Miltenberg: “Lofgren Lawsuit Shines a Light on Need for Nursing Home Industry Reform,” NorthJersey.com

Last month, E-Street Band member Nils Lofgren and his wife Amy sent their personal testimony to the New Jersey State Senate in support of new legislation to hold nursing homes accountable. As they put it, too much of New Jersey’s nursing home industry is simply deplorable, and our seniors and loved ones deserve so much better. It’s an issue close to their hearts because Nils and Amy and their family are suing a New Jersey nursing home that they say severely abused and neglected their mother. I am the attorney representing the Lofgren family in their lawsuit against Brookdale Senior Living for failing to provide even the most basic level of care they promised. Patricia Landers, Amy’s mother and Nils’ mother-in-law — a patient with cancer, osteoporosis and Alzheimer’s/Dementia — was, we contend, abused and neglected by the very people entrusted to take care of her. Despite charging thousands of dollars a month for its services, Brookdale and its employees utterly failed to provide adequate safety, security, or care throughout her stay. The Lofgren lawsuit is just the tip of the iceberg for these types of cases. Sadly, the care provided to the senior citizens, parents and grandparents during the pandemic has been grossly negligent, with an estimated 45% of the approximately 17,000 COVID-19 deaths occurring in nursing homes. Nursing home workers have also died because facilities failed to provide their workers with protective gear, as in the case of the Andover, New Jersey facility that piled the dead bodies of its residents in a make-shift morgue last April.