The New York Supreme Court has ruled that state officials must turn over complete data on nursing home deaths from COVID-19, following a months-long campaign pushing for their release.
Justice Kimberly O’Connor wrote in a Feb. 3 decision (pdf) that the New York Department of Health (DOH) must release the data within five business days of the ruling.
O’Connor also ruled that the state must cover litigation costs borne by the Empire Center, a think tank that filed a Freedom of Information Act request to the DOH and that has been at the forefront of legal efforts for disclosure of the data.
In a Feb. 3 release, the Empire Center called the decision a “victory for open government.”
“We hope Justice O’Connor’s unequivocal ruling finally pushes the Cuomo administration to do the right thing,” said Bill Hammond, the group’s senior fellow for health policy, in a statement. “The people of New York—especially those who have lost loved ones in nursing homes—have waited much too long to see this clearly public information about one of the worst disasters in state history.”
After the Empire Center filed its request for the release of complete data on COVID-19-related nursing home deaths on Aug. 3, the DOH postponed responding three times. An Empire Center representative told the New York Post on Jan. 13 that state health authorities said in a letter that they need until at least March 22 to complete a full accounting of COVID-19 fatalities in long-term facilities.
O’Connor addressed the delays in her ruling, writing, “DOH does not, in the Court’s opinion, offer an adequate explanation as to why it has not responded to that request within its estimated time period or to date. … The Court is not persuaded that the respondent’s estimated date for responding to Empire Center’s FOIL request is reasonable under the circumstances of the request.”
A request for comment on the ruling sent to DOH officials was not returned by publication…
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