Relatives sue over deaths at veterans center
Lawsuit shines spotlight on conditions during COVID-19 spread
EAST VINCENT » Relatives of five Southeastern Veterans Center residents who died of COVID-19 have filed a lawsuit seeking undefined damages for what they charge was negligence and civil rights violations.
The suit names the Pennsylvania Department of Military and Veterans Affairs as well as Rohan Blackwell, the 292-bed facility’s former commandant, and Deborah Mullane, the former nursing supervisor.
As of Dec. 8, 111 patients and 71 employees at the state-run facility tested positive for the virus since the outbreak began in March and 42 patients died, far more than at any of the other five veterans homes in Pennsylvania.
As of Dec. 8, each of the five other state-run facilities had fewer than 15 COVID-19 related deaths.
According to the suit, many of the deaths could have been prevented had the facility followed proper protocols. The suit also charges that the facility routinely lied to relatives about protective measures being taken and tried to cover up the spread of the virus.
The 103-page complaint is replete with heartbreaking instances of illness, loss and mismanagement.
“Mr. Horowitz was abandoned without treatment or tests to ensure his safety.”
— Lawsuit against Southeast Veterans Center
“Watching people die was awful. We were told to wrap the residents in a body bag and meet the undertaker at the elevator.”
— Unidentified Southeast Veterans Center nurse to state health inspectors
“Mr. Ferko began telling his daughters that he knew people were dying every day at the facility because he could hear taps playing outside every morning.”
Man Dies After Aiding Roommate
Consider the deaths of Edward Horowitz, 81, whose son Ian lives in Chester Springs; and Edwin Bush, 83, whose daughterin-law, Wanda Longnecker lives in Cochranville, Chester County.
Admitted to the “personal care” wing of the center in March of 2019, Horowitz, an Army veteran, former Philadelphia police officer and Rittenhouse Square bar owner, shared a room with Bush.
On April 5, 2020, Bush began to exhibit COVID-19 symptoms, including high fever and diarrhea, according to the suit.
The center “did not treat Mr. Bush or even test him for the virus, other than giving him Tylenol for his fever. Instead, SEVC left Mr. Bush untreated and sick in his room,” the suit read.
“Mr. Horowitz often assisted Mr. Bush to the restroom and would lift Mr. Bush off of the ground after Mr. Bush fell. After two weeks of experiencing symptoms of COVID-19, on April 24, Mr. Bush was removed from his and Mr. Horowitz’s room by a group of SEVC employees who were wearing hazmat suits and was taken to the hospital. Mr. Bush died from COVID-19 on April 30,” according to the suit.
Despite the fact that by the time Bush was removed from the room by the hazmat suit-clad staff Horowitz was exhibiting symptoms, “Mr. Horowitz was abandoned without treatment or tests to ensure his safety,” the suit said.
Five days after Bush was removed, and one day before he died, center staff contacted Horowitz’s son and said his father has tested positive. The next day Horowitz’s son was told his father was “doing well and there was no need to worry.”
However, medical records show the same day his son was told he was doing well, Horowitz “was found lying across his bed, unable to move.” That night, the night staff informed Ian Horowitz his father was extremely sick and should have been hospitalized.
On May 1, Horowitz was taken to Phoenixville Hospital, where he died 10 days later.
Taps Every Morning
Paul Ferko, 87, called his daughters Christina FerkoDiaz and Katrina Rivera every day in March to assure them that he was fine, but also to say he was worried about catching the coronavirus, according to the lawsuit narrative.
“Mr. Ferko began telling his daughters that he knew people were dying every day at the facility because he could hear taps playing outside every morning,” the lawsuit asserted.
On April 12, he called to tell them something was wrong and he did not feel well. On April 16, they were called by staff to be informed their father had a fever. Seven days later, he was given a chest X-Ray because now he also had a “moist cough” and the next day was found at 5 a.m. lying on the floor of his bathroom, according to the suit.
On April 21, Ferko-Diaz daughter was relieved when a postponed drive-by visit revealed her father waving from the window.
But that relief was shortlived after Rivera was told by an aide that night “Mr. Ferko was so weak that nurses and aides had to hold his body upright during the drive-by visit while another aide waved his arm for him, because he was too sick to do so himself,” the suit said.
Later that day, Ferko fell again, was put on oxygen and was subsequently taken to Phoenixville Hospital “shivering uncontrollably” and still had a high fever. Doctors found his organs were beginning to shut down due to lack of oxygen.
He died seven days later.
Four Deaths a Day
By mid-April, residents were dying rapidly — as many as four in one day — as the coronavirus tore through the home, infecting more than 110 people inside, The Philadelphia Inquirer reported in April, in a story that was the first time many relatives began to get a clearer picture of the depth of the problems at the veterans center.
Delaware County resident Fran McDermott testified to a May 6 hearing of the state Senate Democratic Policy Committee that she did not know how bad things were until she read an April 10 Inquirer article “saying COVID had killed 10 people in the Southeastern Veterans Center,” McDermott said. “After I read the story, I called the director of nursing, but still could not get any answers.”
McDermot t , whose mother “watched three roommates die,” contacted state Sen. Katie Muth, D44th Dist., whose district includes the veteran center. She was not alone. Muth had been hearing from staff about conditions at the center, but who were afraid to speak out due to fear of retribution by Blackwell.
Muth worried that inspections done at the center on May 6 and May 9 were “sham inspections.”
Muth said she was told by staff onsite that on the two days prior to the May 9 inspection, “they were moving people around like crazy to different units on different floors so they could be in isolation.”
And when the two state inspectors arrived, administrators who normally do not work on Saturdays just happened to be on-site for the “surprise” inspection,
— Lawsuit against Southeast Veterans Center
Muth said she was told.