NEW YORK (WABC)– The owner and operator of four troubled nursing homes agreed Thursday to pay $45 million to settle allegations that they abused or neglected elderly people in their care, who missed meals or were forced to sit in their own urine and feces for hours, horrors revealed during the crisis. Covid-19 pandemic.

Nursing homes in the Bronx, Queens, Westchester and Buffalo are run by Centers for Care, whose owners have failed to provide adequate care, insufficiently staffed nursing homes and continued to admit new residents even though they could not care for existing residents, according to New York Attorney General Letitia James, who announced the settlement.

The attorney general’s office alleged in a lawsuit that overworked staff members were assigned to more residents than they could care for and often failed to help residents with basic activities of daily living, such as go to the toilet, eat and maintain personal hygiene. Call bells regularly went unanswered, residents were forced to sit in their own urine and feces for hours, meals were not served on time, and personal belongings including hearing aids, dentures and clothing, were often lost or stolen. Residents, visiting family members and staff reported unsanitary conditions, including neglected food trays, vermin, flies and persistent odors of human feces.

“The residents of these nursing homes endured years of tragic and devastating abuse and neglect, while the owners made millions of dollars in profits,” James said in a statement. “The owners of the centers operated the nursing homes with insufficient staff to pocket tens of millions of taxpayer dollars intended for residents’ care. Residents suffered tragic harm and their families were often left in the dark or in despair about their loved ones.”

Centers and owners Kenneth Rozenberg and Daryl Hagler will pay $45 million, including $8.75 million in restitution to the Medicaid and Medicare programs and $35 million to a resident care fund to finance improvements in care and staff.

The court-appointed monitors, who have already overseen improvements at the four nursing homes, will remain.