Third suit filed in fatal veterans home COVID-19 outbreak

A third wrongful death lawsuit has been filed in connection with a COVID-19 outbreak at Yukio Okutsu State Veterans Home in Hilo that has killed 27 residents.

Kona attorney Jeffrey Foster filed the civil suit Wednesday in Hilo Circuit Court on behalf of Tracy Bennedsen, Margaret Robinson and Roberta Plancich, sisters of 73-year-old Stephan Plancich of Ka‘u, who died Sept. 17 of a COVID-19 infection received at the facility.

Defendants in the case include Avalon Health Care Group and several of its subsidiaries; Tina Irwin, Avalon’s regional vice president for Hawaii; and governmental “Doe” entities.