Home Health & Hospice Week

Client’s death led to endangerment charges.

A cautionary tale for making sure your staff are properly educated and equipped to provide care in the pandemic has come out of New Jersey.

On May 14, authorities charged home health aide Josefina Brito-Fernandez with five counts of endangering the welfare of another, after her 80-year-old Camden patient died of COVID-19. After experiencing symptoms, the aide underwent COVID-19 testing but did not disclose it to her patient or the patient’s family, says New Jersey Attorney General Gurbir S. Grewa in a release.

After being told to self-isolate after testing, Brito-Fernandez instead went to work as usual and did not wear a face mask or any other personal protective equipment, despite the fact that her employer mandated that PPE be worn at all times, the release says. Brito-Fernandez also cared for two developmentally disabled siblings in the household, also without wearing PPE. The elderly patient and four other members of the household later tested positive for COVID-19 and the patient passed away several days later in the hospital.