Nurses' Lawsuit Claims 'Fabricated' COVID-19 Tests at Georgia LTAC

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Specializes in Vents, Telemetry, Home Care, Home infusion.

Medscape Nurses

June 22, 2020

Nurses' Lawsuit Claims 'Fabricated' COVID-19 Tests at Georgia Hospital

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A group of nurses at a Georgia hospital have filed a lawsuit accusing their CEO of what they call a "COVID-19 coverup" involving the improper collection of test samples to reduce positive test results for the virus and downplay its spread.

Nurses employed or formerly employed at Landmark Hospital of Athens, a 42-bed long-term care hospital in northeast Georgia, told Georgia Health News that five of their patients tested positive for COVID-19 after showing symptoms. The hospital administrator then ordered retesting of those patients, intentionally collecting samples outside the proper protocols to increase the likelihood of a negative result, the nurses allege in the lawsuit...

...The nurses claim the hospital's alleged improper testing practices allowed the facility to accept vulnerable patients admitted from larger hospitals, thus allowing Landmark to keep billing Medicare for services and maintain sufficient patient volume.

"Landmark fabricated negative results so as to continue to be able to discharge patients to make space for new admissions and avoid the negative publicity and oversight that would result if the positive COVID-19 results were disclosed," the lawsuit, filed June 17, alleges....

...The lawsuit said patients who tested positive were not isolated from others, and that staff were not given personal protective equipment or the resources to give safe treatment for these patients. "Even if these patients could have been properly isolated, Landmark's central air conditioning has not worked for any of the relevant time period,'' the suit added....

Nurses' Lawsuit Claims 'Fabricated' COVID-19 Tests at Georgia Hospital

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Specializes in Med Surg, Tele, Geriatrics, home infusion.

That's truly awful...kudos to those nurses for coming forward. I hope they make an example of the people who made that decision.

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Specializes in Critical care, tele, Medical-Surgical.
48 minutes ago, scribblz said:

That's truly awful...kudos to those nurses for coming forward. I hope they make an example of the people who made that decision.

I hope it is not true, but fear it is.

Good for those nurses!

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