Argentum released a statement today in response to the news that all charges against Silverado Senior Living have been dropped and the case has been dismissed.
Yesterday, a Los Angeles circuit court judge summarily dismissed the 13 felony counts of elder endangerment and five felony counts of violation causing death in connection with 14 COVID-related deaths that occurred at Silverado Beverly Place in March 2020, during the earliest days of the COVID-19 pandemic. The indictments had charged both Silverado and CEO Loren Shook, Vice President Kim Butrum, and former Silverado Beverly Place Administrator Jason Russo.
Argentum is gratified that the charges have been dropped and that Silverado and its caregivers can once again focus solely on their core mission of providing residents with best-in-class care, respect, and quality of life. Dismissal of these charges is a complete vindication of Silverado, who was a leader during the pandemic, establishing protocols that were adopted by memory care providers nationwide and referenced by public health departments, licensing, and other agencies throughout the country. These protocols not only helped Silverado and senior living communities protect the health of residents and staff, but also ensured that seniors living with dementia and Alzheimer’s disease continued to be treated with the dignity and respect they deserve.
The exoneration of Silverado is also a victory for the senior living industry. The charges against the company, and Loren, Kim, and Jason individually, raised concerns about the potential for criminal prosecution of senior living operators during a pandemic or other public health emergency. The summary dismissal of these charges sends an unmistakable message that senior living operators should not be held criminally liable when they follow applicable guidelines and regulations.
From the first days of the pandemic, senior living providers faced immediate and unprecedented challenges with little to no federal or state resources. This included sourcing scarce personal protective equipment (PPE), test kits, critical care equipment, and infection prevention and control supplies, navigating “stay-at-home orders” and their impacts to staff, residents, and families, and complying with rapidly evolving guidance issued by regulators at federal, state, and local levels that were slow to be issued and often conflicting or contradictory.
Senior living providers and caregivers throughout the country, including California, provided heroic care to more than a million seniors during the pandemic. They should be applauded, not criminally charged for the tragic deaths of residents during a pandemic that, to date, has killed more than a million Americans.