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Law360 (April 17, 2020, 10:02 PM EDT) -- Patients at a public psychiatric facility in Washington, D.C., suing the district for "inhumane conditions that shock the conscience" have amended their proposed class action, alleging the hospital's bungled response to the COVID-19 oubtreak resulted in four patient deaths and dozens of infections.
Civil rights groups who filed the lawsuit in October on behalf of the patients asked the court Thursday for permission to lodge an amended complaint alleging that St. Elizabeths Hospital refuses to evaluate and release or transfer patients despite conditions that are ripe for the rapid spread of the novel coronavirus.
The suit filed by the D.C. branch of the American Civil Liberties Union and others states that the hospital continues to admit new patients despite a lack of adequate testing and quarantining and without taking proper social distancing precautions.
"Patients at Saint Elizabeths Hospital are at a heightened risk of contracting, and are, in fact, dying from COVID-19 because of defendants' failure to follow professional guidance and appropriately plan and manage the facility during this global pandemic," the amended complaint said.
On April 1, only four staff members and one patient tested positive for COVID-19. By April 16, however, 47 staff members and 32 patients tested positive, and four patients have died of the disease, according to the suit.
The original complaint alleges that the D.C. Department of Behavioral Health cut off the facility's water after pseudomonas and Legionella bacteria were found in its water supply, which has prevented the hospital's roughly 270 patients from receiving proper medical care and hygiene.
Kaitlin Banner, one of the attorneys for the patients, said in a statement Thursday that the hospital was already dangerous before the coronavirus outbreak.
"The spread of COVID-19 throughout the facility, combined with the appalling lack of response to the initial water-crisis conditions, has created a deadly situation," she said. "Patients are fearing for their lives as the facility refuses to adhere to guidance from the [Centers for Disease Control and Prevention] and District on social distancing."
Banner noted that the majority of the patients at the hospital are African American and impoverished, and all of them are disabled.
"They depend on the District for their care, and lack of regard for their lives and safety is breathtaking," she said.
The Department of Behavioral Health didn't immediately respond to a request for comment late Friday.
The suit names as co-defendants Barbara J. Bazron, the director of the D.C. Department of Behavioral Health, and Mark J. Chastang, the CEO of the hospital.
The patients are represented by Arthur B. Spitzer, Scott Michelman and Michael Perloff of the American Civil Liberties Union Foundation of the District of Columbia, Kaitlin Banner, Margaret Hart, Hannah Lieberman, Jonathan Smith and Maria Morris of the Washington Lawyers' Committee for Civil Rights and Urban Affairs, and John A. Freedman, Tirzah S. Lollar and Emily Reeder-Ricchetti of Arnold & Porter.
The defendants are represented by Micah Ian Bluming and Honey C. Morton of the District of Columbia Attorney General's Office.
The case is Costa et al. v. Bazron et al., case number 1:19-cv-03185, in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia.
--Additional reporting by Danielle Nichole Smith. Editing by Haylee Pearl.
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