COVID-19 Cases: New Jersey Medical Malpractice and Nursing Home Malpractice
During the COVID-19 pandemic, it became apparent that many facilities were not well-equipped to handle such outbreaks. Healthcare facilities were understocked on supplies and many were unable to provide healthcare professionals with the proper safety equipment to protect themselves. Additionally, many long-term care facilities, nursing homes, hospices, and VA medical facilities failed to prevent the spread of COVID-19 internally and were unable to provide the proper treatment to those infected. The appropriate safety measures were not universally implemented for such a pandemic and while many learned to adapt quickly, it was clear that new regulations needed to be investigated. The existing systems and regulations failed to properly protect their workers, patients, and the families who relied on them to handle the coronavirus.
Your medical malpractice attorney will provide the top-quality legal representation you need to recover the damages you deserve.
Numerous facilities were left unable to provide their healthcare workers with the proper protective gear to shield themselves from harm while they worked tirelessly to treat and prevent the virus. How could a society maintain and fight a pandemic when the most valuable members of our team, healthcare workers and emergency responders, were being neglected and forced to risk their own lives?
Measures should have been in place to ensure the health and safety of these individuals were prioritized. Healthcare workers and first responders have continuously stepped up to the plate; they have worked around the clock, fighting against the spread of COVID-19. Many in which worked extended hours in facilities that were overwhelmed with cases. These workers continued to show up and continued to treat and take preventative care, even without the proper materials to ensure their own safety. Measures need to be taken to ensure that their efforts are recognized and that their safety is the utmost priority in the future.
Additionally, what about the patients of these facilities? What about the families who entrusted the lives of their loved ones to the facilities that failed to take the appropriate measures? COVID-19 spread rapidly through facilities that were underprepared. These patients and their families were expecting strict health and safety codes but received long-term care where the safety equipment, supplies and medical devices were too sparse to provide to all patients.
The truth is, whether you are a healthcare worker, first responder or patient, the proper safety measures were not taken prior to the outbreak in many facilities. A reevaluation needs to be made for future pandemics, we must work together to ensure that we are more prepared when something similar comes along. As a result of COVID-19 and the existing medical regulations, the health and safety of our loved ones were jeopardized. There is a great deal of reform that needs to be done to ensure no more innocent lives are lost due to negligence. We need to prevent and protect broken systems from perpetuating the spread of the virus and others in the future.
Reach Out Today
If you have suffered illness or injuries or have lost a loved one after contracting COVID-19 at long-term care facilities, please contact Paul M. da Costa, Esq., of Sarno da Costa D’Aniello Maceri LLC. You can schedule a consultation via email (pdacosta@sarnolawfirm.com) or call 973-274-5200.
Mr. da Costa has extensive experience representing victims of viral outbreaks at long-term care facilities, including the families whose loved ones suffered from the adenovirus outbreak at a facility in New Jersey and families who have lost loved ones from the COVID-19 outbreak in nursing homes and veterans’ homes.
