‘Justice’ for seniors
DOJ probes homes
The US Justice Department opened a preliminary inquiry into coronavirus nursinghome policies in New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania and Michigan that it says “may have resulted in the deaths of thousands of elderly nursinghome residents.”
The department noted in a release that New York state “required nursing homes to admit COVID-19 patients to their vulnerable populations, often without adequate testing.”
The feds honed in on Gov. Cuomo and his Health Commissioner Dr. Howard Zucker’s controversial March 25 order that required nursing homes to accept recovering COVID-19 residents discharged from hospitals while barring the facilities from screening for the killer virus.
The release even quotes from New York’s order, which stated: “No resident shall be denied re-admission or admission to [a nursing home] solely based on a confirmed or suspected diagnosis of COVID-19. [Nursing homes] are prohibited from requiring a hospitalized resident who is determined medically stable to be tested for COVID-19 prior to admission or readmission.”
Cuomo rescinded the order in May after facing a firestorm of criticism.
“Protecting the rights of some of society’s most vulnerable members, including elderly nursing home residents, is one of our country’s most important obligations,” said Eric Dreiban, assistant attorney general for the Justice Department’s Civil Rights Division.
“We must ensure they are adequately cared for with dignity and respect and not unnecessarily put at risk.”
There have been 6,453 confirmed or presumed nursing home deaths from COVID-19, per New York state data, but critics say that figure does not include potentially thousands of nursing home residents who contracted the virus and were sent to hospitals and died. An AP analysis found that number could be closer to 11,000.
Cuomo and Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer issued a joint statement Wednesday night accusing the Trump Justice Department of engaging in a “transparent politicization” of COVID-19 deaths in nursing homes.