St Basil’s Aged Care Faces Lawsuit After Dozens of Coronavirus Deaths
Aug 28, 2020
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A class action has been launched against the owners of St Basil’s aged care home following a mass coronavirus outbreak linked to quite 30 deaths. The lawsuit is being handled by the identical legal firm that managed the class action against Epping Gardens. More than 1 / 4 of the St Basil’s Fawkner aged care facility’s 120 residents have died since the cluster emerged in early July.
Federal government had no Covid-19 aged care plan, royal commission hears.
Breached common law on duty of care
Lawyer Tony Carbone from Carbone Lawyers told that the facility had not complied with its obligations to take care of residents. “They didn’t provide the services they were supposed to provide,” he said. “We say that they breached common law duty of care to make sure the protection and well-being of residents.” A statement of claim accused the facility of breaching its duty of care to residents on quite 26 occasions.
The centre is additionally accused of failing to heed the warnings of state and federal governments of the hazards of Covid-19 and “improperly concealing from and/or misrepresenting information to the plaintiff, and everyone relevant government authorities concerning the severity of risks and dangers of Covid-19 contamination and spread at St Basil’s”.
“What we are basically doing is sending a message out there – if you are going to take people on and you are going to say that we are going to care and manage them. Do that. That is your job. You have taken them on and getting good money for it. The families expect it. They can’t look after them at home.”
There are 15 grieving families involved so far, with Effie Fotiadis the first plaintiff leading the charge after her 79-year-old father Dimitrios died on July 25 in the Northern Hospital, after contracting the virus at the home.
“The grieving still, that’s hit me really hard,”
The outbreak led to all the staff at St Basil’s being stood down and replaced with a surge workforce, after the federal government intervened.
The federal government is the primary funder and regulator of aged care in Australia, while the state government runs a small proportion of facilities in Victoria. Under its coronavirus plan, the state government provides advice to all residential aged care facilities in the state.
A version of this article was originally published onhttps://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2020/aug/20/st-basils-faces-class-action-suit-for-allegedly-breaching-duty-of-care-amid-covid-crisis by Josh Taylor andhttps://www.9news.com.au/national/class-action-launched-against-st-basils-aged-care-after-dozens-of-covid19-deaths/2dacc407-8254-4091-b751-90b596a377be by Chanel Zagon
