Michigan Attorney General Rebuffs Lawmaker Request To Investigate Nursing Home COVID Deaths

Michigan Attorney General Dana Nessel has refused a lawmaker's request to investigate Gov. Gretchen Whitmer’s handling of COVID-19 patients in the state’s nursing homes.

Republican Sen. Jim Runestad had asked for Nessel to begin an investigation. Nessel rejected his request in a March 15 letter.

“I see no evidence in your letter or elsewhere to suggest that Governor Whitmer’s efforts to contain COVID-19 in Michigan’s nursing homes resulted in increased deaths,” Nessel wrote in the letter. “In any event, bad policy alone would not be grounds for an investigation by my office. As the governors of each state grappled with an unprecedented public health emergency, they were forced to make quick decisions with imperfect information to protect residents of long-term care facilities.”