The Center for COVID Control, a testing chain that operates more than 300 locations in the U.S. and collected patient data and tens of thousands of tests daily, is the defendant of a lawsuit brought forth by the state of Washington, which accused the company and its primary laboratory, Doctors Clinical Lab of providing "invalid, false and delayed" COVID-19 test results or provided no test results at all.
A complaint was filed by the Washington State Attorney General's Office on Monday, USA Today reported. It accused the testing company of "frequently [marking] patients as 'uninsured,' even if they were insured."
"The company's unlawful practices included storing tests in garbage bags for over a week rather than properly refrigerating them, and backdating sample collection dates so that stale samples would still be processed," a press release from the Washington State Attorney General's Office said.
"Employees reported that the company instructed them to 'lie to patients on a daily basis' when Washingtonians complained about their delayed results," the press release added.
Now, the State of Washington is suing Doctors Clinical Laboratory, Center for COVID Control, and its founders, husband and wife Akbar Syed and Aleya Siyaj for violating the Consumer Protection Act. The AG's office also intends to file a motion for preliminary injunction "to immediately stop the Center for COVID Control's unlawful conduct."
"Center for COVID Control contributed to the spread of COVID-19 when it provided false negative results" Attorney General Bob Ferguson said in a release, as reported by the Epoch Times. 'These sham testing centers threatened the health and safety of our communities. They must be held accountable."
According to the 14-page lawsuit that was filed in King County Superior Court, former employees of the Center for COVID Control informed prosecutors that the company not only had no licenses to operate in Washington State, it also refused to hire more employees to address the surge in demand for testing. The company failed to process all of the tests it had received.
In January, Siyaj announced that the Center for COVID Control would temporarily suspend operations from January 14 to 22 due to "unusually high patient demand" that caused staff shortages. On January 20, the company announced that they are extending the suspension of operations. Now, the State of Washington is asking the court to penalize the company through civil penalties and prevent it from administering or processing COVID tests in the state.
This is not the first time the Center for COVID Control is encountering legal trouble brought about by a state. In January, the company's headquarteres in Illinois was raided by federal agents after Minnesota Attorney General Keith Ellison filed a lawsuit against the company for false advertising. Filed in the Minnesota district court, the lawsuit alleged that residents "have not received any test results from [the Center for COVID Control] after submitting samples, let alone within the timeframes promised by [the company]."
