LANSING, Mich. (Michigan News Source) – In order to “protect vulnerable adults in nursing homes,” Michigan Attorney General Dana Nessel has launched a new complaint system that creates a direct line between the Department and facility administrators who may notice warning signs of financial exploitation.

Nursing home employees can report suspected embezzlement and financial exploitation when they see a red flag like a resident who has a stream of income but their account is in the red. The administrators in the nursing home can report their suspicions to a portal and Nessel’s team will evaluate it for investigation and “root out and prosecute” any suspected abuse.

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The Attorney General’s press release quotes Nessel as saying, “The safety and security of nursing home residents is one of my department’s top priorities.” Some say that back in March of 2021, Nessel wasn’t so diligent about looking into the safety and security of nursing home residents. She refused to launch a criminal investigation into the impact of Governor Gretchen Whitmer’s nursing home policies as they related to the COVID-19 pandemic and deaths that may have resulted from allowing nursing homes to accept COVID-19 positive residents.

Nessel wrote a letter to state lawmakers where she said she found no evidence that would warrant a criminal inquiry.

She stated, “I appreciate that you and your colleagues have policy disagreements with Governor Whitmer’s response to COVID-19. But an investigation by my office is not the mechanism to resolve those disagreements.”

State Senator Jim Runestad (R-Whitehall) said at the time, “Not only is this an abdication of responsibility, it is an insult to every family member who lost a loved one to COVID-19 in a nursing home.”