New Jersey Can't Take Care of Its Veterans, Feds Say. Help Is Needed Now.

In a widely expected move, the U.S. Justice Department filed a civil complaint against New Jersey on Wednesday over the state’s failed response to the COVID-19 pandemic at its veterans homes, where hundreds died in the wake of lax infection controls and allegations of substandard care of residents.

At the same time, New Jersey officials entered into a consent decree that called for a federal monitor to oversee two of the three long-term care facilities operated by the state.

“Our veterans, who have sacrificed so much, should never have been subject to deficient care,” said U.S. Attorney Philip R. Sellinger in a statement. “This consent decree provides a detailed roadmap and expert oversight to ensure they are protected, so that they and their families can rely on the veterans homes. We look forward to working with the state and the independent monitor to implement this decree and ensure that every resident of the veterans homes lives with the safety and dignity that they so richly deserve.”

Assistant Attorney General Kristen Clarke of the Justice Department’s Civil Rights Division said the consent decree, which still must be approved by the court, requires the state to deliver proper care and have the oversight in place to provide families with confidence.

“The Justice Department will work diligently with the state to ensure the reforms are properly implemented,” she said in making the announcement of the enforcement action.

Gov. Phil Murphy said the state welcomed the additional oversight.

“We’re committed to making sure our veterans have the best possible care and quality of life at all three of our veterans homes,” he said. “With this consent decree, we can resolve past differences with the Department of Justice and focus our efforts on providing the best possible care to our veterans homes residents.”

He said the state was determined to not only meet federal standards but to exceed them.

The federal complaint said the deficiencies at the facilities were “longstanding,” and that the state had not taken corrective action sufficient to correct them. The proposed consent agreement, and the proposed appointment of a monitor, followed a scathing report issued last year that found that New Jersey failed to implement adequate infection control protocols, provide adequate clinical care, and “provide oversight of the facilities in a manner that keeps the residents of the veterans homes safe from harm,” in violation of the 14th Amendment.

That report noted that the pandemic had particularly devastated the facilities in Paramus and Menlo Park in Edison. One worker cited in the report described the situation during the height of the pandemic as “pure hell.” Another described Menlo Park as “a battlefield.”

The findings noted that even by the standards of the pandemic’s difficult early days, the two facilities were unprepared to keep their residents safe. During the first wave of the pandemic, the veterans homes had the some of the highest number of publicly reported resident COVID deaths of all long-term care facilities in New Jersey.

Overall, COVID claimed the lives of more than 200 residents and staff in all Menlo Park, Paramus and a third facility in Vineland. Federal officials have said the actual number of COVID deaths was likely much higher.

The problems continued even as the pandemic waned. Last year, inspectors concluded that residents at Menlo Park had been placed in “immediate jeopardy” over serious shortcomings in care — citing the nursing home for major medical mistakes, abuse of a resident who had not received medication, and improper infection controls to stop a new COVID outbreak.

Over the past two years, New Jersey agreed to two out-of-court settlements to pay $68.8 million to those who lost loved ones in the Paramus and Menlo Park facilities in the early days of the pandemic, resolving claims without admitting fault that the state’s negligence and incompetence were largely to blame for the deadly outbreak. And in February, the federal government threatened to terminate the Menlo Park home from the Medicare and Medicaid programs — denying it the funds it needs to operate — absent major changes there.

State Sen. Joseph Vitale, D- Middlesex, chairman of the Senate Health, Human Services and Senior Citizens Committee, said the new steps taken by the Justice Department came as no surprise. He called the federal investigation a “wakeup call” for the Department of Military and Veterans Affairs, which is responsible for the veterans homes.

“There were a lot of tragedies. A lot of deaths at the veterans homes that should not have happened,” he commented.

Vitale has been spearheading efforts by Gov. Murphy to split the Department of Military and Veterans Affairs into two new agencies — one whose responsibilities include New Jersey’s National Guard, and a newly created Department of Veterans Affairs that would focus on veterans services, including the state-run nursing homes. The legislation would also establish an independent veterans advocate.

The senator, who with other legislators behind the department overhaul had earlier called for the appointment of a federal monitor to oversee improvements at the veterans homes, said a similar effort — also overseen by a monitor — that led to the restructuring of the child welfare system in the wake of major tragedies 20 years ago.

The veteran advocate bill has already been introduced. Separate legislation creating a Department of Veterans Affairs, he said, remains a work in progress.

“It’s complicated and you want to get it right,” Vitale remarked.

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Staff writer Susan K. Livio contributed to this report.

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