24 February 2021: NY Lawmakers Question Motives in Cuomo's Gift of COVID Legal Immunity to Nursing Homes

Some NY lawmakers question Cuomo's motive with nursing home legal protections

This article reviews some of the pay-for-play allegations between Governor Cuomo and New York's nursing home industry that go hand-in-hand with the special protection from legal liability in COVID-19 deaths they were awarded. The article includes a substantial response from the Greater New York Hospital Association denying it unfairly benefited from the arrangements it sought.

As has been widely reported, GNYHA advocated for the State's COVID-19 immunity law. We continue to believe, given the extraordinarily challenging circumstances facing hospitals and other providers during this pandemic, that it is right to protect health care facilities and their staff from liability except in cases of gross negligence and intentional wrongdoing. Our communications with the State on this issue included submitting immunity language for consideration by the Governor's office and the State Legislature. (It is common practice for advocacy organizations to submit draft legislative language for consideration). Our primary advocacy focus was on protecting hospitals and their staff. The final version that passed in April differed in certain significant respects from our proposed language.

Which is a weird way of claiming that Governor Cuomo and the state legislature are responsible for the form of the protection from legal liablity for COVID-19 deaths they received, because they asked for something slightly different.