BY ROSE ADAMS
Nearly one quarter of New
York state’s COVID-19 victims
have died in nursing homes
and psychiatric facilities — and
yet, the death toll is likely much
higher as some homes purposefully
underreport their deaths,
experts allege.
“I’ve gotten phone calls
from children of people at facilities
who were told affi rmatively
that there were no deaths at the
facility, and it just wasn’t true,”
said John Dalli, a Brooklynbased
attorney who specializes
in elder abuse. “Reporting
is not being done with these
COVID deaths. They’re just not
doing it.”
Nursing homes and assisted
living facilities must disclose
the number of residents who die
from the novel coronavirus —
or who they suspect died of the
virus — to the state’s Department
of Health, according to an
April 17 executive order from
Gov. Andrew Cuomo. Failure
to accurately report these numbers
COURIER L 6 IFE, MAY 22-28, 2020
can result in a $2,000 fi ne
per unreported death, the revocation
of the facility’s license,
or even criminal prosecution,
Cuomo said on May 1.
However, insiders claim
that the Health Department’s
reliance on self-reported numbers
allows facilities to vastly
underreport fatalities.
At the 271-bed King David
Center for Nursing and Rehabilitation
in Gravesend, administrators
have disclosed three
confi rmed COVID-19 deaths
and two suspected fatalities,
according to the state’s offi cial
tally.
But some families have accused
the center’s staff of leaving
deceased coronavirus victims
in their beds and failing
to notify families and authorities
of the deaths, according to
a group of local politicians, who
wrote a letter to the home’s administrators
blasting them for
a “complete abdication” of their
responsibilities.
“We have heard reports that
your facility has left deceased
residents in their bed, transferred
patients to hospitals without
notifying their families,
and failed to report the number
of COVID-positive cases at the
King David Center to the health
authorities,” wrote Congressman
Max Rose, State Senator
Diane Savino, and Councilmen
Mark Treyger and Justin Brannan
on May 6.
Oceanview Manor Home for
Adults on W. 33rd Street in Coney
Island faces similar accusations.
The facility has reported
no deaths to the state — and neither
have any other facilities
owned by Oceanview’s parent
company, Gefen Senior Care.
Dalli, however, said that he’s
heard of at least two residents
who have died at the psychiatric
home, according to his clients.
“I know of at least two families
who have lost loved ones at
Oceanview Manor Home for Adults is one of several assisted living facilities
that experts believe is underreporting its COVID-19 deaths. Google
Oceanview Manor,” he said, alleging
that the home failed to notify
families about the outbreak.
“They were not told about any
COVID-positive residents or
deaths … but later learned that
there were deaths.”
Representatives from Gefen
Senior Care did not respond to a
request for comment about the
accusations.
Some nursing homes lower
their death toll by categorizing
likely COVID-19 deaths as
pneumonia-related because of
a lack of testing, Coney Island
Councilman Mark Treyger
said nursing home staffers told
him.
“Because they had a lack of
testing and doctors, they just
diagnose people with pneumonia,”
he said. “When you don’t
have access to tests, it gives
them this loophole.”
The Health Department’s
loose guidelines also contribute
to the lowered death count by
not requiring nursing homes
to report deaths that occurred
outside the facility, Treyger
added.
“It’s not clear to me if they’re
distinguishing residents that
they transferred to the hospital
and died there from residents at
the facility who died from the
virus,” said Treyger. “And we
don’t know if they’re required
to report retroactively.”
‘THEY WERE NOT TOLD’
Many local nursing homes purposefully
underreport COVID-19 deaths, sources say