COVID Trial

NewsChannel 5 reported on a wrongful death lawsuit where Administrator Dawn Cochran was defensive and combative when testifying. Multiple times, Cochran insisted that the facility did nothing wrong and testified that she did the best she could under the circumstances of the pandemic.

“My staff would never put a resident at risk. They loved residents. It was all of our family.”

The facts contradict this testimony. The facility’s negligence and poor infection control caused the death of the beloved matriarch from COVID-19. The family of Ruth Summer filed a lawsuit against Gallatin Center for Rehabilitation and Healing for answers.

Despite the testimony of two nurses in the facility, Cochran insisted that the nursing home didn’t require sick employees to work their designated shifts.

Cochran said, “I think in the complaint you stated we made, Gallatin Center made employees work sick, and that is just not the case.”

Cochran could not answer a question posed by attorney Clint Kelly, who represents Summer’s daughter in the lawsuit. The question read, “My question, though, according to this day and at this time under these circumstances, Nurse Long is working sick, isn’t she?” Another point of contention came when Kelly asked about mandatory masking at the facility and for its staff members. The Gallatin Center did not require masks for their staff until the first member
tested positive for COVID-19, which was around a similar timeline to when Ruth Summers contracted COVID-19.

“I was relying on physicians in my community where the facility is,” said Cochran. “I got guidance from the health department, as well as a contract tracer. As well as the Governor’s office. As well as Homeland Security. You want me to go on?”

No written documentation was provided to support her testimony.

Earlier in this trial, a witness stated that masks for infectious respiratory disease were a baseline for the “standard of care” the center needed to provide. Cochran responded that only the expert witness believed this.

The court proceedings ended early so that Judge Joe Thompson could consider his ruling on whether an expert had to testify as a witness for the Gallatin Center.