The Macomb, Mich., county prosecutor is considering filing criminal charges against Governor Gretchen Whitmer for her actions in placing coronavirus-positive patients in nursing homes after their release from the hospital.
A similar practice in New York State resulted in the deaths of 15,000 elderly patients and staff and prosecutors are looking at charging Governor Andrew Cuomo in the matter.
New Macomb County Prosecutor Peter Lucido, a Republican, is appealing to people who lost loved ones in nursing homes during the pandemic to file wrongful death complaints with their local police departments to help in his investigation. Lucido says he is barred by law from getting that information.
Michigan was one of just five states to place COVID patients in nursing homes.
Lucido started looking into this last year as a State Senator. He issued a statement in August that said more than 2,000 residents and 21 staff died in nursing homes, 32% of all deaths.
Lucido is asking people to go back to the nursing homes and gather the vital information surrounding deaths and take it to local police to file a wrongful death report.
He will be meeting with Macomb County Police to instruct them on how to process and verify the information and bring it to his office.
“Why did my mom or why did my dad, brother, sister, or aunt die? Was it because of the policy by bringing in COVID-infected patients that spread to my mom that killed my mother?” Lucido asked.
Fifteen thousand families in New York are asking the same thing.
Lucido is running into a lot of flak from the Democratic leadership in the state. He asked them to help him set up a “blue ribbon” investigating panel made up of county prosecutors to investigate whether any charges should be filed.
They weren’t interested.
The Attorney General said there was not a proper basis to open a criminal investigation. The U. S. Attorney said they would look into his request.
“I didn’t receive a very warm welcome. This is not political everyone. This is about people who passed away at the behest of a policy that was created by the Governor,” Lucido tells 7 Action News.+
Don’t expect the feds to do anything either. National Democrats have rediscovered states’ rights and wouldn’t dream of infringing on local investigations.
Whitmer’s office issued a self-serving statement that somehow never quite got around to answering the question.
Our top priority from the start has been protecting Michiganders, especially seniors and our most vulnerable. The administration’s policies carefully tracked CDC guidance on nursing homes, and we prioritized testing of nursing home residents and staff to save lives. Early in the pandemic, the state acted swiftly to create a network of regional hubs with isolation units and adequate PPE to prevent the spread of COVID-19 within a facility. In addition, we have offered 100 percent of nursing home resident priority access to the vaccine.
I’m sure the families of dead loved ones are overjoyed that nursing home residents have been given priority access to the vaccine. But what about the policy of placing infected patients in with healthy seniors?
Whitmer’s response to the pandemic has been at times, hysterical and an incompetent mess. She owes those families an explanation and apology for adopting an incomprehensibly stupid policy that cost lives.
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