Two previous leaders of a veterans’ nursing home in Massachusetts that experienced a fatal COVID-19 outbreak resolved their cases on Tuesday to evade prison, as per the state attorney general.
Bennett Walsh, the former head of Holyoke Soldiers’ Home, and David Clinton, the former medical head at the facility, were accused of negligence in the deadly 2020 COVID-19 outbreak, which caused at least 76 deaths. At a hearing in the Hampshire Superior Court on Tuesday, the state attorney general's office stated that they both retracted their previous not guilty pleas.
The state prosecutors requested Walsh and Clinton be confined at home for one year and serve three years of probation. Both individuals asked the judge for a continuance without a finding, indicating that they acknowledge there were enough facts to find them guilty of the charges.
The judge approved Walsh’s and Clinton’s requests and also ordered them not to work in a nursing home, have any contact with the victims’ families, or be present at the home without permission, according to the Massachusetts’ attorney general office.
Massachusetts Attorney General Andrea Joy Campbell expressed disapproval of the judge’s decision in a statement.
“Today the justice system failed the families who lost their loved ones at the Holyoke Soldiers’ Home. I am disappointed and disheartened with the Court’s decision, and want these families and our veterans to know my office did everything it could to seek accountability. We will continue to be vigilant in prosecuting cases of elder abuse and neglect.”
They both pleaded not guilty in 2020 to the charges that were related to their decision to combine two dementia units at the long-term facility — one unit that had positive cases and the other that had no symptoms. The case was later dismissed by Hampden Superior Court Judge Edward McDonough, but the state attorney’s general office filed an appeal on the decision in 2021.
Massachusetts highest court reinstituted the charges last year, The Associated Press reported.
A 2022 report on the veterans’ home that covered 2016 to 2020 found that Walsh lacked the leadership skills required to be the superintendent of the facility. The AP noted that he did not have experience in a health care facility or nursing home before being hired, but that experience was not needed at the time under state law.
The Associated Press contributed.
