Lawsuits Begin in LaSalle Veterans' Home Deaths
The LaSalle Veterans’ Home, where 36 residents died in a massive COVID-19 outbreak.
Richard Cieski was an Army veteran of the Korean War.
He owned a construction company in suburban Darien his whole life.
He loved boating, snowmobiling, and tinkering with old cars.
He and his wife, Bernadine, moved to Seneca in rural LaSalle County ten years ago.
As Richard’s time was coming to a close, he moved to the LaSalle Veterans’ Home.
He caught COVID-19 in an outbreak at the home and died November 15, 2020.
He had three kids. Seven grandkids. Seven great-grandkids. Bernadine, who helped move him into the home, survives.
Richard Cieski was 89.
There are 36 cases just like those of Richard Cieski. Veterans, many of Korea or Vietnam, living in what they hoped would be a safe environment. Then COVID-19 struck the facility and lives of residents and their families.
An attorney with Chicago law firm Levin & Perconti says it has families of as many as 25 of the residents who died at the facility ready to file suit against the state. Cieski’s suit was filed in the Illinois Court of Claims, a specialized court designed to handle claims made against the state.
The attorney, Michael Bonamarte says families understand the difficult conditions the pandemic provided nursing homes, but that the outbreak at LaSalle began in November 2020, months into the pandemic.
“It is more inexcusable that it happened 10 months into this [pandemic].” Bonamarte said. “Based largely on state’s own investigation, it validated. many of our concerns. It’s hard for families who have to hear that. Those families are [putting loved ones in the home with the assumption the state is holding up their end of the bargain. They didn’t.”
Bonamarte says the state’s internal investigation showed many of the lapses found following the outbreak were true.
“It sort of substantiated what we already knew, which is horrifying, frankly,.” he said.
Bonamarte’s firm has sued a handful of nursing homes around the state that suffered COVID-19 outbreaks. But, he says, not all nursing facilities handled potential COVID outbreaks equally.
:It did not happen at all nursing homes across the state,” he said. “We’re not filing lawsuits against nursing homes because someone got COVID. We’re filing against nursing homes with poor regulatory and infection control. Several staff members have contacted us [about] leadership and management of the home. A number of facilities have done a really great job. But the pandemic sort of blew the lid off the problem that has existed for a long time, that nursing homes are understaffed and don’t have enough resources.”
Cieski’s family is eligible for up to $2 million in damages from the Court of Claims. Bonamarte says potential plaintiffs are willing to negotiate with the state before pursuing further court action. Neither the Governor’s office or the Department of Veterans’ Affairs have responded to a request for comment from The Illinoize.
Meanwhile, Sen. Sue Rezin (R-Morris) held a news conference outside the facility Monday calling on Senate Democrats to allow her to pass four bills to implement changes at the facility.
Senate Bill 1471 requires facilities licensed and operated by the State to conduct outbreak preparedness drills.
Senate Bill 2251 requires IDPH to have an onsite visit within one business day of an infectious outbreak at a veterans’ home. An outbreak is defined as two or more individuals who have contracted an infectious disease within 48 hours of the first diagnosis.
Senate Bill 2252 requires the Auditor General to conduct a performance audit of the Department of Veterans' Affairs (IDVA) and the Department of Public Health's (IDPH) management of the 2020 COVID-19 outbreak at the LaSalle Veterans' Home.
Senate Bill 1445 would give the Inspector General the authority to subpoena former agency directors, senior administrator, or any other individual who had a role in an issue that caused an investigation.
Rezin filed the last bill in response to former Home Administrator Angela Mehlbrech and former IDVA Director Linda Chapa LaVia declining to give statements to Department of Human Services investigators.
Rezin believes Senate leadership is preventing her bills from getting a hearing.
“I have not been given an explanation on why these bills are being held,” said Sen. Rezin. “The fact that these important and potentially life-saving bills have been essentially blocked is embarrassing and disrespectful to the lives of the veterans we lost at the LaSalle Veterans’ Home.”
A spokesman for Senate President Don Harmon did not return our message Monday evening.
Reps. David Welter (R-Morris) and Lance Yednock (D-Ottawa) have also filed legislation in the House to require IDPH to make an onsite visit to assess the status of the spread of a disease and determine if any additional actions can be taken to lessen exposure to the disease by the end of the next business day. It took IDPH investigators 12 days before performing an on-site visit in LaSalle.
“There may only be a few more weeks left in May, but there is still plenty of time for us to do the right thing, said Rezin. “There is still time to pass these bills. There is still time for us to help ensure that nothing like this happens again.”