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Law360 (May 14, 2020, 9:58 PM EDT) -- A Portland, Oregon, nursing home that has tallied the most COVID-19 deaths in the state, prompting a shutdown, was hit with a $1.8 million suit Thursday accusing it of causing the death of a 75-year-old patient due to negligence and elder abuse.
Angela Brown alleges that the nursing home, Healthcare at Foster Creek, and its management company Benicia Senior Living LLC caused the death of her mother, Judith Jones, by failing to implement proper safety protocols, which allowed infected employees to spread the virus to a sealed-off unit housing vulnerable patients.
The complaint filed in Multnomah County Superior Court states that Foster Creek "has had by far the least competent and deadliest response to the COVID-19 virus of any Oregon nursing home," which Brown's attorney said has resulted in 117 positive cases and 28 deaths, making it the center of the deadliest coronavirus outbreak in the state. Oregon health officials suspended the home's license May 4 and ordered the removal of all residents, according to the suit.
Bonnie Richardson, an attorney for Brown, said the nursing home's negligent actions endangered the lives of Jones and other patients.
"By failing to follow federal and state guidelines and law, Foster Creek allowed the disease to spread through the facility — leading to Ms. Jones's infection and her death," Richardson said in a statement. "Foster Creek's failure to protect the residents they were charged with caring for is an outrage and a tragedy. As a result, nearly 30 people are now dead. We need to hold facilities like Foster Creek accountable for failing to do what they were required to do."
A nursing home administrator did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
According to the complaint, Jones was suffering from dementia and other ailments that required around-the-clock care, and she was housed in the nursing home's enhanced care unit. Despite reassurances given to Brown in early April that patients in that unit were sealed off from the rest of the facility, the 75-year-old patient was diagnosed with COVID-19 on April 18 and was transferred to a hospital, where she died a week later, according to the suit.
When state health officials made the decision to shut down the nursing home, they faulted the facility's failure to restrict staff movement between units, including the unit where Jones was being treated, according to the suit.
"On 4/17/20, it was determined a resident tested positive for COVID-19 in a unit that previously had no residents with COVID-19," health officials said, according to the complaint. "Due to this being a locked unit, and the fact that residents do not leave the unit, the spread of COVID-19 was more likely tha[n] not to have been caused by staff working across units."
Brown brings claims for negligence, negligence per se and elder abuse, and seeks $600,000 in damages for each claim.
Brown is represented by Bonnie Richardson, Joseph Franco and Simon Whang of Richardson Wright LLP.
Counsel information for the nursing home was not immediately available.
The case is Angela Brown v. St. Jude Operating Company LLC dba Healthcare at Foster Creek et al., case number unavailable, in the Circuit Court of the State of Oregon, County of Multnomah.
--Editing by Abbie Sarfo.
For a reprint of this article, please contact reprints@law360.com.
