As the coronavirus pandemic ravaged long-term care homes across the country, the personal injury law firm where the husband of Maine Democrat and Senate candidate Sara Gideon works sees an opportunity to take legal action against facilities with deadly outbreaks of the coronavirus.
But when Gideon, speaker of the Maine House, had chances to support state bills that would have financially aided homes, she did not take them.
Berman & Simmons, the personal injury law firm where the Senate candidate’s husband Benjamin Gideon is a partner, started publishing blog posts earlier this year about whether people can sue for exposure to the coronavirus, and encouraged readers to contact the firm’s attorneys for a consultation.
Sara Gideon is running for Senate against incumbent Republican Sen. Susan Collins in one of the nation’s most competitive races. The outcome will help decide which party holds a Senate majority after the 2020 elections. Republicans now have an effective 53-47 edge over Democrats.
A May post by the law firm specifically referenced nonprofit retirement network Maine Veterans’ Homes.
“Residents have rights,” the post said. “These include the right to live in a place that takes all steps to protect them from exposure to COVID-19. When veterans homes fail in this responsibility, they should be held accountable.”
Coronavirus outbreaks across the country have plagued nursing homes and retirement communities, and Maine is no exception. The Maine Veterans’ Home in the town of Scarborough has seen 14 coronavirus deaths, the deadliest outbreak in the state so far. In total, 62 patients and staff members at the facility tested positive for the respiratory virus.
There are around 156 state veterans’ homes across the country, but unlike those in other states, the six veterans’ homes in Maine largely acts as part of an independent nonprofit group and does not receive state funding for construction projects or other upgrades.
Two bills that aimed to aid these veterans homes with healthcare costs died in the legislature in the past two years. Gideon co-sponsored neither one.
The first, introduced in February 2019, aimed to increase the state Medicaid, called MaineCare in the state, reimbursements to “provide cost-based reimbursement to Maine Veteran’s Homes nursing facilities.” While it passed both the House and Senate, it died without being enacted, and no House roll call vote is available.
Another bill, introduced in January of this year, aimed to increase the staff-to-patient ratio at Maine Veterans’ Homes to 3 staff to 15 patients and to increase MaineCare reimbursement rates for certified nursing assistants by 10%. It failed in committee due in part to arguments from Maine Veterans’ Homes that it would create “unnecessary and unreasonable staffing mandates above those required of other facilities,” but the home supported the increased reimbursement provision.
While the law firm targets the veterans’ homes potential lawsuits over coronavirus care, facilities that Gideon failed to support in the legislature, Gideon’s family financially benefits from the firm’s work. A financial disclosure filed in October shows that her husband has a stake in a limited partnership in Berman & Simmons valued between $250,001 and $500,000.
Two attorneys at Berman & Simmons wrote a May op-ed opposing laws enacted in different states that grant nursing homes and other medical providers immunity from legal action based on coronavirus deaths.
The American Association for Justice, which has a PAC that gave Gideon’s campaign $5,000 in September 2019, similarly opposes and lobbies against any laws granting companies immunity from lawsuits about coronavirus infection. Gideon’s husband has been part of the organization’s Nursing Home Litigation group.
In that same vein, Gideon tweeted an op-ed arguing in support of the “Essential Workers Bill of Rights,” a measure pushed by Rep. Ro Khana, a California Democrat, and Massachusetts Sen. Elizabeth Warren, a 2020 Democratic presidential candidate, which calls for CEOs “to personally certify they are in compliance with worker protections, so they can face civil and criminal penalties if they break their word.”
Gideon’s website boasts of some of her accomplishments for veterans and seniors in the state legislature — she “increased homelessness prevention efforts for Maine veterans” and “fought to increase reimbursements for the caregivers who take care of seniors,” it says.
After the Maine legislature passed emergency measures and suspended its session in March, Gideon has used time during the coronavirus pandemic to target Senate Republicans and the incumbent she is challenging, Republican Sen. Susan Collins. In recent op-eds, she has criticized Republicans in the U.S. Senate for appointing judges amid the pandemic and the Trump administration for declining to flex power with the Defense Production Act.
Gideon’s press office did not return a request for comment about her lack of support for the bills that would have aided the Maine Veterans’ Homes and her husband’s law firm floating personal injury lawsuits against the facilities.
