Family of COVID-19 victim at La Salle veterans home files suit

Attorneys filed a lawsuit Monday on behalf of the family of 90-year-old Richard Cieski Sr., a Korean War veteran, who died in November 2020, following an exposure to COVID-19 at the Illinois Veterans Home in La Salle.

Cieski died Nov. 15, having been exposed to the virus, said attorneys for his family. The plaintiffs are seeking $2 million in compensation.

In November, the veterans home had an outbreak of 109 cases among residents, which resulted in 36 resident deaths. Additionally, there were 116 cases among employees at the veterans home.

The Cieski family is being represented by Levin & Perconti, a Chicago firm that has represented victims in nursing home abuse and neglect cases.

Shaw Local News Network is seeking a copy of the legal complaint filed in court and will update the story with more information once it is obtained.

The family’s lawyers said the facility was negligent as it failed to protect Cieski from the virus, saying the facility lacked precautions or preparation from the beginning of the pandemic in March 2020 to the start of the November outbreak.

Among items the family cited was an off-site Halloween party attended by staff members, that staff members were given three-day tests for the virus and continued to work at the facility during the three-day period while they awaited results.

The state’s Department of Veterans Affairs reported hand sanitizer used at the facility was found ineffective against the virus, and has identified multiple, systemic failures at the facility including improper symptom screening, staff members not practicing social distancing, and staff touching residents without performing hand hygiene or disposing of gloves in between use, the family’s attorneys said.

According to state records, it took 12 days for a representative from the Illinois Department of Public Health to go to the home and investigate the November outbreak, the attorneys said.

Levin & Perconti said it has launched multiple investigations on behalf of families whose loved ones died from COVID-19 following exposure at the La Salle veterans home and has already filed suits on behalf of COVID victims in a dozen private nursing homes across the state. The Cieski family’s suit is believed to be the first against an Illinois veterans home, they said.

“After seeing what was happening with outbreaks at facilities nationwide, La Salle veterans home had plenty of time to order enough PPE and properly staff the home to care for the residents,” said Levin & Perconti partner Michael Bonamarte. “Richard Cieski’s death could have been avoided had La Salle taken appropriate precautions.

“By November, CDC protocols and Illinois Department of Public Health guidelines were clear and well-known,” added Levin & Perconti partner Margaret Battersby Black. “There were standards in place that should have been followed and practices that could have been enforced. An appropriately fast and comprehensive response to potential staff exposure to the virus could have saved lives, but, instead, the outbreak spread for 12 days before anyone from the state of Illinois even arrived to investigate it. This suit is about holding officials accountable for that failure and ensuring that it never happens again.”