Two former leaders of the Holyoke Soldiers’ Home were indicted on criminal neglect charges in what is believed to be the first US prosecution of nursing home caregivers over their handling of the coronavirus pandemic.

© Patrick Johnson
The Holyoke Soldiers’ Home.

The indictments against former superintendent Bennett Walsh and ex-medical director Dr. David Clinton stemmed from the “horrific circumstances” that claimed the lives of at least 76 veterans who contracted COVID-19 at the state-run facility, said Massachusetts Attorney General Maura Healey Friday in announcing the charges.

“It’s truly heartbreaking to think about how residents and staff suffered at this facility,” Healey said at a news conference. “From the time we became aware of this, we made it a priority. We owed it to the families who lost loved ones and these veterans who served our country to get to the bottom of what happened.”

The charges are

The superintendent and former medical director of the Holyoke Soldiers’ Home face criminal charges in connection with a Covid-19 outbreak at the veteran’s home earlier this year, Massachusetts Attorney General Maura Healey said Friday.

© Matthew Cavanaugh/Getty Images
An American flag flies at half-mast outside the Holyoke Soldiers’ Home on April 29, 2020, in Holyoke, Massachusetts.

The nursing home for veterans in Massachusetts suffered a deadly Covid-19 outbreak in March and April. According to staff and union accounts shared with CNN, the home dealt with systemic issues like short staffing for years.

On Thursday, a grand jury indicted Superintendent Bennett Walsh, 50, and former medical director David Clinton, 71, “for causing or permitting serious bodily injury or neglect of an elder during the Covid-19 outbreak,” Healey said.

They are each facing 10 counts: five counts of criminal neglect and five counts of serious bodily injury.

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Topline

Two former leaders of a Massachusetts home for aging veterans, where nearly 80 people have died from Covid-19, have been charged for their handling of the outbreak, the state’s attorney general said Friday, in what she says is believed to be the first U.S. criminal case brought nursing home staff during the Covid-19 pandemic.

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