Paul M. da Costa Quoted in NJ.com Article, “Their nursing home shut down suddenly.  4 months later, former residents are struggling to cope.”

As for the residents, some who left with little more than the clothes they were wearing have yet to recover personal possessions. Their medical records remain unsecured in the empty building, according to court filings.

The personal needs accounts of residents — money that Medicaid-funded residents can keep to spend on personal items and services such as clothing, specialty foods, multivitamins, haircuts, cosmetics, toiletries, and cell phone bills — also remain frozen, according to those same court documents and family members.

Nearly a dozen families already plan to sue over what happened.

“Tort claims notices have been filed against the state of New Jersey and New Jersey Department of Health,” said their attorney Paul da Costa of Roseland, who represented many whose loved ones died at the state operated Veterans Memorial Homes at Paramus and Menlo Park. He added that the Bogners and Princeton Care Center have also been placed on notice of duty to preserve medical records and other evidence.

“The Princeton Care Center’s unprecedented conduct of abruptly throwing residents to the curb with no regard for the individuals’ legal rights and human dignity cannot be tolerated,” he said. “The attempt by the Princeton Care Center to frame this as some type of emergency necessitating this 12-hour, or in some cases, less notice to residents and their families is nothing more than the epitome of placing profits over residents’ safety and wellbeing. My clients will pursue full justice and are determined to shine the brightest light possible on this extremely dark situation.”

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