NYT A scathing Justice Department report found that care at the state facilities was so poor that it violated residents’ constitutional rights and led to a rash of deaths.
The care given to military veterans at two state-run nursing homes in New Jersey ravaged by the coronavirus was so poor that it violated residents’ constitutional rights, according to a U.S. Department of Justice report released Thursday.
The veterans’ homes in Edison and Paramus experienced some of the country’s highest coronavirus death rates. In the first five months of the pandemic, at least 146 patients died at the long-term care facilities after contracting Covid-19.
The report grew out of a three-year investigation and offered a scathing assessment of a broad range of problems within the two homes, including no-show supervisors, indifference to residents’ discomfort, a culture of fear and a lack of regard for employee safety.
It also found that the inadequate care continued even after the pandemic abated, which is likely to embolden critics of New Jersey’s Democratic governor, Philip D. Murphy, as he seeks to expand his national profile.
Mr. Murphy’s handling of the pandemic, particularly in nursing homes, has long been seen as a political vulnerability — one that was used as a cudgel during his campaign for re-election in 2021.
In a statement Thursday, he noted that his administration had taken steps to improve the nursing homes, including hiring private managers to help run them. He acknowledged that the federal findings were a “deeply disturbing reminder that the treatment received by our heroic veterans is unacceptable and, quite frankly, appalling.”