WARREN — The CEO of Generations Behavioral Health Youngstown, where Raymond Lanzo worked as a nurse before he died from COVID-19, has responded to the wrongful death lawsuit filed against the business.

“Our entire team extends our condolences to the Lanzo family,” CEO Roxanne Jividens said in a statement. “Ray Lanzo was a dedicated and compassionate member of our team, and his passing deeply affected us all. We continue to send our thoughts and prayers to his family during their time of grief.”

Lanzo’s estate, administered through his surviving wife Deborah Lanzo, filed the suit through Boardman attorney Lynn Sfara Bruno in Trumbull County Common Pleas Court.

A response to the case has not yet been filed with the court, and no hearing dates have been set.

“Generations Behavioral Health is closely reviewing the suit that was recently filed, and we will respond appropriately and in a way that is consistent with Ohio state law,” the statement from Jividens continues.

Lanzo died April 30. The primary cause of death was labeled “COVID-19 Pneumonia,” the suit states.

Sfara Bruno said Lanzo’s death was preventable. The suit states the company was “negligent” in its failure to provide “appropriate safety equipment.”

The CEO stated: “Generations Behavioral Health implemented a comprehensive COVID-19 safety plan in March, developed to be consistent with state directives and national guidelines, and designed to ensure we are doing everything we can to limit the disease in our facility.”

The suit does not claim the facility was wrong to operate during the pandemic, but that it failed to implement the policies and procedures, and provide the right equipment, that it should have to follow the state’s pandemic directives.

Generations Behavioral Health, 196 Colonial Drive, Liberty, offers acute, short-term inpatient stabilization for those struggling with mental, behavioral health and addiction-based needs.

rfox@tribtoday.com