Whitmer’s Deadly Nursing Home Policy Under Increased Scrutiny Whitmer's Deadly Nursing Home Policy Under Increased Scrutiny - Michigan Rising Action

Whitmer’s Deadly Nursing Home Policy Under Increased Scrutiny

Whitmer’s Deadly Nursing Home Policy Under Increased Scrutiny

August 13, 2021

Lansing, Mich., August 13, 2021 – Leading Senate Republicans have released a letter demanding congressional oversight hearings and investigations on nursing home deaths in states that discharged COVID-positive patients into nursing homes, including Michigan. Added focus on this subject from the Senate is putting increased scrutiny on Governor Gretchen Whitmer over her decision to put COVID positive patients into nursing homes. Fox News reports:

“The senators wrote that congressional oversight also was needed to ‘seek justice’ for the nursing home residents who died from COVID-19 after the Department of Justice (DOJ) Civil Rights Division recently announced it would not be investigating the states that implemented policies requiring nursing homes to take in coronavirus-positive patients.”

The letter stated that congressional oversight “is needed to ensure the protection of seniors’ civil rights.” In August 2020, the Department of Justice requested data from states that co-mingled COVID-positive patients in senior care facilities, however President Biden’s administration declined to investigate this further. Rep. Lisa McClain has requested the Inspector General of the Department of Justice to look into this dismissal. Earlier this summer, the Michigan House Oversight Committee successfully petitioned the State Auditor General to look into the impact of Whitmer’s nursing home policy, and the potential under counting of the deaths associated with it.

The increased interest in investigating these deadly nursing home policies raises new questions as to why Attorney General Dana Nessel refused to investigate the matter early on in the pandemic. 

“Despite a chorus of families and other members of the public demanding transparency, Governor Whitmer has spent the last year avoiding accountability for her disastrous nursing home policies. Her loyal Attorney General Dana Nessel and political ally President Biden have all protected her up to this point,  but the consequences of Whitmer’s actions are finally catching up to her,” said Eric Ventimiglia, executive director for Michigan Rising Action. Ventimiglia continued, “With the State Auditor General looking into her nursing home policies and a potential congressional investigation, Whitmer is running out of options to cover-up her deadly mistakes.”

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