Cuomo on Nursing Home Scandal: 'Older People Are Going to Die... That is Going to Happen'

Q. What do you say to families inside of nursing homes and they are looking for accountability? They would like to see justice. For example, I just interviewed a family of three siblings. They’ve had two nursing home losses within a few weeks of one another on two separate floors of the same facility here in Albany. They felt so much solace when you got up and talked about Matilda’s Law. They said, “great, we’re protected,” our loved ones are going to be okay because of Matilda’s Law. And then their loved ones passed away because they couldn’t get the testing. So they are looking for accountability and they feel that they were failed. What’s the comment to that?

CUOMO: Yeah. The comment is this, and I have those conversations all day long, with people who’ve lost people, right? We lost 139 people yesterday in hospitals. Who is accountable for those 139 deaths? How do we get justice for those families who had 139 deaths? What is justice? Who can we prosecute for those deaths? Nobody. Nobody. Mother Nature? God? Where did this virus come from? People are going to die by this virus. That is the truth. Best hospital system on the globe, I believe we have. Best doctors, best nurses, who have responded like heroes. Every medication, ventilators, the health system wants for nothing. We worked it out so we always had available beds. No one was deprived of a medical bed or coverage in any way. And still people died. Still people died. Older people, vulnerable people, are going to die from this virus. That is going to happen. Despite whatever you do. Because with all of our progress as a society, we can’t keep everyone alive. Despite everything you do. And older people are more vulnerable. And that is a fact and that is not going to change…Why do people die? Who is accountable?...

Q. [Inaudible] feel that if the mandates were currently in place right now, that we’ve all been talking about in here, were in place from the get-go, they feel that their loved ones might still be here.

CUOMO: I don’t...look people rationalize death in different ways. I don’t think there is any logical rationale to say they would be alive today...

The mother of Pennsylvania Health Secretary Rachel Levine @SecretaryLevine was moved out of a personal care home after Levine had ordered all nursing homes and long-term facilities in the state to accept coronavirus patients from hospitals.https://t.co/OftUGuxyYB

— Daily Caller (@DailyCaller) May 13, 2020

New York quietly changed its reporting rules to omit deaths of nursing home residents who died at the hospital (or in ambulance, etc) from the list of nursing home deaths. Meaning if nursing home resident dies 10 mins after arriving at the hospital, it's not a nursing home death

— Peter J. Hasson (@peterjhasson) May 15, 2020