Attorneys Launch Investigations on Behalf of Veterans’ Home COVID Victims

Attorneys have launched multiple investigations on behalf of families whose loved ones died from COVID-19 following exposure at the LaSalle Veterans’ Home.

The families of Korean War veterans Richard Cieski and Anthony Samolinski want to know how the facility could have failed to protect the men, who shared a lunch table, from the novel coronavirus.

Since reporting began in March, the veterans home has reported 209 infections and 33 COVID-19-related deaths. A massive outbreak at the state-run facility in November led to 75 veterans and 48 staff members testing positive for the virus. Media reports say that many staff members attended an off-site Halloween party that might have led to the outbreak, the second experienced by the veteran’s facility. Other reports indicate that staff members were given 3-day tests for the virus and continued to work at the facility during the 3-day period while they awaited results. The state’s Dept. of Veterans Affairs has admitted that hand sanitizer used at the facility was found ineffective against the virus.

The home had a previous outbreak in May that resulted in 53 coronavirus cases and two deaths.

Levin & Perconti, a law firm nationally renowned for its work representing victims in nursing home abuse and neglect cases, is working with the Cieski and Samlinski families to investigate the causes of the November outbreak and could file lawsuits on their behalf. The firm has already filed suit for COVID victims in a dozen private nursing homes across the state.

“What we’ve seen in other cases is that there’s a consistent pattern of gross negligence among facilities where these massive outbreaks happen,” said Levin & Perconti founding partner Steven Levin. “There are well-documented ways to protect nursing home residents from infection, clearly outlined in federal guidelines, but when leaders fail to put those protocols into practice, we see the results. These are predictable and avoidable tragedies.”