Wrongful death suit filed by nursing home employee’s family
The family of a Rochester woman who worked at a Beaver County nursing home that has had the worst outbreak of COVID-19 in the state filed a wrongful death lawsuit in Allegheny County on Thursday against the nursing home, its owners and the contractor who employed the woman.
The lawsuit was filed in Allegheny County Common Pleas Court by the family of Elizabeth Wiles, 69, who died May 10 after contracting COVID-19, allegedly while working at Brighton Rehabilitation and Wellness Center.
The lawsuit alleges “COVID19 spread through the Brighton [facility] unchecked, infecting and killing numerous residents and workers at the facility, including Plaintiff’s
decedent Elizabeth Wiles.”
Ms. Wiles’ death is the first of someone who worked at Brighton alleged to have been caused by contracting COVID19 while working there.
Brighton has reported to the state at least 108 people who worked there have tested positive, although Ms. Wiles probably is not included in that count because she was not tested for COVID-19 until the family did so after she died, said David Kwass, an attorney for the family.
Out of at least 460 people who were residing at Brighton when the outbreak began, 332 have tested positive, and 82 of them have died, according to state data.
It is the first wrongful death lawsuit filed against Brighton and its owners, Comprehensive Healthcare, since the first COVID-19-related death occurred there March 30.
Brighton’s owners said in an emailed statement Wednesday: “While we cannot comment on pending litigation, we mourn those who have passed away from this virus.”
The lawsuit not only names Comprehensive Healthcare and its two lead owners — Sam Halper and Ephram Lahasky — as defendants, but also Healthcare Services Group and several related subsidiaries.
The lawsuit says Healthcare Services Group — a national corporation based in Bensalem, Pa., with more than 45,000 employees — or one of its related subsidiaries is the contractor that provided cleaning services in the building under a contract with Comprehensive Healthcare, and one of them employed Ms. Wiles.
The lawsuit also names Ed Mejia, whose title at Brighton was director of environmental services and, the lawsuit says, works for Healthcare Services Group or one of its subsidiaries.
An email to Healthcare Services Group on Wednesday was not immediately returned. Mr. Mejia could not be reached Wednesday. A spokesman for Brighton said he did not have a contact number to reach either the company or Mr. Mejia later Wednesday.
Mr. Kwass, one of the attorneys from a Philadelphia law firm representing the family, said Ms. Wiles’ adult children say Mr. Mejia was her boss and had persuaded Ms.
Wiles, who was a cancer survivor and was treating high blood pressure, to continue to work at Brighton in April and May, despite the risk to someone with her medical history.
“At all relevant times, the Defendants knew or should have known about Elizabeth Wiles’ health conditions,” the lawsuit alleges.
The lawsuit’s misrepresentation claims allege that at least by April 1, Brighton officials knew there were positive cases in the building.
“Despite this knowledge, Defendants directly misrepresented to staff, workers and residents that there was no risk of infection and/or that the workers were unlikely to become infected and/or deliberately withheld their knowledge of workers at Brighton becoming infected with COVID-19,” the lawsuit alleges.
Although Brighton is located in Beaver County and Ms. Wiles died in Beaver County, the lawsuit was filed in Allegheny County, Mr. Kwass said, in part because attorneys believe it would be easier to get witnesses who need to appear for court hearings to Pittsburgh than it would be in Beaver, where the Beaver County courthouse is located.
The plaintiffs are Ms. Wiles’ four adult children, who are officially seeking at least $35,000 in damages for their mother’s death in the civil lawsuit that alleges wrongful death, negligence and fraudulent and intentional misrepresentation. The family declined to comment through their attorneys.
Although there is a claim for damages, “The family is much more interested in helping to blow the whistle against these companies, Healthcare Services Group and Comprehensive Healthcare,” Mr. Kwass said.
Sean D. Hamill: shamill@post-gazette.com or 412-263-2579 or Twitter: @SeanDHamill.