in what was a highly anticipated move the federal government this week filed a civil lawsuit against New Jersey over the poor conditions at state run veterans homes that's where hundreds of residents died during the covid-19 pandemic at the same time State officials agreed to enter a federal consent decree calling for a third party to monitor conditions at the veterans homes senior correspondent Brenda Flanigan reports on what's in the consent decree and what if anything will change my father was very proud of his service in the Army and our veterans didn't get the care they deserved at Meno Park it's personal for Regina danenza both her dad and her mother died at the state run Meno Park veterans home early in the pandemic here and at the paramis Vets Home more than 200 residents died and in scathing reports Federal investigators cited ongoing mismanagement and lack of proper Medical Care leading to this week's legal agreement to correct multiple failures such deficiencies expose residents to uncontrolled serious and deadly infections and resulted in the veterans homes suffering among the highest number of Resident deaths of all similar sized facilities in the region the Department of Justice sued the state over conditions it claimed violated residents constitutional rights at the Vets homes and New Jersey agreed to a consent decree to avoid litigation it's a Bittersweet moment for families and Veterans Advocates who have demanded improvements well I'm very glad that the Department of Justice confirmed what all the families already knew and there's no question that their constitutional rights to safety were violated my parents didn't deserve to die alone either and that was a major factor under the consent decree New Jersey must address major problems at the Vets homes including poor infection control control defective clinical care and lack of competent management and oversight the state also agreed to an independent monitor the consent decree which must still be approved by the court details the steps the state will take to ensure that the veterans homes meet the accepted standards of clinical care overhaul their infection control practices and provide competent leadership and accountability for the veterans there's no Vindication at all because we still lost over 200 brothers and sisters that that were living in the homes so we're not looking for any type of vindication veterans Advocate Jay boxwell welcomes the consent decree but says the veterans homes need more funding more staff better training and their own State Advocate there's a lot of things that need to happen and we hope that they just don't put Band-Aids on those and then go back to the judge in a year from now and say hey can we come off the consent decree you know there needs to be changes that are sticking that are policy that are culture Governor Murphy commented with this consent decree we can resolve past differences with the Department of Justice and focus our efforts on providing the best possible care to our veterans home residents while State military officials overseeing these facilities have resigned Republicans want a house cleaning if the governor was a real leader he'd put people in place in these organizations particularly in MAA that will challenge him and be truthful about what they need in order to provide the best services for our veterans that's not what he has right now he has a bunch of yes people that are just saying whatever he wants to give them for a budget is okay and it's it's obviously not okay state Senator Joe Vitali says the Vets homes have improved but he welcomed an independent monitor noting the culture of caring for people is extraordinary but the challenge is to the administrative side of this the monitor should be in place for 2 to 3 years to make sure it does happen we need to fix it to make sure we get this right he says a bill to create a New Jersey Veterans Advocate is slated for committee hearings within a month he's still working on a bill to create a new Department of vets Affairs desend is still somewhat skeptical it's already been four years and I don't think there's been enough Improvement but maybe with someone else in charge or really directly overseeing the care things might change she says it's what veterans deserve I'm Brenda Flanigan NJ Spotlight news support for the medical report is provided by Horizon Blue Cross Blue Shield of New Jersey an independent licensing of the Blue Cross Blue Shield Association [Music]