I have been uncharacteristically quiet about the news last month from the People’s Republic of California, or should I say, from Comrade DA George Gascon of Los Angeles. No more. I am referring, of course, to the criminal charges against Silverado, its CEO Loren Shook, Kimberly Butrum, SVP of clinical services, and Jason Russo, the administrator at the Silverado Alzheimer’s facility where there was a major COVID outbreak in early 2020.
The trio faces a total of 13 felony counts of elder endangerment and five felony counts of violation causing death. The company itself also faces charges. What we know is that a retired physician flew in from New York City to Los Angeles late on March 19, 2020, and went straight to the Silverado facility at a time when family members and other visitors were not allowed in and there was a general lockdown in place.
The next day, this patient was hospitalized with COVID symptoms, and over the next several weeks, more than 100 staff and residents tested positive and 14 died, one of whom was a care provider who dealt with the new patient. This was obviously a terrible outcome, and obviously a blemish for the industry. But let’s remember, this was March 2020, when there was little known about COVID, and very contradictory information. We also have not heard whether anyone checked the manifest to see if any other passengers became infected, or whether he was flown in on a private jet. Would be nice to know.
At about the same time that this physician was flying out of New York to LA, I was flying out of New York to Scotland for my son-in-law’s bachelor party, the day after President Trump’s Oval Office address. There was no testing leaving New York or arriving in Scotland, or arriving back in New York four days later. Many of us thought this was going to be an isolated health scare that for some reason was having its worst impact on the frail elderly. And many people thought President Trump was overreacting and being racist in blaming China for the outbreak. Very few people thought it would become the worst pandemic in 100 years. And on a seniors housing webinar in May 2020, the panelists were claiming this would be in the rearview mirror by the end of the summer. I wish they had been right. But no one knew.
My point is that all this happened in the very early weeks of the pandemic when confusion reigned, not knowledge. Even Dr. Fauci was proved wrong on some of his early pronouncements in the first three months of 2020, and again later. And, hospitals were open for business throughout 2020 and 2021, taking care of people like they always do. I should know because I was a visitor practically every month during the height of the pandemic for more than a year, and never once was required to get a COVID test. And this was in New York City, once the epicenter.
My fear is that this lawsuit against Silverado and its senior employees is just the beginning of an onslaught. Were there bad decisions made by providers across the country? Did some nursing homes do a poor job of caring for their patients? I would say yes to both questions. But were they criminal? In almost all cases no. They were dealing with something they did not know how to deal with. There was no COVID training manual in March 2020.
The rap against Silverado is that they took this patient in because they were greedy, they wanted the $10,000 or more monthly fee. In addition, the lawsuit alleges that they may not have followed their own protocols. I have known Loren Shook for years, and I hardly think he would risk his company, let alone the lives of staff and residents, for a few thousand dollars of profit. He is much bigger than that.
It all has to be put in the context of the time, which was March 2020, and everyone was trying to figure things out. If a DA wants to go after someone, why not former Governor Andrew Cuomo and what he did to New York City’s nursing homes? But was it criminal? Some people might say yes, but the reality was no one really knew how to deal with COVID at the beginning. If they say they did, they are liars.
