The first-ever wrongful death lawsuit ever filed against Life Care Center over coronavirus pandemic. The daughter of a resident residing at the Life Care Center in Kirkland, Washington, Deborah de los Angeles, has filed a lawsuit against said company. The lawsuit accuses the nursing home of fraud and wrongful death of her mother, Twilla June Morin.
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The Story Behind It All
De los Angeles, daughter of Mori, filed the lawsuit with n King Country Superior Court last week, claiming she found out that Moira had contracted COVID-19 on Mar. 3, and then was notified 22 hours later by voicemail of her mother's death.
After hearing the voicemail, she prepared for the worst but was still caught surprised by how fast the coronavirus took her mother's life. "I had to sit there for a few minutes to try to absorb that information," she spoke with ABC News. "I just couldn't believe she's gone."
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Important Information
The lawsuit is claiming that Life Care Center was aware of the fact of the coronavirus pandemic since January. Still, the management had "lacked a clear plan of action leading to a systemic failure."
Instead of quarantining the facility, they still held a Mardi Gras party; on top of that, they even allowed visitors to go inside the building. Allegedly, it took 17 days before the nursing home reported all those cases to the authorities when it was required to notify King Country of any suspected coronavirus outbreaks within 24 hours.
Attorney Brian Mickelson, Deborah's attorney, told ABC, "This company owns 200 plus facilities in the country," and added, "This is a serious threat to the caretakers and the residents and anyone who comes in contact with this facility."
The Life Care Center Kirkland had been under intense scrutiny aftermath of the incident.
Families of the residents also complained about the lack of communication--it includes late notification from the staff regarding coronavirus cases in the facility.
Deborah said, "You'd figure they should know about this virus, the rest of the world knows, why doesn't Life Care know?"
Life Care said in a statement regarding the lawsuit, "Our hearts go out to this family and the loss they have suffered during this unprecedented viral outbreak. We are unable to comment on specific legal cases that are pending, but we wish this and all families peace. The loss of our residents at Life Care Center of Kirkland is felt deeply by us."
Morin was 84 years old and had been at the Life Care Center for almost two years until she passed away. She already had dementia and autoimmune disease. Due to her condition, she was more vulnerable to any disease, especially COVID-19. Morin was a bookkeeper who turned stock trader, and a loving mother and proud grandmother.
