Rep. Elise Stefanik (R-NY) is demanding New York Gov. Kathy Hochul cough up information about a disturbing pandemic-era do-not-resuscitate policy that was in effect for three days before state officials reversed course due to public backlash.
Stefanik, who is running for the right to challenge Hochul in next year’s gubernatorial race, wants to know how many people who passed away between April 17-20, 2020, might have been saved had the directive — revealed by The Post — not been in effect.
“It is not the role of politicians and bureaucrats in Albany to play God and decide who deserves to live or die when a New Yorker dials 911 for help,” Stefanik wrote in a letter to Hochul, who was Andrew Cuomo’s lieutenant governor at the time.
“Every patient deserves a chance at lifesaving care. This order was a betrayal of that principle.”
Stefanik sent the letter on the same day Hochul confirmed that she will sign right-to-die legislation permitting terminally ill New Yorkers to end their lives, joining 12 other states who have similar measures on the books.
The 2020 order “instructed New York’s EMS workers to not attempt to revive patients without a pulse, a policy that the public only discovered through the New York Post,” Stefanik wrote.
“Just three days later, the order was abruptly suspended after outrage from the public and frontline professionals.”
At the time, officials justified the drastic measure by claiming it was necessary to “protect the health and safety of EMS providers by limiting their exposure” amid the COVID-19 pandemic.
The order was issued weeks after the Regional Emergency Services Council of New York, which oversees the Big Apple’s ambulance services, said that cardiac arrest patients whose hearts could not be restarted at the scene should not be brought to the hospital due to emergency rooms and intensive care units being swamped with COVID patients.
The guidance marked an abandonment of the New York State Department of Health’s longstanding practice of making resuscitation efforts for at least 20 minutes.
“This directive was not only immoral, but it ran completely counter to the Department’s own mission to protect and promote the health and well-being of all New Yorkers,” Stefanik lamented.
“The only silver lining is that New York City EMS workers ignored this dangerous directive, recognizing it for what it was,” she later added. “Tragically, EMS workers in the rest of the state were bound by the state government’s order, with deadly consequences for families who will never know if their loved ones could have been saved.”
Stefanik argued that as lieutenant governor, Hochul was surely “privy to the conversations” that led to the order being issued.
A Hochul rep responded: “Once again, Elise Stefanik is showing how little she understands state government.”
“Only the Governor has direct oversight of state agencies,” the spokesperson stressed. “While serving as Lieutenant Governor under the previous administration, Governor Hochul had no role in issuing this directive.”
Stefanik is demanding to know which New York state counties complied with the do not resuscitate order, how many EMS calls were made while the directive was in effect, and how many New Yorkers in cardiac arrest did not receive resuscitation efforts.
