did not specify which facilities were cited or what the nature of the violations were, Persichilli indicated that numerous failures on the part of the facilities themselves had much to do with the scope of the pandemic’s impact on nursing homes.

“We are dealing in long-term care with an industry that has lacked resiliency for years,” Persichilli said.

Critics of New Jersey Gov. Phil Murphy’s handling of the pandemic have been vocal over perceived shortcomings since the news broke regarding the state-licensed Andover Subacute and Rehabilitation Center in the County of Sussex, where last year 17 bodies were found piled in a makeshift morgue after the facility was overwhelmed by COVID. According to a Patch.com article, requests for public records—from those relating to inspection reports for the Subacute facilities, to those involving the DOH’s communications with Andover Subacute’s legal counsel, to those revealing details regarding Andover Subacute’s PPE inventory—have yet to be provided by the department.

Andover Subacute I and II, since renamed Limecrest Subacute and Rehabilitation and Woodland Behavioral and Nursing Center, had a history of deficiencies prior to being ravaged by COVID, and maintained a “much below average” 1-star rating for three years in a row. Following the makeshift morgue incident, an inspection by the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS), determined that the facility had failed to provide proper infection control, which “caused, or was likely to cause” serious injury, serious harm, serious impairment, and death among residents. In addition to other fines, a Civil Money Penalty of $220,235 was imposed by CMS, with other monetary penalties to follow until “substantial compliance is achieved or termination occurs.”

An Attorney You Can Trust in Uncertain Times

Determining the quality and safety of the Philadelphia/PA or NJ nursing home where your loved one lives is essential. Pennsylvania and New Jersey nursing homes are required to meet health and safety standards requirements and to ensure the physical, mental, and psycho/social well-being of their residents. Should you have concerns about the quality of care in a Pennsylvania or New Jersey nursing home, or if you suspect neglect, abuse, or fraud has occurred at the Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, or New Jersey nursing home where your loved one lives, please contact nursing home abuse attorney Brian P. Murphy to discover your legal rights and options.

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Pandemic Restrictions Relaxed for Fully Vaccinated Nursing Home Residents:

With an eye to supporting residents’ physical, mental, and emotional health, a new DOH directive signals a return to normal.

The continued decline of new COVID cases and hospitalizations and the increase in the numbers of people vaccinated has led the New Jersey Department of Health to release new guidelines for nursing homes, according to articles on nj.com and wobm.com.The new DOH directive, taking its cue from updated guidance from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid, looks to promote more normalcy in residents’ daily lives, provided they are fully vaccinated.

Generally, for those residents who have received full inoculation against COVID, communal dining and group activities can be engaged in without the need for masks or social distancing. The following outlines some of the changes that will happen as a result of the DOH directive:

• Masks—During contact among fully vaccinated persons, masks are no longer required
• Gathering Closely—Residents and visitors can opt to have close contact, including hugging, without needing to wear masks, provided they are fully vaccinated
• Communal Activity and Dining—An activity or dining that involves all fully vaccinated residents can take place without distancing or the wearing of masks
• Staff Testing—Routine COVID testing, a requirement over the past few months, will no longer be necessary for fully vaccinated staff members
• Non-Essential Personnel—The reintroduction of non-essential personnel, such as hair dressers, is permitted if facilities have safety protocols in place and if these workers are screened and wear masks
• Volunteers—Those who volunteer their time entertaining, conducting activities, and coordinating visitation may once again be admitted into facilities, provided they follow protocols

The relaxation of restrictions has been inspired by the effectiveness of vaccines, says state Health Commissioner Judith Persichilli. Referencing the NJ state database for COVID-19, the nj.com article states that currently 82% of residents and 58% of workers are fully vaccinated. Deaths are down 80% since February, and represent just under 7% of what NJ COVID deaths were in January, when a second wave of the coronavirus hit the state.

More than 8,000 NJ nursing home residents and 144 staff members died from COVID, numbers which accounted for half of the state’s coronavirus deaths. According to nj.com, there are 197 current outbreaks in the state’s facilities, a number the article attributes to stagnant vaccination rates among staff, a number of whom have demonstrated vaccine reluctance.

The pandemic restrictions relaxed for fully vaccinated nursing home residents allows interaction between vaccinated and unvaccinated residents or visitors. The DOH guidance says that, although close contact, and even touching, is permissible, both parties need to be wearing a mask.

Ensuring the Safety of Your Loved One

Determining the quality and safety of the Philadelphia/PA or NJ nursing home where your loved one lives is essential. Pennsylvania and New Jersey nursing homes are required to meet health and safety standards requirements and to ensure the physical, mental, and psycho/social well-being of their residents. Should you have concerns about the quality of care in a Pennsylvania or New Jersey nursing home, or if you suspect neglect, abuse, or fraud has occurred at the Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, or New Jersey nursing home where your loved one lives, please contact nursing home abuse attorney Brian P. Murphy to discover your legal rights and options.

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Plummeting Nursing Home Occupancy Rates Raise Quality of Care Questions

The pandemic sent the median occupancy rate in American nursing homes plummeting, and with no return to pre-pandemic rates in sight, experts fear resident care will suffer, says an AARP article. With facilities projected to lose $94 billion between 2020 and 2021, money will be scarce for everything from activities and food quality to staffing and infection control. Such deficiencies will impact the health and quality of life for residents, potentially resulting in an uptick in bedsores, falls, infections, and other negative effects.

While nursing home occupancy numbers have been declining since the 93 percent occupancy rate of the late 1970s, from January 2020 to January 2021 the percentage rate fell sharply from 85 to 68, thanks to the ravages of the coronavirus. Even with the introduction of vaccines and the swift decline of nursing home COVID cases, the occupancy number has risen only a few points (to 74 percent) as of September.

Plummeting nursing home occupancy rates raise quality of care questions and experts are pessimistic about the recovery of nursing home occupancy rates due to three factors: the persistent fears regarding the safety of nursing homes, the continued staffing crisis, and the dominance of for-profit chains in the industry.

• Safety Fears—The recent rise of virus cases due to the highly contagious delta variant has rendered many potential nursing home residents reluctant to move in. To complicate matters, vaccine hesitancy among nursing home staff has deepened fears about nursing home safety for residents. Vaccine mandates for nursing home workers are just coming into effect, and could produce another unwanted problem: a deepening of staffing shortages once unvaccinated workers are not permitted to work.
• Staff Shortages—Staffing issues are not only a product, but a contributing cause, of low occupancy in homes. Not having adequate staff to provide sufficient care forces homes to keep occupancy rates low. According to the AARP article, nearly 60 percent of U.S. nursing homes are limiting new admissions because of a limited workforce. Nearly 80 percent fear staffing challenges might force them to close. In the meantime, homes are struggling with the short staff they have. Even when nursing homes are able to meet the minimum standard of nursing coverage as outlined by Medicare and Medicaid, these staffing requirements often fall short of what experts feel are necessary to truly meet each resident’s needs.
• For-Profit Chains—About 70 percent of nursing homes are for-profit. The complex ownership structures of these homes obscure their financial transparency, so when Congress sends money in an effort to assuage low occupancy, how this money is actually appropriated in a for-profit structure is difficult to determine.

The article cites some warning signs of low occupancy for families of residents to keep in mind, such as staffing cuts, a decline in facility cleanliness or food quality, and closures of wings or floors within a home. Most importantly, family members should be attuned to changes in the appearance or health of their loved ones. Should they appear ungroomed, unclean, or missing items such as glasses, hearing aids, or jewelry, their home might be suffering the effects of low occupancy.

Protecting Your Loved One

Pennsylvania and New Jersey nursing homes are at all times required to secure the physical, mental, and psycho/social well-being of their residents by meeting certain health and safety requirements and providing adequate care. To meet these standards, the Philadelphia/PA or NJ nursing home where your loved one lives must be equipped to avoid the kind of substandard care that amounts to nursing home neglect or abuse. This includes ensuring adequate, quality staffing. Should you have concerns about a Pennsylvania or New Jersey nursing home during COVID-19, or if you suspect neglect, abuse, or fraud has occurred at the Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, or New Jersey nursing home where your loved one lives, please contact nursing home abuse attorney Brian P. Murphy to discover your legal rights and options.

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State Pandemic Lawsuits Proceed against NJ Nursing Homes:

Rejecting the operator’s claim that pandemic lawsuits should be heard in federal court, a federal appeals court ruled that the negligence claims brought against two New Jersey nursing homes should proceed in state courts, according to a recent Reuters article.

The nursing homes in question, operating during the height of the coronavirus pandemic as Andover Subacute & Rehabilitation I & II (recently renamed the “Woodland Behavioral and Nursing Center”), came into the public eye when the bodies of 17 victims of COVID-19 were found crammed into a morgue meant for no more than four bodies. Over 90 residents died by April of 2020 at these facilities. The cases filed against these homes were brought by the families of four of these residents, who allege that negligence by the facilities allowed for the spread of the coronavirus.

Filed in state court in April of 2020, these cases were hindered from proceeding by the question of the appropriate court to hear them. The nursing home operator claimed that, due to the far-reaching aspects of the Public Readiness and Emergency Preparedness (PREP) Act, the emergency federal law that guards those battling the pandemic from lawsuits, the cases against the homes belonged in federal court. A lower federal court disagreed, leading the nursing home to appeal. On October 20, the state pandemic lawsuits proceed against NJ nursing homes; the 3rd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Philadelphia upheld the ruling of the lower court, maintaining that the claims best belong in state court.

According to the article, other nursing homes have also cited the PREP Act when faced with wrongful death claims related to the pandemic. Enacted in 2005, the PREP Act was intended to shield from lawsuits critical players in an a crisis like the coronavirus pandemic—such as manufacturers of PPE, drug distributors, vaccine developers, and more. Operating on the front line of the pandemic—over 100,000 people died in nursing homes from COVID-19—nursing homes argued that the PREP Act ought to protect them, too. The 3rd Circuit Court has ruled that it is up to state courts to determine whether this law shields nursing homes from pandemic-related lawsuits; however, federal appeals by other nursing homes facing COVID lawsuits are still pending.

In the meantime, the 3rd Circuit’s ruling may advance other cases against nursing homes that claim such instances of COVID nursing home neglect as:

• Placing residents with symptoms of COVID-19 in rooms with non-symptomatic residents
• Undocumented COVID symptoms in residents
• Poor pandemic hygiene and disinfection practices
• Insufficient PPE protection for staff members

Securing Nursing Home Safety for Your Loved One

Your loved one’s Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, or New Jersey nursing home is required to meet every criterion in matters of hygiene as well as all other qualifications for safety. If you’re concerned about the quality of a Philadelphia/PA or NJ facility or you suspect neglect or abuse has occurred at the Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, or New Jersey nursing home where your loved one lives, please contact nursing home abuse attorney Brian P. Murphy to discover your legal rights and options.

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COVID-19 Vaccine Mandate for Nursing Home Workers, non-compliant facilities will lose federal Medicare and Medicaid funding.

According to the Associated Press, the Biden administration has announced an emergency regulation requiring COVID-19 vaccinations for all nursing home staff if facilities hope to continue to receive federal Medicare and Medicaid funding. President Biden’s new mandate, currently in development with the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) and the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and expected to take effect as early as September, comes on the heels of similar state mandates taking stringent measures to impel the hundreds of thousands of unvaccinated nursing home workers across the country to get their shots.

Despite various incentives to persuade reluctant nursing home staff to get vaccinated, vaccine hesitance has persisted among many nursing home workers across the country, even as the highly-contagious Delta variant spreads through regions of the country with lower vaccination rates. According to an article from the New York Times, the vaccination rates among nursing home staff has reached only about 60 percent, with some states reporting rates below 50 percent. Earlier this month, the growing number of residents and staff being infected with COVID led to calls for vaccine mandates for nursing home staff, particularly in light of exceptionally vulnerable elderly nursing home residents, who, even if vaccinated, are more susceptible to breakthrough infections.

While the nursing home industry remained unwilling to mandate vaccines, throughout the month of August COVID-19 vaccine mandate for nursing home workers announced in various states, including staff working at New Jersey and Pennsylvania nursing homes:

• N.J. Nursing Home Workers: According to New Jersey Spotlight, on August 2 Gov. Phil Murphy announced a new state policy wherein by September 7 workers at state and private health care facilities, including New Jersey nursing homes and long-term care facilities, would need to be vaccinated or must submit to once or twice weekly COVID testing.
• PA Nursing Home Workers: According to the Bucks County Courier Times, on August 12 the Pennsylvania Department of Health announced a new guidance requiring at least 80 percent of PA nursing home staff to be vaccinated by October 1 or be subjected to heightened testing requirements.

CNN suggests that the recent approval of the Pfizer/BioNTech vaccine by the FDA could lead to even more vaccination mandates.

Keeping Your Loved One Safe in Uncertain Times

Pennsylvania and New Jersey nursing homes are at all times required to secure the physical, mental, and psycho/social well-being of their residents by meeting certain health and safety requirements and providing adequate care. To meet these standards, the Philadelphia/PA or NJ nursing home where your loved one lives must be equipped to avoid the kind of substandard care that amounts to nursing home neglect or abuse. This includes ensuring adequate, quality staffing. Should you have concerns about a Pennsylvania or New Jersey nursing home during COVID-19, or if you suspect neglect, abuse, or fraud has occurred at the Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, or New Jersey nursing home where your loved one lives, please contact nursing home abuse attorney Brian P. Murphy to discover your legal rights and options.

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U.S. Count Misses Covid Nursing Home Deaths

Recent research indicates that the initial government counts of COVID-19 deaths in United States nursing homes may have missed more than 16,0000 deaths, according to The Journal News. The article states that the missing deaths—14 percent of the true death toll—stem from a miscount from nursing homes in Pennsylvania, New Jersey, and New York that took place prior to the implementation of federal COVID reporting requirements. According to an analysis conducted by by the Journal of the American Medical Association, the latest count is 118,335 deaths.

In a related article The Journal News reported that a number of state and federal investigations related to coronavirus outbreaks in nursing homes are continuing in New York, Pennsylvania, and New Jersey, in which prosecutors will look into operational and governmental misconduct as well as Medicaid fraud.

Richard Mollot, executive director of the Long Term Care Community Coalition, a patient advocacy group, applauded the investigations. “I think that ongoing, meaningful investigations into deaths, as well as dangerous and degrading conditions, in nursing homes is absolutely essential,” he said.

While the Department of Justice decided against investigating Pennsylvania for its order that state-run nursing homes accept COVID patients during the pandemic peak, the DOJ is still actively investigating two state-run New Jersey Nursing homes—Menlo Park and Paramus veterans homes— ravaged by 192 resident deaths from the coronavirus in 2020. According to The Journal News, interviews of family members has begun.

Criminal investigations initiated in May 2020 by PA state Attorney General Josh Shapiro of several nursing homes, including that Brighton Rehabilitation and Wellness Center in Beaver County, is ongoing. Brighton suffered 83 deaths of residents from COVID.

Protecting Your Loved Ones in Critical Times: U.S. Count Misses Covid Nursing Home Deaths

It is essential, now more than ever, to be sure that the Philadelphia, Pennsylvania or New Jersey nursing home where your loved one lives takes every measure necessary to protect its residents. If you’re concerned about the quality of a Philadelphia/PA or NJ facility during the coronavirus pandemic, or if you suspect neglect or abuse has occurred at the Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, or New Jersey nursing home where your loved one lives, please contact nursing home abuse attorney Brian P. Murphy to discover your legal rights and options.

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