By Government broke the law failing care home residents who died of COVID-19
The Government broke the law by failing to protect around 20,000 elderly or disabled care home residents, who died after becoming infected with Covid-19, the High Court has ruled.
The case was made prominent by Dr. Cathy Gardner and Fay Harris, who reportedly lost their fathers to the virus.
Government policies on discharging patients from hospitals to care homes were labeled “unlawful” because they did not take into account the risk to residents from the non-symptomatic transmission of COVID, the judges ruled.
The barrister representing the women told the court between March and June 2020, more than 20,000 elderly or disabled care home residents had succumbed and died from COVID-19, in England and Wales.
He added the fathers were part of the number.
Lawyers representing Mr. Javid, NHS England, and Public Health England fought against the case that the government acted unlawfully.
From Sky News, Jason Coppel QC said “This care home population was known to be uniquely vulnerable to being killed or seriously harmed by COVID-19.
“The Government’s failure to protect it, and positive steps taken by the government which introduced COVID-19 infection into care homes, represent one of the most egregious and devastating policy failures in the modern era.
“That death toll should not and need not have happened.
“Put together, the various policies were a recipe for disaster and disaster is what happened.”
