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 BOSTON (Reuters) - Two former heads of a Massachusetts veterans home
have been indicted on criminal neglect charges for their roles in
handling a COVID-19 outbreak that killed 76 people, the state's
attorney general said on Friday.
Massachusetts Attorney Maura Healey said the criminal case against
the former officials at Holyoke Soldiers' Home was believed to be
the first yet linked to an outbreak at a U.S. nursing facility
during the pandemic.
The case against former Superintendent Bennett Walsh and former
Medical Director David Clinton stemmed from a March decision to
consolidate two dementia units, putting COVID-19 positive residents
within feet of ones without symptoms, Healey said.
In a tribute to the victims, Healey said: "They risked their lives
from the beaches of Normandy to some, the jungles of Vietnam ... And
to know that they died under the most horrific of circumstances is
truly shocking."
In the United States and worldwide, nursing homes, filled with
elderly residents who are particularly vulnerable to coronavirus,
have suffered a harrowing toll in the pandemic.
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Authorities began investigating the Soldiers' Home, a 247-bed, state-run
facility in Holyoke that provides healthcare, hospice care, nursing and other
services to veterans, after learning of "serious issues" with infection control
procedures.
The U.S. Justice Department has also launched a related investigation into
conditions at the facility.
The indictment in Hampden County Superior Court charges Walsh and Clinton with
five counts of "wantonly or recklessly" committing or permitting bodily injury,
and five counts for abuse, neglect or mistreatment of an elderly or disabled
person.
Walsh plans to plead not guilty, his lawyer, Tracy Miner, said.
"It is unfortunate that the Attorney General is blaming the effects of a deadly
virus that our state and federal governments have not been able to stop on
Bennett Walsh," she said.
Clinton's attorneys did not respond to requests for comment.
(Reporting by Maria Caspani in New York and Nate Raymond in Boston, additional
reporting by Peter Szekely in New York, Editing by Chizu Nomiyama and Tom Brown)
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