Pediatric Nursing Facility to Pay Families a $6.2 Million Settlement After Deadly Viral Outbreak
Thirteen families — including seven whose children died — have reached a $6.2 million settlement with the former operators of a pediatric nursing facility in Passaic County accused of delaying hospital care after a viral outbreak in 2018, their attorney said.
The families alleged in the wrongful death lawsuit that the Wanaque Center for Nursing and Rehabilitation did not immediately notify parents about the outbreak that began in September 2018, then waited too long to transfer infected children to the hospital, despite pleas from their loved ones that they receive a higher level of care.
A total of 35 children were infected and 11 died from an adenovirus, a typically mild illness that wreaked havoc on the weakened immune systems of the disabled children who lived at Wanaque. One employee also was infected.
