Opening statements begin in Gallatin COVID-19 wrongful death trial

If the opening statements set the tone of a trial, then we're in for an eventful few days in Judge Thompson's courtroom. "Gallatin failed to protect Ms. Summers. [They] failed to do [their] job," said Clint Kelly, an attorney representing Ruth Summer's daughter.

"We’re here because of money. That’s why we’re here," said Andrew Sheely, an attorney for the Gallatin Center for Rehabilitation and Healing.

Ruth Summers was an 89-year-old resident at the Gallatin-based nursing home. Her family is now suing that facility, saying in March 2020, she got COVID there and later died because of their negligence. "They made conscious decisions that put residents like Ruth Summers at risk," said Kelly during opening statements.

Kelly alleged the facility did a poor job of screening employees as they came into the building. "You’re going to hear testimony of people who worked sick at the facility and management knew it and let them work," he said.

There were "161 confirmed cases in one month more than all the confirmed cases of other nursing homes in Tennessee combined. And the state's epidemiologist is going to tell you that." Atty. Kelly said.

95 of that 162 are residents. It's plus or minus 90 or 95 because it depends on which data from Gallatin's city believe. That's over half of the residents at Gallatin's center.

The others are 62 staffers who tested positive in one month. How do we know these numbers are accurate? Because the National Guard went to Gallatin's center and tested almost everyone.

The attorney for the nursing home started his opening statement with "Before I get into a little bit more of that, I just want to say very clearly and very forcefully that Gallatin Center is not the enemy here. Gallatin Center is not the villain in this case, and nor should they be villainized."

However, attorneys for the nursing home claim those witnesses may lack credibility. "That is simply not true and there’s no evidence of that," Sheely said, during his opening statement. "You’re going to have to accept that people have motives, they have a desire to testify in this way."

Sheely also contended while the COVID outbreak in the Gallatin Center for Rehabilitation and Healing totaled 161 residents and staff, some were asymptomatic, meaning it was hard to know who all was infected. "There was no way to stop this. There was no way to stop this. If there was a way to stop this in early March don’t you think someone would have?" asked Sheely.

Tuesday afternoon, jurors heard from a pulmonologist, who testified about how he felt the facility could have mitigated more risks associated with the spread of COVID-19.

Jurors also heard hours-long excerpts of a taped deposition, featuring the former administrator of the Gallatin Center for Rehabilitation and Healing. During the deposition, Kelly reviewed dozens of screening forms filled out by employees and visitors and pointed out how, if those individuals reported symptoms and came into the facility anyway, that would have been a violation of their protocol at the time.

The administrator pointed out several times, they had their protocol at the time. Guidance from the CDC on symptoms and screening came later on in the pandemic.

Court proceedings will resume Wednesday at 9:00 am. You can stream those proceedings live on NewsChannel5.com.

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