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Date: 8/24/2021
HOLYOKE – Those working at the Holyoke Soldiers’ Home during the tragic COVID-19 outbreak among residents have filed a class-action lawsuit against several former administrators.
The lawsuit, which was officially filed on Aug. 13, names Kwesi Ablordeppey “and others similarly situated” as the plaintiffs while several former administrators from the Home as the defendants. Those named as the defendants include former Superintendent Bennett Walsh, former Medical Director David Clinton, former Chief Nursing Officer Vanessa Lauziere, former Infectious Disease Nurse Vanessa Gosselin and the former Assistant Director of Nursing Celeste Surreira.
The lawsuit was filed by Ablordeppey’s lawyer Leonard Kesten of Brody, Hardoon, Perkins and Kesten in Boston. Kesten told Reminder Publishing the firm had “talked to dozens” of staff and employees who were working at the Home when the outbreak occurred. Kesten said if the firm was successful in having the court certify the lawsuit as a class-action lawsuit, then it would be on behalf of not just Ablordeppey. “This is behalf of everyone, every employee that worked there,” he said.
The pain felt by those who were employed by and resided in the Home during this time, he said, was evident. “You can feel the suffering. The veterans at the Holyoke [Soldiers’] Home deserve to live with dignity and die with dignity,” he said. “That was taken away from them by the actions of the defendants and the employees, who love these people, had to watch them get sick and die.”
The lawsuit claims that in March of 2020, the defendants named were responsible for making “a series of criminally catastrophic decisions that led to the slow, agonizing and preventable deaths of 77 veterans.” Such decisions, as claimed in the lawsuit, “appear to have been based on a complete disregard for human life.”
“This case addresses the effect of those decisions on the employees and what they were forced to endure as a result,” the lawsuit says, in part. The lawsuit also states that the defendants were not truthful with employees about the risks associated with COVID-19.
It states, “The Soldiers’ Home Defendants deceived their employees about the risks of coronavirus; they forced employees to continue working even as they exhibited symptoms of COVID, as they waited for the results of COVID tests, and even after they had tested positive. They required employees to work long hours, providing nursing care to infected veterans while denying them access to personal protective equipment (“PPE”) and the necessary medication to provide care to the dying veterans.”
The result of such decisions, according to the lawsuit, was “more than 80 employees becoming sickened with COVID-19,” many of which required treatment in a hospital and some employees still experiencing side effects currently. The lawsuit also goes on to state that in addition to some employees still experiencing negative health effects, many still suffer from emotional health issues related to the tragedy.
“What the employees witnessed at the Soldiers’ Home left them emotionally traumatized, and they continue to suffer from post-traumatic stress disorder (“PTSD”), anxiety, depression, and other serious mental health issues to this day,” the lawsuit states.
At the time of press, Kesten said they were “awaiting a response from the defendants.” He explained they were pursuing a jury trial and if the defendants were found guilty it would be “up to the jury” to decide what an appropriate punishment would be. “We want justice to prevail, we have faith in the system,” he said.
Reminder Publishing reached out to Walsh’s lawyer William Bennett for comment, but had not heard back as of press time.