The number of nursing Home deaths reported by the New York State Department of health may be an underestimate of the actual number of deaths, according to a report released by New York State Attorney General Letitia James’ office on 28 May.
The state attorney general’s office has recently been studying the discrepancy between the number of deaths reported by the state Department of Health and the number of deaths reported by nursing homes, so it first investigated 62 of the state’s 600 nursing homes and found that the state Department of Health recorded only 1,229 deaths from the disease in those homes, but actually reported 1,914; the report said that if the same pattern exists statewide, then New York State nursing homes The report said that if the same pattern existed statewide, the number of underreported deaths in New York State nursing homes would likely be 56 percent.
The Cuomo administration explained that the state Department of Health excluded the number of people who were transferred from nursing homes to hospitals and eventually died there. As of Tuesday the 27th, the state Department of Health reported 8,711 nursing home deaths in the state; if the underreported number is made up, the figure could exceed 13,000.
Our ongoing investigation into the Epidemic must understand why New York nursing home residents are suffering so unnecessarily,” said Jen Lakha in a statement. While we can’t bring back the individuals who died in this outbreak, this report is intended to provide the transparency the public deserves and take more action to protect our most vulnerable nursing home residents.
The high number of deaths in nursing homes has been the focus of criticism of New York Governor Andrew Cuomo, who has repeatedly excused himself as not being responsible for the results of his misguided policies.
The Democrat pointed out that Cuomo’s policy of ordering nursing home residents recovering in hospitals to be returned to nursing homes to free up space in hospital beds at the beginning of last year’s outbreak may have led to more deaths; last year, the Cuomo administration flatly denied the allegations, saying, “Nursing home policy was not a significant factor in the number of nursing home deaths. The data show that the quality of nursing homes was not a factor in the deaths from the infection.”
Cuomo has consistently dismissed the idea that the policy led to a significant increase in nursing home resident deaths, and has consistently praised the state’s response under his leadership during the outbreak.
The English-language Epoch Times has contacted the New York State Department for comment on the report issued by the state attorney general.
The state’s guidelines, which require the admission of infected patients to nursing homes, may have put its residents at increased risk of harm in certain nursing home facilities and may have obscured data that could have been used to assess the risk,” said the report by Jen Lakha.
The report cites the example of an anonymous nursing home that reported to the state Department of Health 11 confirmed and probable deaths from the disease in the nursing home; however, after an investigation by the state attorney general, it was found that there were 40 deaths from the disease in the nursing home, including 13 in the hospital and 27 in the nursing home.
Cuomo’s office was criticized earlier this month for not releasing data on nursing home deaths for about two months; according to data released by the state as of this week, about 35,000 people have died from the CCHD in New York State, and about 70 percent of those cases were in seniors over the age of 70.
At the direction of Governor Cuomo, Jen Lakha’s office set up a dedicated complaint line last April to receive complaints related to nursing homes. The report noted that the office had received 770 complaints as of Aug. 3, with another 179 complaints from Nov. 16 of last year.
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