DOJ Won't Investigate COVID-19 Nursing Home Deaths

Libby | July 26, 2021
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The Department of Justice (DOJ) decided on Friday against opening a civil investigation into the responses of several states to the COVID-19 pandemic that may have led to unnecessary nursing home deaths.

The coronavirus responses of New York, Pennsylvania, and Michigan — all with Democratic governors — were scrutinized for policies that endangered the lives of vulnerable Americans in nursing homes.

According to a letter obtained by CNN, the DOJ “decided not to open a CRIPA (Civil Rights of Institutionalized Persons Act) investigation of any public nursing facility within New York, Pennsylvania, or Michigan at this time.”

The spotlight of this hopeful investigation shone mainly on Democratic New York Governor Andrew Cuomo, especially after his administration reportedly hid the state’s nursing home death toll for months.

Cuomo ordered that nursing homes not reject a patient solely based on confirmed or suspected COVID-19 status, CNN reported, possibly leaving thousands more dead while contributing to the reasons why the state engaged in an alleged massive cover-up.

The DOJ letter, sent to Minority Whip Rep. Steve Scalise (R- La.), resulted in frustrated responses from GOP members.

Scalise called the DOJ’s choice to not investigate both “outrageous” and “unconscionable,” noting that “grieving families deserve answers and accountability.”

Rep. Elise Stefanik (R- N.Y.) echoed the GOP whip’s feelings, calling the decision “shameful” in a tweet.

“President Biden is now complicit in these deaths,” Stefanik wrote.

 

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