24 December 2022: Grieving Relatives Plan Legal Action Against Government Over COVID Care Home Deaths

Grieving relatives plan legal action against government over Covid care home deaths

This story comes from the United Kingdom, which shares many of the same problems that resulted from the resigned-in-disgrace former New York Governor Andrew M. Cuomo's deadly 25 March 2020 directive. Here's the introduction for this report:

Relatives of care home residents who died of Covid-19 are preparing to take legal action against the government over the spread of virus in the first wave of the pandemic.

Kim Nottage, from Bethnal Green, is among those who are pursuing legal action against the Health Secretary, the Health Security Agency, and individual care homes.

She lost her 86-year-old mother, Maureen, when she was being cared for at Aspen Court care home in Poplar, London, managed by HC-One.

Here are the main excerpts where the similarities with Andrew M. Cuomo's disastrous COVID policies for nursing home residents really begin to take off, highlighted boldface emphasis ours:

Law firm Leigh Day said on Friday that it is representing Mr Bethell, Ms Nottage, and three other grieving relatives in planned legal action over the discharge of patients with Covid from hospitals back to care homes in the early stages of the pandemic in 2020. Others could join the legal action as it progresses....

Earlier this year, a judge at the High Court found that government policies in March and April 2020, to discharge patients from hospital back to care homes to free up beds, had been unlawful.

A judge concluded ministers had failed to take into account the risk to elderly and vulnerable residents from non-symptomatic transmission of the Covid virus....

Leigh Day solicitor Beatrice Morgan added: “Policy and guidance was issued which encouraged the move of patients from hospitals to care homes, yet failed to take into account the risk of asymptomatic transmission of covid-19 to individuals who were most vulnerable to the virus.

“Rather than ensuring residents were protected, government decisions allowed the deadly virus to spread like wildfire throughout care homes across the country.

“The advice was changed far too late, it is impossible to know just how many lives were lost as a result.”

The U.K.'s legal system is moving more quickly than where similar cases are being advanced in New York's state courts. These cases are likely to serve as models for how similar cases in U.S. courts will be litigated.

21 December 2022: NJ Governor Murphy Fires CEO of State-Run Nursing Home for Veterans

CEO out at troubled veterans home as Murphy's privatization plan moves forward

NJ Governor Phil Murphy finally got around to acting on his promise to remove the state government employee running one of the worst-run nursing homes for veterans in the state.

The head of the state-run veterans home in Menlo Park is gone amid another turbulent time for the nursing home as Gov. Phil Murphy seeks to privatize management following a long outbreak of COVID this year that killed more than a dozen, state officials confirmed Wednesday.

CEO Jennifer Causer's departure comes the same week that Gov. Phil Murphy's administration began soliciting proposals for a private company to provide management at Menlo Park and two other veterans homes in Paramus and Vineland.

The move was not unexpected. Installing a new CEO was among the first major moves Murphy said he would make when announcing the privatization effort three weeks ago.

Causer's departure comes about a month after an inspection report showed staff at Menlo Park were still practicing poor infection control even though the home had one of the highest death tolls among nursing homes nationwide during the COVID-19 pandemic. The inspection, conducted in August and September, found that administrators failed to implement safe practices including testing, contact tracing and staff training.

Note: This article was retroactively inserted in the timeline on 29 December 2022.

17 December 2022: New Ethics Panel Proposes "Cuomo Rules" to Block Media Project Profiteering by Pols

Cuomo rules: New York’s new ethics panel looks to prevent another book scandal

You know a politician has crossed ethical lines when they name new laws or policy fixes after them. This report describes the "Cuomo Rules" proposed to stop NY politicians from personally profiting from their powerful elected positions through media deals.

The newly formed New York state ethics panel said Friday it will put safeguards in place — being referred to as “Andrew Cuomo rules” — that would prevent approval of any fat book contracts from a governor or statewide official without input from commissioners.

Reports released by the state Assembly and the much-criticized Joint Commission on Public Ethics – a now defunct body replaced by the state Commission on Ethics and Lobbying months ago – detail how Cuomo was able to profit off of his 2020 memoir “American Crisis: Leadership Lessons from the COVID-19 Pandemic” under questionable circumstances.

Cuomo, who denied any wrongdoing, received permission to ink the lucrative $5.1 million deal with Penguin Books from a lawyer for JCOPE – an agency he was known to dominate – before reportedly leaning on government resources to help him produce the 309-page tribute to his own pandemic response.

JCOPE’s own commissioners never voted to approve the book deal and some were not even aware of the details....

“The successor agency [to JCOPE] should require any outside activity request by a statewide office holder to be decided by a vote of the Commissioners,” the report by the Hogan Lovell’s law firm said.

The ethics agency should also create a list of information and documents that must be provided in connection with all outside activity requests and have a “standard waiting period” for such requests.

Here is background on Andrew M. Cuomo's pandemic "leadership" book deal from the timeline:

• 19 March 2020: Cuomo's Literary Agent Takes Call from Publisher Seeking Book by Cuomo About Pandemic Leadership, Work Begins Shortly Afterward
• 27 June 2020: Governor Cuomo Reviews Early Drafts of His Pandemic Leadership Book
• 1 July 2020: Draft of Cuomo Pandemic "Leadership" Book Reaches 70,000 Words in Length
• 5 July 2020: Top Cuomo Staffer Edits His Pandemic "Leadership" Book, NY DOH Nursing Home Report
• 6 July 2020: Cuomo and Top Staffer Meet with Publisher to Discuss Book Deal
• 8 July 2020: Bidding Begins for Right to Publish Cuomo's Pandemic "Leadership" Book
• 1 April 2021: Governor Cuomo's Pandemic Book Deal Scandal Blows Up
• 9 April 2021: Cuomo Staffers Not Volunteers in Governor's Book Project
• 19 April 2021: DiNapoli Refers Cuomo Pandemic Book Scandal Case to State AG
• 30 April 2021: Cuomo Book Deal a Motive for Continuing Cover-up of COVID Nursing Home Deaths
• 17 May 2021: Cuomo To Collect $5.12 Million from Pandemic Leadership Book Deal
• 19 May 2021: Opinion - Cuomo Earned $102 per Book Sold During Cover-up
• 8 June 2021: Prosecutors Subpoena Cuomo Book Material in Probe of COVID Nursing Home Deaths
• 5 October 2021: JCOPE's Commissioners to Investigate JCOPE Staff Over Cuomo Book Deal
• 22 November 2021: NY Assembly Impeachment Probe Report Confirms Link Between Book Deal and Nursing Home Deaths Cover-up
• 23 November 2021: Cuomo Cover-up of COVID Nursing Home Deaths Originated in March 2020
• 9 December 2021: How Can JCOPE Claw Back Cuomo's Pandemic "Leadership" Book Deal Millions?
• 27 January 2022: JCOPE Subpoena Probes Cuomo Pandemic 'Volunteers'
• 15 March 2022: JCOPE Tries Again to Force Cuomo to Give Up Proceeds from Corrupt Pandemic "Leadership" Book Deal Profits
• 19 March 2022: JCOPE Orders Cuomo to Repay Pandemic "Leadership" Book Deal Millions to Publisher
• 1 April 2022: Cuomo Sues JCOPE in Bid To Keep $5M Book Deal Profits
• 5 April 2022: Cuomo Book Deal Still Under Investigation Despite Suit, AG James Says
• 27 April 2022: JCOPE Hires Lawyers to Fight Lawsuit Over Cuomo Pandemic Book Deal Profits
• 30 May 2022: Cuomo Lawyers Try to Run Out Clock on JCOPE
• 14 June 2022: Ethics Commissioner Accuses Cuomo's Attorney of Defamation
• 8 July 2022: JCOPE's Final Report - Cuomo Wrongly Used State Resources for Pandemic "Leadership" Book

As of 17 December 2022, the state attorney general's criminal probe of Andrew M. Cuomo's book deal has made no visible progress since 5 April 2022.

16 December 2022: Judge Suggests New Yorkers Should Pay Cuomo Legal Bills for Sexual Harassment Charges

Judge leans toward Andrew Cuomo’s claim that NY should fund defense in harass case

The state government of New York's strange history of paying for the legal defenses of state government employees involved in sexual misconduct may come back to bite New Yorkers, who may be forced to pay for the resigned-in-disgrace Andrew M. Cuomo's legal bills associated with the allegations that prompted his resignation. Here's the introduction to this report:

A Manhattan judge Thursday appeared to side with Andrew Cuomo in the disgraced ex-governor’s bid to have New York taxpayers fund his legal defense in a lawsuit accusing him of sexually harassing a female state trooper.

During over two hours of oral arguments, lawyers for Cuomo and for state Attorney General Letitia James’ office argued over whether Cuomo was acting within his duty as governor when the alleged harassment occurred — which would entitle him to a free defense.

“Conduct that underlies a sexual harassment claim is conduct that is based on personal motivations and does not serve the employer,” AG lawyer Andrew Amer said, arguing that Cuomo was not acting as governor at the time.

But Manhattan Supreme Court Justice Shlomo Hagler countered: “I have seen in cases of touching and hugging and unfortunate comments and jokes — there has been a [legal] defense in 99% of those cases.”

Funny how the laws politicians pass seem designed to either not apply to them or to give them special benefits above and beyond what ordinary people can get.

8 December 2022: NJ Lawmakers Won't Probe Murphy's COVID Policies Anytime Soon

N.J. lawmakers won’t launch their own probe into COVID, at least not now, top Dem says

Instead of taking what we argued is the next logical step of probing what happened in New Jersey's nursing homes during the coronavirus pandemic after NJ Governor Phil Murphy's de facto admission of his leadership failure, the majority Democrats in the state legislature are circling their wagons to protect the interests of NJ Governor Phil Murphy by choosing to continue kicking that can down the road. The excerpt below from NJ.com tells the story of their political complicity after the fact of the scandal:

While Gov. Phil Murphy last week announced a long-awaited outside review into how New Jersey responded to COVID-19 under his leadership, Republican lawmakers have continued to call for a separate legislative probe, complete with subpoena power.

But New Jersey’s top state lawmaker said there aren’t plans for the Democratic-controlled state Legislature to launch one, at least not immediately.

“It’s not gonna happen now,” state Senate President Nicholas Scutari, D-Union, told NJ Advance Media on Monday at the Statehouse in Trenton. “Might it happen in the future? Sure. I think it’s possible.”

Scutari, the leader of the Legislature’s upper house, noted how Murphy, a fellow Democrat, just announced the review and said legislative leaders will wait until it’s over — possibly a year from now — before evaluating the situation.

“I’m not gonna reinvent the wheel,” Scutari said. “Let them do that first. They’re gonna spend a lot of money on it, I’m sure. Let’s see what they say, and if we’re not satisfied with that, then sure, it’s an open possibility.”

There is a very recent precedent the state legislature could follow instead of this approach, based on how the legislature probed the role of former New Jersey Governor Chris Christie and several of his top aides in the so-called "Bridgegate" scandal. That they're not is how to tell what they're choosing to not do is more about protecting the state Democratic party's interests rather than doing what's best for New Jersey's nursing home residents:

Multiple Republican lawmakers have said they want the Legislature to hold a parallel investigation into COVID-19 similar to the one held during Bridgegate. They note it would have subpoena power to force the release of documents that Murphy’s administration has not made public during the pandemic.

They also say they want to make sure there is a thorough look at longterm care deaths, as well as Murphy’s business and school closings.

The legislature's probe of the Bridgegate scandal cost $1.1 million. That would be 0.002% of the $50.6 billion the state legislature approved for the state government's 2022-2023 fiscal year, which is how to tell the cost of such a probe is not a real issue.

Waiting another year for Governor Murphy's own report, where he has a strong motive to absolve himself of any wrongdoing, doesn't make sense.

3 December 2022: NJ Governor Murphy Turns to Private Sector to Take Over State Government-Run Nursing Homes for Veterans

Murphy seeks to privatize management of troubled NJ veterans homes ravaged by COVID

In a stunning development, New Jersey Governor Phil Murphy is turning to the private sector to bail out state government-run nursing homes for veterans. We'll have more analysis after the excerpt from this story:

Two years after they suffered some of the highest COVID deaths tolls in the nation and with problems still persisting, Gov. Phil Murphy took the unusual step Wednesday to outsource the management of New Jersey's three troubled veterans homes to a private company.

The Department of Military and Veterans Affairs will seek a vendor to manage "systemic changes" and provide "qualified, administrative staff" to run the homes in Menlo Park, Paramus and Vineland, Murphy said in a statement issued late Wednesday.

The move comes weeks after the release of an inspection that found poor infection control measures continuing at the Menlo Park home, where a long outbreak of COVID this year killed more than a dozen. Federal officials stopped payments last week for new admissions until reforms are made and threatened to stop all payments by March. Murphy also sent a three-member Health Department team to shore up infection control and other poor practices at the home....

The Paramus and Menlo Park homes were already two of the biggest COVID disasters in the U.S. long before the latest inspection report.

The facilities gained national attention in spring 2020 when more than 200 residents died at the start of the pandemic.

The Paramus home was found to have major infection control problems that included allowing COVID-positive residents to mingle with those whose COVID status was unknown. Menlo Park staff members nearly revolted after management stopped them from using the home's supply of face masks while Murphy's office helped devise disciplinary procedures for those who took them.

We view Murphy's move as one of desperation. It is a de facto admission his administration's management of New Jersey's nursing homes for veterans has been an unmitigated failure. It is also an admission his administration has no ability to turn around the situation at the three veterans home it fully controls by replacing their current managers with other state government officials. It is, plain and simple, an admission of the failure of his leadership.

New Jersey's lawmakers, especially those who are belatedly supporting this change, now need to take the next logical step of fully investigating what happened at New Jersey's nursing homes during the coronavirus pandemic. The mismanagement at New Jersey's nursing homes for veterans demonstrates those problems clearly go all the way to the top of New Jersey's state government. That mismanagement also applies to the policies Phil Murphy and his top administrators imposed during the pandemic. Policies that included foolishly copy-catting Andrew M. Cuomo's deadly 25 March 2020 directive, which negatively impacted all nursing homes in New Jersey.

It's long past time to get to the bottom of it all.