GOLDLAW – West Palm Beach Personal Injury Lawyers, Car Accident, Slip & Fall – Law Offices of Craig Goldenfarb

Tag: Covid-19

  • Covid-19 and Florida Nursing Homes: Where Are We At Now?

    Covid-19 and Florida Nursing Homes: Where Are We At Now?

    As vaccinations continue to roll out across the country, Covid-19 continues to infect new patients every week, and so far more than 486,000 Americans have died of the infection. Nearly 26,000 of those were Florida residents, and more than 107,000 were nursing home residents nationwide. Sadly, the infection spread easily in many unprepared nursing homes, claiming the lives of residents who were at high risk due to age, illness, or disability.

    Unfortunately, travel and visiting around the holidays likely increased these numbers. In the three-week period around Thanksgiving, 4.7 out of every 1,000 nursing home residents died in the state, an increase from 2.3 out of 1,000 in the four weeks before Nov. 15.  By December 23, 7,900 residents and staff at elder-care facilities had died of COVID-19 in Florida.

    Why is Covid-19 so prevalent in Florida nursing homes?

    Because testing is optional under state laws, many senior care facilities don’t require it for visitors. This can leave residents at risk. There are many other situations that may contribute to the spread of Covid-19 in these facilities, such as a lack of PPE and other safety measures for staff and patients, a lack of test kits, or a failure to monitor and isolate patients showing symptoms. Bringing together patients for meals and activities may also increase risk, but some facilities lack the staff or resources to decentralize these practices.

    “The fundamental problem is the continued inability to provide accurate, rapid-result testing of everyone entering elder-care facilities — staff, visitors, family caregivers and vendors,’’ said David Bruns, spokesman for AARP, when he spoke with the Tampa Bay Times in late December.

    Staying informed on the health condition of your loved one

    Although it’s difficult not to visit a family member you haven’t seen in a while, visits are still risky and will continue to be for the next several months, until more of the population is vaccinated. If possible, try to talk with your family by phone instead of making in-person visits. If you do go in-person, be sure to wear a mask, use hand sanitizer, and maintain a 6ft distance from everyone you encounter in the facility.

    You can also call the facility and ask if your loved one’s vaccine has been scheduled, as the state has made elderly people over 70 a priority group for vaccination. If your family member has not been vaccinated and there are no plans to do so soon, ask the facility staff why and when they can expect to receive a vaccine.

    Unfortunately, the vaccine has come too late for many seniors who have already died or become chronically ill from Covid-19. Nursing homes and assisted living facilities have a duty to protect  their residents from harm, including infectious disease. If you believe your loved one may have suffered from nursing home negligence in relation to the pandemic, please contact us for a free consultation.

    Is your loved one in a facility affected by a Covid-19 outbreak? Follow our list here

    The Florida Department of Health maintains a frequently-updated list with stats for positive test results among patients and staff at nursing home facilities. If you have a loved one in such a facility, you may want to keep an eye on this list for a jump in cases. It’s also a good idea to talk on the phone or video chat with loved ones often to keep up with how things are going at the facility. Make note if your loved one mentions that nurses and staff have been scarce lately, or several of their friends have been taken to the infirmary.

    Covid-19 Data and Florida Nursing Homes – As of February 16th, 2021

    • 24 facilities in Palm Beach County have had at least one case of Covid-19 among it’s patients
    • The worst outbreak was at Encore at Boca Raton, a nursing home, with 29 positive residents.
    • The second worst outbreak was at Avante at Boca Raton with 17 cases and 31 residents transferred. We have written extensively on the poor conditions for residents at Avante, based solely on violation data provided by the state.
    • The highest instance of Covid-19 infected occurred at Life Care Center of Port St. Lucie with 48 staff testing positive on 2/14/2021.
    • Menorah House has the highest number of positive residents transferred.

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    Data provided by the State of Florida.

  • Proposed Covid Lawsuit Immunity Law in Florida Is a Bad Idea

    Proposed Covid Lawsuit Immunity Law in Florida Is a Bad Idea

    Since the pandemic began, Florida has seen more than 1.6 million cases of Covid, more than 26,000 of them resulting in fatalities (at the time of this writing). Unfortunately, the state’s lawmakers, along with Governor DeSantis, are again considering legislation to limit lawsuits against businesses that may have put employees and/or customers at risk. This is a bad idea for Floridians.

    Background: Lawsuits Put A Check on Businesses That Cut Corners to Turn A Profit

    Under current laws, businesses are required to maintain a reasonably safe environment for workers and visitors (the public). The Occupational Safety and Health Administration requires that employers maintain a workplace “free from recognized hazards that are causing or are likely to cause death or serious physical harm” to employees (similar laws apply to guests in businesses open to the public). If the business fails to do so, this can result in liability for the company.

    For example, let’s say a grocery store manager knows their roof leaks but makes no effort to repair the leak, clean up the puddle, or even put up a CAUTION WET FLOOR sign. Then if a customer slips and falls, the store could be liable. And why shouldn’t they be? The customer may now have months of painful rehabilitation ahead of them due to a preventable injury, and piles of medical bills to pay. If the store was negligent, they should be required to provide the customer with compensation.

    The same is true of Covid-19. Businesses that are currently open should be following CDC guidelines for preventing the spread of the pandemic, including asking guests and employees to wear masks, frequent disinfection protocols, and providing PPE to workers. Sadly, by September of 2020, more than 7,000 healthcare workers had died of Covid according to Forbes; the numbers are likely much higher now. Unfortunately, some healthcare facilities have failed to provide appropriate PPE for workers, which in some cases may have resulted in more infections (for both employees and patients).

    Workers in essential businesses like grocery stores may also have had inadequate protection, especially if store management failed to enforce or even have a mask policy for guests. Many people have had this sort of experience: You go in a store to get your groceries, and notice many of the other customers are not wearing masks. You ask to speak with the manager, who shrugs and says, “What are we going to do, put the mask on for them?” Did you feel safe shopping there? Probably not.

    You may have considered going elsewhere, but not everyone has the time, money, or access to transportation to visit a second store. Maybe you just got your groceries as fast as you could and hoped for the best. Sadly, these situations are not uncommon, and can lead to an increased risk of contracting Covid-19.

    Are Covid-19 Lawsuits “Frivolous”? Lawmakers Say So

    Proponents of “business immunity” from Covid lawsuits claim that companies need to be protected from “frivolous” lawsuits. However, a recent report estimated there were only about 1,000-1,500 federal or state workplace lawsuits related to the pandemic nationally in 2020, more than half involving firings or layoffs as businesses reduced staff. Only about 200 were related to workplace safety, although it’s likely that far more than 200 people were exposed to the virus at work.

    Unfortunately, Governor DeSantis and some other state lawmakers are intent on passing legislation that would reduce legal liability for businesses if a patron contracts Covid-19. This leaves vulnerable people impacted by a business’ negligence with little or no legal recourse. “Covid-19 immunity,” as it is sometimes called, would encourage unsafe business practices among business owners, like skimping on disinfectant products or PPE.

    The ability to file a lawsuit against a negligent business is the public’s only guaranteed constitutional remedy for justice after being harmed.

    Who Will Protect Vulnerable Populations, Like Nursing Home Residents?

    The biggest question Floridans should be concerned about regarding this Covid-19 lawsuit immunity legislation proposal is: What about vulnerable populations, like nursing homes and long-term care facility residents?

    If a nursing home fails to protect their patients and a resident contracts Covid-19 and dies as a result – why shouldn’t the management and the owners of the nursing home be held accountable? Should immunity extend so far as to indemnify any behavior the management and staff at a nursing home do or don’t do to protect their residents? What incentive exists for the operators to do the right thing, especially in an industry in which doing the wrong this is so prevalent because it’s more profitable?

    These are tough questions Florida’s lawmakers and Governor DeSantis should be asking themselves before they jam through a Covid-19 lawsuit immunity bills that protects and allows bad players to act on perverse incentives, putting livelihoods and public health at risk for their corporate profits.