7 April 2021: Cuomo Signs Bill Repealing COVID Legal Immunity for Nursing Homes

Cuomo signs bill repealing nursing home COVID-19 liability protections

Governor Cuomo has signed a bill repealing the special liability protections he had originally provided to hospital and nursing home operators in early months of 2020's coronavirus pandemic.

The measure rolled back the “Emergency or Disaster Treatment Protection Act,” which granted health care facilities and workers liability immunity from negligence suits, and comes as Cuomo’s administration is under federal investigation for covering up some 9,000 COVID-19 related nursing home deaths last year.

The scandal — exclusively revealed by The Post — weakened Cuomo politically and led to calls for him to resign as sexual harassment accusations against him swirled in the wake of the report.

“As we near the passage of this year’s momentous budget, I am relieved to see corporate immunity, which was slipped into last year’s budget, fully repealed,” Bronx State Senator Alessandra Biaggi, one of the bill’s sponsor said in a statement Tuesday night.

“This blanket immunity prevented thousands of families who lost loved ones to COVID-19 from seeking legal recourse, and potentially incentivized nursing home executives to cut corners — endangering staff and residents.”

The law's passage marks a clear reversal for Governor Cuomo's fortunes, in addition to the reversal of the gift of legal immunity from COVID deaths he provided to the the Greater New York Hospital Group (GNYHG), a powerful lobby group, on 2 April 2020.

That date falls within the 12 days that will live in infamy related to Governor Cuomo's severe misjudgments and policy errors that proved fatal for hundreds, if not thousands, of New Yorkers whose COVID-19 deaths could have been avoided if not for the panicked reaction of Governor Cuomo and members of his administration.