Hart v. Clendenin

Settlement Reached in COVID Case at California State Hospital
Cases
Jun 30, 2021

Hart v. Clendenin

Following months of litigation, Aldo Hernandez, Charles Gluck, and Graham Waldrop reached a settlement with the Department of State Hospitals in a landmark case about COVID-19 risk to medically vulnerable patients in one of the largest psychiatric facilities in the nation. Attorneys from Disability Rights California (DRC) and Covington & Burling represented Plaintiffs in this action. The lawsuit resulted in prioritized access to COVID-19 vaccines for the more than 6000 residents throughout the State Hospital system – one of the first cases in the country to produce such an outcome.

As part of the settlement, DSH will continue to offer vaccinations to patients who have not yet received them and provide public information about the vaccination process. Additionally, DSH will provide a statewide healing quilt and a “dinner event” for all patients at DSH-Patton, in recognition of the bereavement and trauma suffered by patients at the hospital during the pandemic.

Plaintiffs filed a lawsuit in federal court in August 2020, in the midst of a COVID-19 outbreak in which more than 100 patients and more than 140 staff members and personnel had already tested positive for COVID-19. The lawsuit alleged that the crowded, congregate nature of Patton State Hospital’s facilities and state hospital policies put vulnerable patients at risk of serious illness or death from the COVID-19 virus.

In December of 2020, another COVID-19 outbreak endangered the lives of hundreds of additional Patton State Hospital patients, including every plaintiff in the lawsuit. In response, Plaintiffs filed multiple emergency motions in order to force the Department of State Hospitals to make immediate changes to protect the safety and well-being of all high-risk patients at Patton.

After a court hearing on Plaintiffs’ emergency motions for relief, DSH agreed to offer vaccines to all patients—not just at Patton State Hospital but at all five state hospital facilities—and to continue to offer them to all new patients and those who previously refused. After 19 patient deaths and 588 patient positives at Patton State Hospital, the numbers have finally dropped at Patton and throughout the state hospital system.

Case Name: Hart, et al., v. Clendenin, et al.

Case No.  5:20-cv-1559

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