The NYS nursing home crisis just became more heart wrenching…and disturbing! The NY Times is reporting that the Cuomo Administration inserted a provision to a pending budget bill protecting nursing homes from lawsuits over their failure to protect residents from death or sickness caused by the coronavirus. This is very disturbing considering that the NYS Department of Health issued a directive on March 25 (rolled back just last week) that bars nursing homes from refusing to admit “medically stable” coronavirus patients.
On April 20, the NY Post reported that Gov. Cuomo said he didn’t know anything about the directive. On April 23, Gov. Cuomo said: Nursing homes have ‘no right’ to reject coronavirus patients with a caveat that if they couldn’t handle the medical needs nursing homes should contact the state for help. On May 13, Gov. Cuomo said ‘We did everything we could,’ regarding of nursing home crisis that saw 5K deaths
As one follows the news on the horrific number of COVID-19 deaths it becomes apparent that many mistakes have been made…there are no guidelines for a pandemic this invasively deadly. It was apparent from the very beginning that we were in uncharted waters. Knowing this does not excuse the fatal errors made.
Did Governor Andrew Cuomo anticipate or know just how devastating the coronavirus would be when he slipped protections for nursing homes and the health care industry into the budget on April 2. Why wouldn’t families be given the opportunity to bring their loved ones home? The NY Times article begs the question: What did Governor Cuomo know and most importantly why did he not tell us? Why was the provision to safeguard nursing homes quietly submitted into an obscure voluminous budget bill? If it was that imperative to pass, why wasn’t it a stand-alone bill that would be discussed on the floor by all the members? How many times does legislation rushed through have to have detrimental effects before legislators learn not to rush legislation? Governor Cuomo, how many patients died needlessly and now their families have limited options to sue because your administration slipped in this provision on April 2 the same day it was voted on?
Sign our petition for an independent investigation into the nursing home crisis here.
Gov. Cuomo is praising Speaker Pelosi’s Bill that is a progressive’s dream. You really must listen to his praise of the $3 trillion Bill and the need to get out of this highly partisan moment. Wow, he speaks of how terrible it was that we were caught so short-handed in having enough medical equipment. Governor, shouldn’t your Commissioner of the Department of Health let you know we had a problem, after all, you have been governor since January 1, 2011 with democrats in control of the Executive Branch since Jan. 2007. Alert: Towards the end of the presser, Gov. Cuomo states that a business will re-open at their own peril…unless, of course, one had a friend that slipped a provision at the last minute to the budget.
Bob McManus says: Andrew Cuomo has better ways to get federal aid than issuing threats.
This is a must read: In Charts, How Big Blue States Outspend Red States.
Ben Shapiro write in the Daily Signal how the Obama Administration shattered the rule of law.
12 Urgent Actions to Reopen America and Prevent an Economic Depression.
Supreme Court Eyes Ballot Harvesting Case That Could Affect Election Integrity Across Nation.