As the second wave of coronavirus sweeps through New York, the state governor has threatened legal action not only against a chain of Brooklyn-based medical clinics that allegedly distributed the Modern coronavirus vaccine out of sequence with state guidelines, but also against those who received their first injection before eligibility.
“We will not tolerate any fraud in the vaccination process. Anyone who gets involved in fraud will be held responsible,” Cuomo told a news conference on Monday. “We want to send a clear signal to providers that if you break the law on these vaccines, we will find out and you will be prosecuted.”
As it stands, the state is just issuing the coveted vaccine to inoculate frontline health care workers and those in care facilities for vulnerable seniors, and not yet for individuals with underlying health problems, despite ParCare’s blatant announcements of that anyone in those three categories could get the injection.
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Albany’s threats – and the notion of targeting individuals who say they simply followed the clinic’s protocol and submitted applications online – worry several people.
“I would never have participated in anything that I thought was criminally wrong,” said a Manhattan professional who received the injection to Fox News. “Everything I filled out on my form was honest and true.”
A man receives a COVID-19 vaccine among the first administered in the country in Bucharest, Romania, on Sunday, December 27, 2020. Romania has started its national vaccination campaign. (AP Photo / Andreea Alexandru)
However, the source said that no one questioned her underlying condition at the consultation and she never received any certification that they had received the injection. In addition, they say the clinic took out a number of different insurance policies, but for those with plans that were not accepted, the cost was $ 150 out of pocket.
According to criminal defense lawyer Troy Slaten, the threats resemble hot air, since “guidelines” are not law.
“It is unlikely because the people who were shot did not commit any crime unless they actively conspired to defraud someone – which the end user did not do,” he told Fox News. “The people who administered the drug may have conspired to obtain it under false pretenses, which we still don’t know, but the patient didn’t do it.”
Slaten emphasized that a directive is a directive and, had it been a law, it would have been called a law.
“They [the state] I want to scare people; send a message to make it less attractive for someone to skip the queue and scare suppliers to ensure that guidelines are followed, “he noted.” Unless they have subpoenas, investigators are not entitled to patient records due to HIPPA and others patient protections. “
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However, legal and criminal experts predict that New York – one of the states hardest hit by the coronavirus – will knock down every stone to lend strength to the case.
“I bet you will see the charges, given that there has been so much publicity about who has so far been allowed to receive the vaccine – the first in line are the medical workers on the front line,” said crime analyst Rania Mankarious, CEO of Crime Stoppers Houston. “Going forward, expect to see a loss of medical licenses, criminal liability, heavy fines, for anyone who is receiving the vaccine wrongly.”
New York Governor Andrew Cuomo speaks to members of the New York State Electoral College before voting for president and vice president in the House of Representatives at the State Capitol in Albany, NY, Monday, December 14, 2020 (AP Photo / Hans Pennink, Pool)
David Bruno, a lawyer and former New Jersey prosecutor, agreed that while “governors should not legislate from the governor’s mansion through executive orders,” there are certainly fraud statutes in the New York Code and the Federal Code to address and punish fraud.
“It is done every day and it happened before COVID-19. The medical records and other important documents for the investigation will be protected by a subpoena from the grand jury of the New York state court, ”he presumed. “These types of records can be enforced using subpoenas from the grand jury. Remember, ParCare has not been charged and is found not guilty.”
ParCare is said to have administered more than 850 initial injections to date. It is not yet clear how many of them were given to individuals who qualify under current state guidelines.
On Saturday, New York health commissioner Howard Zucker announced the opening of a criminal investigation, as reports of vaccines being administered to members of the public outside of the state stipulated. Since then, Cuomo has pledged to sign an executive order and fine any healthcare provider $ 1 million and revoke health licenses if found guilty of vaccine fraud. The New York State Police will also refer the case to the New York Attorney General’s Office. AG Letitia James has already announced that his office is opening an investigation into ParCare.
Boxes containing the Modern COVID-19 vaccine are ready to be shipped to McKesson Distribution Center in Olive Branch, Mississippi, Sunday, December 20, 2020. Some wealthy patients in Southern California asked about ways to skip the line to get the vaccine . (AP Photo / Paul Sancya, Pool)
However, ParCare vehemently denied any wrongdoing and insisted that the state’s prosecution of potential “fraud” is without merit. A spokesman for the company, which has five clinics in Brooklyn and one in Manhattan, told Fox News that contrary information was issued by a DOH representative on December 21, the day he received the shipment from Moderna.
“There was nothing illegal here, no transfer to the black market. The company was told – over the phone – that it could redistribute doses to other clinics in its network,” said the representative.
A ParCare spokesman also said that he has since “proactively returned” his existing stock of vaccines to the state “pending the department’s review”, leaving those who received him perplexed whether they will reap all the benefits and receive the follow-up vaccine. . As it is formulated, the Modern vaccine requires a booster injection 28 days after the first.
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Some have said that they will not go anywhere near the clinic, while some lawyers argue that they should be free to receive without any threat from the state – either before the line or not.
“Even assuming they could identify all the people who got the vaccine wrongly, I believe it would be for criminal exposure purposes to ParCare and not to prevent the patient from receiving a backup,” added Slaten. “Unless the records show that the patient was part of a fraud or unduly paid ParCare for the vaccine when they were not eligible, patients are unlikely to face adverse consequences. They should not be punished by withholding the second injection, as that would be counterproductive. for the whole notion of vaccinating as many people as possible. Even those convicted of crimes are not denied medical care. “