Federal and state investigators raided a Pennsylvania nursing home Thursday where hundreds of residents and staff members tested positive for coronavirus and dozens have died, authorities said.
Investigators from the Federal Bureau of Investigation, the state attorney general’s office and other agencies executed the search warrant at Brighton Rehabilitation and Wellness Center northeast of Pittsburgh, said Scott Brady, U.S. Attorney for Pennsylvania’s Western District.
The Mt. Lebanon Rehabilitation and Wellness
Center, another nursing home in the Pittsburgh area operated by the same
company that owns Brighton, was also searched by authorities on
Thursday, NBC affiliate WPXI reported.
Brady
did not offer details about the search warrant but he encouraged anyone
with information about suspected fraud, abuse or victimization to
contact a regional COVID-19 task force.
Last month, Pennsylvania Attorney General Josh Shapiro said that the facility was under investigation over reports of “deeply troubling” conditions and practices.
“I
can confirm that Brighton is one of the subjects of our criminal
investigations into neglect at nursing homes during the pandemic,” he
tweeted.
State Department of Health data
show that 447 residents and staff members tested positive for the
disease, and 73 people died. In late July, the facility announced that
it had no cases for the first time since March, according to WPXI, but
its outbreak remains the worst in a Pennsylvania.
The facility did not immediately respond to a request for comment Thursday.
In a response to Shapiro’s announcement last month, Brighton said in a statement to the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette
that it has “faith that federal, state and local governments, which
dictate the required infectious disease control practices and policies,
continue to grow in their understanding and ability to support, guide
and direct those who are on the front lines of the COVID-19 pandemic.”
“We
will leave the readers to determine why some politicians seek
'investigations' into people and facilities instead of looking at
governmental response to better their directives,” the statement added.
Medicare records showed
that state inspectors warned of lax sanitary conditions last year that
could lead to the spread of infection and diseases. The Sept. 13, 2019
report found the facility didn’t have enough trained nurses and that
some residents were living in filthy conditions.
Full Article & Source:
FBI raids Pennsylvania nursing home where hundreds caught coronavirus, dozens died
