The distraught families of nursing home residents who were fatally exposed to COVID-19 have brought a bombshell lawsuit blaming disgraced former New York Governor Andrew Cuomo for ‘thousands’ of deaths.
In their fiery legal attack, the group of eight is accusing Cuomo of causing the ‘wrongful and untimely deaths’ of their loved ones along with more than 15,000 nursing home patients through his ‘deadly’ March 25th Directive.
Under this ‘shocking’ policy, nursing homes were forced to take coronavirus patients despite knowing thousands of vulnerable residents would be exposed to the deadly virus in 2020.
The plaintiffs – the widows and children of eight residents who died while the policy was in place – are suing Cuomo along with several other high-ranking officials in his administration.
Cuomo’s former ‘mean girl’ aide Melissa DeRosa, former Commissioner of the New York Department of Health Howard Zucker, and ex-Executive Deputy Commissioner for the Department, Sally Dreslin, are named as defendants in the case.
The distraught families of nursing home residents who were fatally infected with COVID-19 have brought an explosive lawsuit blaming disgraced former New York Governor Andrew Cuomo (pictured) for ‘thousands’ of deaths
In their fiery legal attack, the group of eight is accusing Cuomo of causing the ‘wrongful and untimely deaths’ of their loved ones along with more than 15,000 nursing home patients through his ‘deadly’ March 25th Directive
The plaintiffs – the widows and children of eight residents who died while the policy was in place – are suing Cuomo along with several other high-ranking officials in his administration
‘At the time of her infection and death from COVID-19, Defendants were actively, willfully, and intentionally conspiring to undercount and underreport nursing home deaths to hide the truth about the devastating effects of the virus in nursing homes,’ the lawsuit reads for one woman who died in April with the virus.
The case was filed this week in a New York federal court. Cuomo did not respond to a DailyMail.com request for comment in time for this report.
It estimates that there could be 15,000 families who could claim damages, and asks for an unspecified amount of money.
The March 25th directive – that required nursing homes to take in patients with COVID – came shortly after the New York State Health Department recognized that elderly residents are more vulnerable to coronavirus, and issued guidance for nursing homes to screen visitors and employees to protect them.
On March 13, as then-President Donald Trump declared a ‘national emergency’, the department demanded nursing homes stop allowing visitors.
However, just 12 days later, the department issued the ‘deadly’ directive to nursing homes mandating that ‘no resident shall be denied re-admission or admission solely based on a confirmed or suspected diagnosis of COVID-19,’ the suing families say
It added nursing homes were ‘prohibited from requiring a hospitalized resident who is determined medically stable to be tested for COVID-19 prior to admission or re-admission.’
The policy was heavily criticized by many patient care support groups, including The Society for Post-Acute and Long-Term Care Medicine, who described it as ‘unenforceable’ and ‘not in the least consistent with patient safety principles,’ lawyers contend.
Former State Health Commissioner Dr. Howard Zucker (pictured) is named alongside Cuomo as a defendant in the case
DeRosa (pictured) ‘shockingly and brazenly admitted that the underreporting and withholding of nursing home COVID-19 death totals was intentional and with the purpose of misleading the public and federal authorities’, the case claims
The lawsuit does not directly quote Sally Dreslin (pictured) but names her as a leading official behind the March 25th Directive
Although California and New Jersey had established similar policies, New York became the first state to issue a blanket order prohibiting nursing homes from denying admission or readmission to infected residents, according to the lawsuit.
All four named defendants are blamed in the suit for being ‘at the top of the deadly March 25th Directive.’
DeRosa even ‘shockingly and brazenly admitted that the underreporting and withholding of nursing home COVID-19 death totals was intentional and with the purpose of misleading the public and federal authorities,’ the case claims.
Her admission came during a call with state legislative members on February 10, 2021, the filing says.
The lawsuit blasts comments made by Cuomo and Zucker on April 20, 2020, when they were asked whether nursing homes should really be readmitting patients regardless of their COVID status.
Cuomo answered, ‘that’s a good question, I don’t know.’
Meanwhile, Zucker confirmed that under the policy ‘if you are positive, you should be admitted back to a nursing home’, adding that the ‘necessary precautions will be taken to protect the other residents there’.
When asked about Zucker’s statement, Assemblyman Ronald T. Kim (D-Queens) said: ‘It’s either he’s lying or they have absolutely no idea what’s going on the ground’.
‘Later on, we all found out that Defendant Zucker, along with the other Co-Defendants, were indeed lying, with objectively disastrous consequences,’ the filing says.
The lawsuit does not cite Dreslin’s involvement directly but names her as a leading official behind the March 25 directive.
The filing blasts Cuomo and his cronies for their ‘shocking, wanton, conspiratorial, and disturbing actions’ which condemned ‘elderly, mentally, and physically disabled nursing home residents to their deaths’.
The victims listed in the lawsuit suffered ‘excruciating conscious pain, agony, and suffering, including fear of imminent death’, the case claims.
It also accuses the officials of ‘purposefully’ distorting the COVID death toll for more than 11 months to ‘manipulate and flat-out lie’ to New Yorkers about the ‘disastrous effects’ of the March 25th policy.
As of July 2021, there were more than 17,000 reported COVID deaths at New York nursing homes since the start of the pandemic.
Cuomo was praised early in the pandemic for his handling of the virus and directives to try and control the spread. But, the moves were later found to be lies or manipulations.
In January 2021, a report from New York Attorney General Letitia James found the then 12,743 long-term care residents who died from COVID cold be off by as much as 30 percent.
‘While we cannot bring back the individuals we lost to this crisis, this report seeks to offer transparency that the public deserves,’ James said in a statement at the time, dealing a blow to the perception of Cuomo being a hero in the pandemic response.
That led to public distrust and his approval ratings fell in the wake of the disclosure.
‘When it comes to making public the data about the deaths of nursing home patients – the issue on which voters most harshly grade Cuomo – he only gets approval from 54 percent of Democrats, while 81 percent of Republicans and 63 percent of independents give him negative grades,’ said Siena College pollster Steven Greenberg in February 2021.
Despite his misdirection on the pandemic, Cuomo was still paid $5million for a book to detail his response to the crisis.
Cuomo would later resign in disgrace from his office, not for his COVID lies, but for repeated sexual misconduct against women while in office.
Cuomo holds a press briefing on the coronavirus pandemic and urged people who are young and or hesitant to get vaccinated. In 2021, It was determined that New York underreported the number of nursing home deaths in the state
As of July 2021, there were more than 17,000 reported COVID deaths at New York nursing homes since the start of the pandemic
The lawsuit contends while Cuomo’s administration was ‘putting New York nursing home residents out to slaughter’, other states were sectioning COVID-positive patients in separate facilities, the grieving relatives claim.
It names eight patients who died from COVID-19 complications:
- Michael Biondi, 72, a temporary rehabilitation resident at North Westchester Restorative Therapy and Nursing Center, who died November 24, 2020.
- Belinda Thomas, a stroke survivor at Clove Lakes Health Care and Rehabilitation Center Inc. on Staten Island, who died May 1, 2020.
- Alex Peoples, a resident at Triboro Center for Rehabilitation and Nursing, Bronx, who died April 13, 2020.
- Arthur Druckman, a resident at Morningside Nursing and Rehabilitation Center, Bronx, who died April 17, 2020.
- Blanca Nieves, a dementia patient at Bronx Center for Nursing and Rehabilitation, who died on April 18, 2020.
- Paul Rivera, a resident at Workmen’s Circle MultiCare Center, Bronx, who died after suffering seizures on May 12, 2020.
- Eloise Brooks, a rehabilitation resident at Upper East Side Rehabilitation and Nursing Center, who died on April 14, 2020.
- Christine Ferrari, a short-term rehabilitation resident at Yonkers Center for Nursing and Rehabilitation who died on April 27, 2020.
Military police veteran and grandfather Michael Biondi is among those named as a victim in the lawsuit. His bereaved widow Patricia Biondi is among the claimants.
Bronx-born Biondi was only supposed to be staying at North Westchester Restorative Therapy and Nursing Center for a short time while he recovered from treatment after he suffered a fall in early 2020.
But he was exposed to COVID-19 in the home, and had low oxygen levels.
He died on November 24, 2020, from complications due to the virus’ at Hudson Valley Hospital at age 72.
Military police veteran and grandfather Michael Biondi (pictured) is among those named as a victim in the lawsuit. His bereaved widow Patricia Biondi is among the claimants
Nursing home patients in Harlem wait in line in January 2021 for the COVID vaccine. Data collected from long-term care facilities across the country, as of May 22, 2020, 43 percent of all COVID-19 deaths in the US were residents of long-term care facilities
Biondi served as a United States Army policeman during the Vietnam War, and he left behind his wife, two adult daughters, and four granddaughters.
‘His loss leaves a tremendous hole in the hearts of family and friends,’ his obituary stated.
DailyMail.com has reached out to the clients via their attorney for more information on their cases.
The center reportedly had at least 30 positive COVID-19 admissions which they were forced to take from hospitals. Ferrari died while on a ventilator at St John’s Riverside Hospital on April 27, 2020 ‘due to septic shock caused by the infection’, according to the lawsuit.
‘While Defendants were satisfied with putting New York nursing home residents out to slaughter, other jurisdictions tried a different approach,’ the lawsuit reads.
Lawyers noted that in Boston, health officials created a temporary 1,000-bed facility for recovering patients who did not need hospital care. Minnesota created a similar facility for people who might otherwise be sent to nursing homes.
New York offered no similar plans despite Cuomo admitting the facilities were ‘a congregation of vulnerable people,’ the filing states.
Nursing home, such as Cobble Hill Health Center, pleaded with the city to put COVID patients inside other places, but it fell on deaf ears. The suit notes when the center pleaded for help just 134 of the 1,000 in New York City Javits Center used to treat patients were full.
Cuomo’s administration also ‘intentionally created the false impression that New York was one of the best-performing states in the country on nursing home COVID-19 deaths, when in reality it was one of the worst’, the relatives argue
Based on data collected from long-term care facilities across the country, as of May 22, 2020, 43 percent of all COVID-19 deaths in the US were residents of long-term care facilities
‘Instead, Defendants pressed on with their shocking and nonsensical approach, willfully, wantonly, recklessly, and in complete disregard of the rights of nursing home residents across the State of New York, arguably the most vulnerable population comprised of elderly and frail individuals, many of whom suffered from physical and cognitive disabilities,’ the families say.
Based on data collected from long-term care facilities across the country, as of May 22, 2020, 43 percent of all COVID-19 deaths in the US were residents of long-term care facilities, despite only comprising 0.62 percent of the nation’s population, per the lawsuit.
Cuomo’s administration also ‘intentionally created the false impression that New York was one of the best-performing states in the country on nursing home COVID-19 deaths, when in reality it was one of the worst’, the relatives argue.