The tragedy of New York nursing homes' inadequate and disastrous lack of preparation and failure to protect elderly and vulnerable nursing home residents has been exposed on a daily basis in almost every newspaper. Over 6,300 deaths in New York nursing homes caused by Covid-19 (coronavirus) have been reported so far. This death count is under reported, and only includes nursing home residents that physically died inside nursing homes. The number of nursing home residents who contracted Covid-19 and subsequently passed away in hospitals is believed to tally over 10,000.

It was reported by ABC Eyewitness News that as early as February 6, 2020, New York nursing homes were put on notice by the federal government (Centers for Medicare) that the infection was on its way to the United States and that "CMS strongly urges the review of CDC's guidance and encourages facilities to review their own infection prevention and control policies and practices to prevent the spread of infection."

Unfortunately, it is argued that New York nursing homes failed to take proper precautions and failed to provide sufficient care for their elderly residents, leading to thousands of deaths. Despite this fact, Governor Cuomo pushed through a law taking away citizens' rights to seek legal justice for negligence, and in fact, gave for-profit nursing home owners and investors complete protection and immunity for their negligence in causing thousands of deaths, which Cuomo called the Disaster Treatment Protection Act.

After the inexplicable negligence protection law passed, it was discovered that the immunity law was not only sponsored by, but was actually written by, a healthcare lobbying group which donated millions of dollars to Cuomo.

In response, New York State Assemblyman Ron Kim (D-Flushing) and Senator Alessandra Biaggi (D-Bronx) spearheaded a bill to repeal the Disaster Treatment Protection Act. In addition, 22 state senators are now calling upon Gov. Cuomo to "enact a sweeping overhaul of nursing home oversight" and specifically to "Repeal the Emergency or Disaster Treatment Protection Act that grants nursing homes immunity from medical malpractice suits during the COVID-19 pandemic". LAWMAKERS URGE CUOMO TO OVERHAUL NURSING HOME OVERSIGHT AMID CORONAVIRUS MESS.

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Leitner Varughese Warywoda PLLC is a cutting-edge litigation and trial law firm uniquely experienced in handling high-profile, complex lawsuits involving serious injuries and wrongful death. The Firm has vast experience in handling cases involving Nursing Home Abuse and Neglect.

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