Attorney Sean Doolan represents families that lost loved ones in nursing homes at the height of the pandemic. He says those families have wanted a chance to take nursing homes to court for more than a year, then-Governor Andrew Cuomo gave nursing homes broad immunity from civil and criminal liability at that time. Even though the legislature repealed that immunity in March of this year, Doolan says that he can’t retroactively sue them.
“They could drop a resident from a Hoyer lift negligently because they’re understaffed and the resident fractures a hip. During that period of immunity, as long as they can claim they have COVID residents that they’re caring for, they have immunity,” Doolan said.
Democratic Assemblyman Ron Kim has drafted a bill that would give families a two-year window to file a claim against a nursing home if their loved one was injured or died in the facility during the pandemic. “We need to make it very expensive for the system as well as private facilities to get away with bad policies that lead to unnecessary deaths,” Kim said. Doolan says he was hoping that this type of legislation would come forward.
“Most of these families will tell you they want accountability, they want closure, they want someone to answer for what happened and they would have the opportunity to do that,” Doolan said.
Kim’s bill also would create a victims’ compensation fund, which would allow families to file a claim with the state to receive $250,000 at a minimum. Kim says the fund would need roughly $4 billion to have enough money to pay out these claims. Kim’s bill lists the state’s general fund as the source of this funding.
Victims deserve compensation for nursing home negligence amid pandemic
“That’s a good question and I remain open towards finding a different way to finance and find revenues to hold the industry accountable other than the average taxpayer,” Kim said, when asked why taxpayers would be on the hook for paying out damages that may have been committed by nursing homes.
Kim says that the victims’ compensation fund could act as a way for the state to hold itself accountable for granting immunity to nursing homes during the height of the pandemic. He tells CBS 6 that families can file a claim through civil court and the compensation board.
