Second Suit Filed Against The Citadel Seeks Injunction Judges Review Of Facility

Tuesday, April 28, 2020 | COVID-19 | Author: Carl Blankenship | Original Article

SALISBURY – A new lawsuit filed against the Citadel nursing home is seeking “a comprehensive review of the facility’s polices” by a judge.

The suit was filed by local law firm Wallace and Graham and Raleigh firm Gugenheim Law, which specializes in prosecuting claims against nursing homes.

The Citadel is a site of a COVID-19 outbreak, and its former residents represent a majority of those who have died in Rowan County after testing positive. A previous lawsuit filed on April 21 by Wallace and Graham sought damages in the case of Marjorie Garvin, who was a resident at the facility and died Monday. The suit claimed she contracted COVID-19 while at the facility and alleged negligence, naming owners Accordius Health and the Portopiccolo Group.

A news release from Wallace and Graham said the firm is dismissing Garvin’s initial suit “to allow the family to grieve and to get her estate in order.”

The new suit filed by Wallace and Graham seeks injunctive relief, or a stop to specific behavior, “to force compliance with regulations and North Carolina law.” It does not seek monetary damages.

Claims made in the newest suit include:

• The Citadel has admitted new residents despite the outbreak and at least one person who was recently admitted died within two weeks of coming to the facility.
• The facility “failed to direct or require nurses and employees to wear masks, gowns or face shields throughout the month of March 2020.”
• Employees who wanted to wear masks around residents in march were told to remove them to prevent “mask fear” until early April and staff were not provided with with N-95 masks, which are effective for filtering viral material.
• Nurses were not required to change their gloves from room-to-room or patient-to-patient.
• One nurse reported she had been given a single pair of gloves for a 16-hour shift “as late as April 5.”
• The facility did not hold staff meetings to tell certified nursing assistants how to handle the pandemic.
• Staff members were not given instructions for COVID-19 patient care as late as mid-April.
• The facility allowed residents to leave their rooms and walk the halls at the home after beginning an isolation protocol. Residents were not required to wear masks, including during window visits with relatives.
• Residents who had “recently shown symptoms” were allowed to be in the halls before being tested for COVID-19
• The facility failed to tell staff that residents tested positive for the virus and certified nursing assistants learned about cases at the facility from word of mouth and news outlets first.
• As late as April 6, there was a sign on the door to the facility stating “ATTENTION ALL VISITORS: There are no cases of Coronavirus in this facility. However, we are not accepting visitors into the building at this time.” The complaint includes a scanned image of the sign.
• The Citadel used a self-reported log for CNAs to record their own temperatures and symptoms, and failed to follow up when symptoms were reported or nurses did not use the log.
• Staff were allowed to work without taking their temperatures or recording symptoms.

 The suit includes 14 affidavits, including statements from anonymous staff.

One certified nurses assistant described going to get tested four days after she started experiencing symptoms. She was advised to self-quarantine for two weeks. She described coworkers being asked to return to work after only a week of quarantine and a nurse from a staffing agency who came into work after testing positive.

The woman said there was a protocol to isolate patients for five days, but there was an instance where a patient was returned to the facility from Rowan Medical Center and placed in isolation for a single night. The same nurses assistant said she talked to a patient who was told she had tested negative when she had, in fact, tested positive. 

The nursing assistant told the patient she had tested positive “because I thought she had a right to know.”