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Class action filed against Newmarch House and NSW Health over nursing home COVID-19 deaths
National plaintiff firm Shine Lawyers has filed a class action on behalf of 25 people whose family members died at the Anglicare Newmarch House residential aged-care facility from COVID-19, who were allegedly implicated by negligent healthcare.
Jess Feyder
Following the potential class action being announced in mid-2020 and an inquest into the deaths in mid-2022, the class action against Anglicare Newmarch House and NSW Health has been filed by Shine Lawyers.
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The lead plaintiff in the class action is Mark Fahey, whose mother, Ann, died on 2 May 2020 — three weeks after the virus broke out in the nursing home. She was the 14th Newmarch resident to die from the virus.
Mr Fahey commented: “I’ll never understand how the situation got as bad as it did.
“It just seemed like everything they did led to another failing and another life lost.”
“Mum was happy and enjoyed living at Newmarch House and had a lot of life left to live. Nothing will bring her back, and we’ll spend the rest of our lives wondering what would’ve happened if they’d managed the outbreak properly.”
Shine Lawyers associate Emily Clarke revealed that Anglicare had been named a defendant as the operator of the home, as had the Nepean Blue Mountains Local Health District of NSW Health.
Ms Clarke noted: “Death was a sad reality of the pandemic, but lives could have been saved at Newmarch House.”
“Residents were being treated in a facility at the home which clearly was not able to care for them properly when they should have been transferred to an actual hospital as quickly as possible,” she explained.
“We allege it was both the operators of the home and NSW Health whose failures contributed to these deaths.
“On top of this, the poor communication with family members outside the home caused serious psychological injuries to the group members in this class action.”
The class action group comprises the families of six of the 19 residents who died from the virus, and a further two families whose loved ones passed away as a result of allegedly negligent care in the facility.
