Parents call medical facility negligent after girl’s death in viral outbreak

Parents of a 4-year-old girl who died at a New Jersey medical facility where there was an adenovirus outbreak say that the facility was negligent.
Modeline Auguste and Ocrioimy Dolcin say that their daughter, Dorcase Dolcin, was sick from birth. She couldn’t breathe properly and struggled to swallow.
The 4-year-old was being treated at the Wanaque Center for Nursing and Rehabilitation in Haskell and had been there for more than two years.
The child’s mother says that in the weeks leading up to Dorcase’s death, she knew something was wrong. The parents say that the doctors at the center were slow to take action, even when pushed.
Ocrioimy Dolcin says that the hospital was negligent. He claims that the staff would cut corners, like doubling diapers and that the staff did not give his daughter her flu shot before she got sick.
Dorcase died Oct. 8. State officials were told about the outbreak a day later.
State health officials say that there are 26 confirmed cases of adenovirus at the facility. Nine people, mostly children, have died. The facility had been cited before for sloppy work, such as failure to wash hands.
New Jersey Health Department Commissioner Shereef Elnahal says that the state is taking steps to make things right and to prevent more outbreaks from happening.
“We’re sending infection control training teams to every single facility like Wanaque,” the commissioner said.
The state health department says they have someone on site full-time now watching infection protocols.