Michigan’s health department is being sued over its refusal to release information on nursing home deaths during the coronavirus pandemic.
The lawsuit was filed by the Mackinac Center Legal Foundation on Tuesday on behalf of a Detroit journalist who is searching for more information on ages, dates of death, and whether or not individuals who died in nursing homes from the virus contracted the virus at the facility, according to Mid-Michigan News.
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The journalist, Charlie LeDuff, was told that the information he is requesting is exempt under the state’s public records law.
“Not only does the public have the right to know this information, we have the need to know,” LeDuff said. “If we’re going to fix end-of-life care moving forward, it’s going to require a hard look at how the state’s policies treated our most vulnerable population.”
Nursing home deaths during the coronavirus pandemic have been a hot-button issue across the country, including in New York, where the state’s Democratic governor, Andrew Cuomo, is facing a growing push for his removal from office after sending coronavirus-positive patients into nursing homes and being accused of hiding data after the fact.
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Four other governors, all Democrats, directed nursing homes to accept coronavirus-positive patients, including Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer and California Gov. Gavin Newsom.
