A woman has filed a lawsuit alleging her 88-year-old father died from COVID-19 last year after staff at a Culver City assisted-care facility allowed residents to commingle and failed to enforce social distancing.
Jessica Hopman’s complaint against Sunrise Villa Culver City, seeking unspecified damages on behalf of Gerald Hopman, was transferred last week from state to federal court because the claims made fall under a federal emergency preparedness act.
“Defendants’ failure to protect Mr. Hopman from known health and safety hazards and provide care for his physical health needs is statutory neglect,” the lawsuit states. “The defendants … conceived of and implemented a plan to wrongfully increase their business profits at the expense of residents such as Mr. Hopman.”
Sunrise Villa Culver City officials said in an email Tuesday that they do not comment on pending legal matters.
“We can share, however, that we remain resolute and proactive in our efforts to fight COVID-19 in our community,” the officials said. “We continue to implement guidance from the Centers for Disease Control and other health agencies, to inform Sunrise’s infection control efforts to help ensure all necessary actions and the appropriate precautions are in place to prevent the spread of the virus.
“We focus every day on keeping our residents and team members safe and healthy even in the face of rapidly changing conditions and evolving guidelines.”
The wrongful death suit is at least the second of its kind involving a COVID-19 death at Sunrise Villa facilities in Southern California. Three brothers have filed a complaint in U.S. District Court alleging their 89-year-old father was killed by the virus largely because of staff neglect at Sunrise Villa Bradford in Placentia.
Care suffers as staff shrinks
The lawsuit filed by Jessica Hopman offers a glimpse into the uncertainty that some families face in trusting others with caring for loved ones amid the deadly pandemic.
Gerald Hopman was admitted into a one-bedroom assisted-living apartment at Sunrise Villa on Sept. 2, 2018, and was properly cared for by staff for nearly a year, the suit states. However, his care began to suffer in August 2019, partly because Sunrise Villa was understaffed, according to the complaint.
As his eyesight and mobility began to deteriorate in early 2020, it was agreed that Hopman would move into a smaller studio apartment in the assisted-living unit to conserve money for his long-term care and enable him to live independently, the complaint says.
Gerald Hopman moved into the studio apartment on March 13. Three days later, a letter to his family assured them that Sunrise Villa was taking precautions to prevent residents from contracting and spreading COVID-19, according to the lawsuit.
Residents locked down
Sunrise Villa was then placed on lockdown, restricting relatives, private caregivers, hospice nurses and physicians from visiting Hopman because he was an independent resident and not terminally ill, the lawsuit states.
Executive Director Shane Fowler told Jessica Hopman there were no COVID-19 cases among residents and that her father had no symptoms, adding that Sunrise Villa was “in a good position” since residents were isolated in their apartments, the suit states.
On April 16, Jessica Hopman learned that Sunrise Villa staff, without her consent, had moved all of her father’s furniture and belongings to a shared room at Terrace Club, the facility’s memory-care center. The daughter expressed concern about the move “due to the potential spread of COVID-19 at Terrace Club since Terrace Club was a community of commingled residents.”
Jessica Hopman was allowed to see her father at the Terrace Club. The visit was eye-opening, the lawsuit says.
“Defendants’ staff and the residents were wandering the halls and common areas without masks and without making any attempts to socially distance,” the complaint states. “The doors of the residents’ rooms were left wide open.”
Jessica Hopman claims she was later told that Terrace Club residents were not allowed to be confined to their rooms due to their mental conditions.
Sickness, deaths reported
Hopman and other Terrace Club residents were tested for COVID-19 on April 30. Over the next several days, he stopped eating, lost weight, struggled to speak, had a cough and was rapidly deteriorating, according to the complaint.
Jessica Hopman learned on May 4 that her father and seven other residents of the Terrace Club, along with nine caregivers, had tested positive for COVID-19.
“Defendants should have identified that Mr. Hopman’s health condition required a greater level of care,” says the suit. “Instead, defendants let Mr. Hopman’s COVID-19 infection and change of condition go untreated as his hospice and private caregivers remained restricted and the facility continued to be understaffed.”
Hopman died from COVID-19-related complications eight days later and his roommate also succumbed to the virus, the lawsuit states. According to the California Department of Public Health, fewer than 11 residents at Sunrise Villa died from COVID-19.