A southern Minnesota nursing home has sued a resident's relative, alleging that she has said to thousands of people on Facebook that the senior facility is testing residents for COVID-19 in an effort to try to kill them.
The Lake Shore Inn Nursing Home in Waseca also contends in the lawsuit filed Monday that Renae Groskreutz defamed the 55-bed senior center in a video posted in late July when she said they're testing without proper permission for what she says is a "fake pandemic" and called on everyone to avoid testing and skip wearing a mask.
Groskreutz, of Waldorf, Minn., added to her "smear campaign" by saying that nursing home personnel "don't need your DNA," the suit, filed in Waseca County District Court, pointed out.
According to the suit, "Throughout the COVID-19 pandemic, Lake Shore is proud that not a single resident of its facility has tested positive. ... Groskreutz's false, defamatory and irresponsible statements, however, threaten public health, Lake Shore's ability to keep its residents safe, its reputation and its relationships with its residents and their families."
Groskreutz's initial video runs nearly seven minutes and had been viewed more than 23,000 times as of midafternoon Tuesday, while three follow-up videos totaling almost 30 minutes in defense of her initial posting have been viewed a collective 10,000 or so times.
In the first video, Groskreutz identified the nursing home where her relative is living while making several points about her objections to the testing there and elsewhere.
"Swabbing the nursing home residents and the memory care residents is not going to stop whatever little fake pandemic they have going on. Yes, there is a virus. They haven't had a case at the nursing home, so why are you invading my aunt's body?"
She also pleaded with video viewers to defy health officials and refuse to be tested for COVID-19 if asked and to forgo wearing a mask, which helps stymie the spread of the deadly virus.
