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Pictured is New York State Attorney General Letitia James. New York may have undercounted COVID-19 deaths of nursing home residents by as much as 50%, the stateâs attorney general said in a report released Thursday.
ALBANY (AP) New York’s attorney general has joined calls for the state to loosen a partial immunity from lawsuits and criminal prosecutions it had granted to nursing homes at the height of the COVID-19 pandemic last spring.
In a report issued Thursday, Attorney General Letitia James, a Democrat, documented how a number of homes failed to follow proper infection-control protocols as the virus raged.
New York Attorney General Letitia James called for New York to eliminate the immunity provisions, particularly as they applied to nursing homes that knowingly.
Yet despite those “disturbing and potentially unlawful findings,” James said, “It remains unclear to what extent facilities or individuals can be held accountable if found to have failed to appropriately protect the residents in their care.”
Nursing homes, hospitals and other health care facilities in New York were granted one of the broadest legal protections from both lawsuits and criminal prosecutions in the nation by the state’s lawmakers last spring. The health care industry’s well-heeled lobbyists said they drafted the provision in the state budget to protect hospitals and nursing homes stretched to the limits, with volunteers and medical students caring for patients in makeshift hospitals.
Associated Press ALBANY Nursing homes in parts of New York hit worst by this winter’s COVID-19 surge say they’re struggling to find enough staff as workers have gotten sick or needed to quarantine. About 80 nursing homes have reported nursing shortages as of early January, according to The Associated Press’ analysis of the latest federal and state data. Most are located in parts of western and central New York that saw their first serious outbreaks of the virus begin in late autumn. At The Pearl nursing home in Rochester, a core group of nurses worked double shifts for weeks between Thanksgiving and Christmas, said administrator Christine Schaller.