Louisiana nursing home owner crams hundreds of elderly patients into warehouse
A Louisiana nursing home owner says he did “really good” caring for his elderly patients during Hurricane Ida — even though seven died when hundreds of them were evacuated to a filthy warehouse for days.
Bob Dean Jr., who owns seven nursing homes, allegedly left his charges in disgusting conditions – laying in feces on deflated air mattresses with no air conditioning, nurses who worked there told nola.com.
“You’d walk past them and they’d say, ‘Help me, help me.’ I ended up vomiting twice because the smell was so bad,” one anonymous nurse told the outlet.
When state investigators showed up to check on the patients, Dean initially refused to let them in, claiming to local station WAFB the investigators were there “illegally.”
“The Fourth Amendment says that they have to have a warrant to come on private property, much less seize persons or properties so they came on there illegally,” Dean told WAFB.
Seven evacuated residents died and five deaths were deemed storm related, the Louisiana Department of Health said in a statement.
Department officials quickly rescued the nearly 850 patients from the squalid conditions, but Dean gave himself a pat on the back.
“We only had five deaths within the six days and normally with 850 people you’ll have a couple a day so we did really good with taking care of people,” he told WAFB.
State Health Officer Dr. Joseph Kanter announced Sunday he had ordered the closure of the seven nursing homes pending “further regulatory action.”
https://nypost.com/2021/09/05/louisiana-nursing-home-owner-put-patients-in-warehouse-during-hurricane-ida/