9 March 2021: Michigan Governor Gretchen Whitmer Could Face Criminal Charges for Her Own Nursing Home Deaths Scandal

Gov. Whitmer could face criminal charges over Michigan nursing home deaths, prosecutor says

This article describes how Michigan Governor Gretchen Whitmer could face criminal charges related to COVID-19 deaths of nursing home resident deaths, much like Governor Cuomo may in New York:

Gov. Gretchen Whitmer could face criminal charges for her policy that placed COVID-19 positive patients in the same facilities as nursing home residents, Macomb County Prosecutor Peter Lucido said.

Lucido said people who lost loved ones to COVID-19 inside nursing homes should take death certificate information to local police and make a wrongful death complaint.

Lucido questioned if Whitmer was liable for possible damage caused by the order since she decreed it unilaterally without the legislature.

Whitmer's Executive Order 2020-50 mandated nursing homes take patients from nursing homes and hospitals and house them with regular nursing home residents. EO 2020-50 was one of many orders tossed by the Michigan Supreme Court in October.

"How is it she's allowed to continue those orders that affected our seniors when she had no jurisdiction and the [Michigan] Supreme Court said it's unconstitutional?"

Good questions. Michigan also seems unique among the four states that sustained policies similar to New York's 25 March 2020 nursing home directive in Governor Whitmer's use of confidentiality agreements involving severance packages awarded to state health department officials following controversial actions. These secret agreements are bizarre in that they involve public officials and the expenditure of state tax dollars without the explicit approval of the state legislature.