Court reinstates charges against leaders of veterans' home

Massachusetts’ highest court has overruled a lower court judge and reinstated criminal neglect charges against two top former officials at a veterans’ home. Nearly 80 veterans died at the Veterans’ Home in Holyoke after contracting the coronavirus in one of the worst COVID-19 outbreaks in a long-term care facility in the nation. Thursday’s ruling allows the case against former Holyoke Soldiers’ Home Superintendent Bennett Walsh and former Medical Director Dr. David Clinton to move forward. Massachusetts Attorney General Andrea Campbell welcomed the ruling, saying it will let her office focus on securing accountability for the preventable deaths at the soldiers’ home.