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Friday, September 16, 2016

Schuette Says Snyder Administration Is Like A "Fox Guarding The Henhouse" In Flint As McLaren Hospital Claims MDHHS Cover Up


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 By Brandon Hall  
(Email WestMIPolitics@Gmail.com)


McLaren Hospital in Flint says the Snyder administration is attempting to cover up crimes related to the Flint Water Crisis...

Attorney General Schuette said the Snyder administration going through medical records at McLaren is like a "fox guarding the henhouse" as the AG tries to keep a Genesee County Judge's controversial "secret" court order banning MDHHS employees from the the hospital in place...

>>>Snyder Furious As Genesee County Judge Issues Secret Court Order Limiting State Activity In Flint

According to Chad Livengood of the Detroit News:

"Attorneys for McLaren Hospital allege that state health department workers engaged in a “cover-up” of a deadly outbreak of Legionnaires’ disease in 2014 and 2015 in Genesee County that is linked to Flint’s water crisis.

In a court filing, the Flint hospital is asking the Michigan Court of Appeals to uphold a Genesee County judge’s order barring Michigan Department and Health and Human Services employees from being involved in investigations of new and old cases of Legionnaires’ while a criminal probe remains underway.

“Upon further investigation of materials related to the Flint water crisis, McLaren-Flint firmly believes the institution was a victim of numerous crimes and cover-ups by state employees including the MDHHS employees” investigating the bacterial outbreak, McLaren’s attorneys wrote in a legal brief filed Friday.

In the 18-month period, the Flint area had 91 Legionnaires’ cases that resulted in 12 deaths. This summer, there has been a small resurgence of Flint-area Legionnaires’ cases.
Acting at the behest of Gov. Rick Snyder, the state health department is embroiled in growing legal battle with McLaren, the Genesee County Health Department and Attorney General Bill Schuette’s team investigating the Flint water crisis...

Special prosecutor Todd Flood and Genesee County Prosecutor David Leyton warned in a court filing Friday that allowing the state health department to be involved in Flint water matters while agency employees are under criminal investigation is akin to the proverbial fox guarding the henhouse.

Flood and Leyton defended their decision to cut state health officials out of the process of investigating new cases of Legionella bacteria and lead in Flint’s water.

“Given the scope of the investigation, the Office of Special Counsel and the Genesee County Prosecutor concluded the only way to ensure an unbiased and independent investigation of any issues relating to the Flint Water Crisis was to take the ‘fox out of the henhouse,’ ” Flood and Leyton wrote in a Friday court filing."

As WMP previously reported, Mr. Schuette has a fox in his own henhouse and would do well to act soon before the investigation is even more tainted... Stay tuned for developments...

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Brandon Hall is a lifelong political nerd from Grand Haven, and is the Managing Editor of West Michigan Politics.

>>>Email him at WestMiPolitics@Gmail.com

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Photo By Darlene Dowling Thompson

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