CENTENNIAL, Colo. — Officials found no evidence of falsifying death certificates in COVID-19 cases at a Centennial senior living home, the 18th Judicial District Attorney's Office announced on Tuesday.
State Rep. Mark Baisley in May asked District Attorney George Brauchler to investigate concerns over how death certificates were classified for four residents at the Someren Glen Life Plan Community.
Attending physicians at Someren Glen had attributed the four deaths to something other than COVID-19, though the residents testing positive for the virus.
According to Baisley, the Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment intended to override the physician's rulings and reclassify the deaths as COVID-19 deaths.
Brauchler, in a letter to Baisley on Monday, attributed the reclassification to the CDPHE's previous reporting process, which only tracked deaths among COVID-19 cases. The CDPHE, shortly after Baisley reached out to Brauchler in May, changed the reporting process to include two datasets: Deaths among COVID-19 cases — meaning all people who have died and have also had COVID-19 — and deaths due directly to COVID-19.
"This change in CDPHE's reporting illustrates the situation I believe occurred at Someren Glen," Brauchler wrote.
As of Monday afternoon, there were 1,543 deaths among COVID-19 cases in Colorado and 1,292 deaths due to COVID-19.
