Settlement reached in nursing home COVID death suit

exceeded” those of virtually all other Pennsylvania skilled nursing facilities at the time.

Severe staffing shortages at Broomall prompted the National Guard to be called upon for the deployment of 12 Army medics and six Air Force nurses on April 18, 2020, the complaint noted.

By April 23, 88 residents and 26 staff at Broomall had become infected by COVID, and 17 residents had died of COVID, according to the complaint. By April 27, 60% of residents had become infected with COVID-19 and 28 had died.

The Pennsylvania Department of Health inspected the facility on May 15, 2020, and observed multiple breaches of infection prevention and control practices by staff, the complaint claimed. These allegedly included failures to put on clean gloves upon entry into residents’ rooms — including rooms of residents infected with COVID-19 — and failure to use appropriate masks and gowns while in close proximity to infected residents.

“By May 26, 2020, as a result of defendants’ conduct, 155 Broomall Rehabilitation and Nursing Center residents had become infected with COVID-19 and 43 had died of this disease,” according to the complaint. “On June 1, 2020, the PA Department of Health issued a deficiency, finding that Broomall Rehabilitation and Nursing Center was not in compliance with state infection prevention and control long-term care licensing regulations.”

The families of five other Broomall residents who died from the virus also have substantially similar claims still pending. The defendants filed answers to those complaints in May asserting various defenses and claiming that they acted in accordance with the standard of care.

Among the numerous defenses is the assertion that the Public Readiness and Emergency Preparedness (PREP) Act of 2005 precludes liability because it provides immunity from lawsuits for “loss caused by, arising out of, relating to, or resulting from the administration to or the use by an individual of a covered countermeasure.”

Delaware County tried to invoke the same defense when it sought dismissal of similar claims concerning a 63-year-old Fair Acres Geriatric Center resident who died of COVID-19, but U.S. District Judge Paul Diamond found that argument unavailing.

No scheduling dates had been set for the pending cases as of Monday, but Dozor ordered attorneys for Hereford to file an affidavit certifying compliance with the settlement order within 60 days.