Author: sherlockj
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State Supreme Court Backs Northam Decree Denying Landlords Access to Courts
by James C. Sherlock This essay is a follow-up based upon a June 7 letter from Governor Northam to the Virginia Supreme Court to which I just gained access. That letter makes the situation much worse. The Order On June 8 the Virginia Supreme Court issued IN RE: FIFTH ORDER MODIFYING AND EXTENDING DECLARATION OF…
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Rule by Decree has Found a Co-conspirator – Virginia’s Chief Justice
by James C. Sherlock One of the most clearly illegal court orders in Virginia history was issued on Monday, June 7. At the request of the Governor, the order suspended the rights of some plaintiffs to access the courts. The order also refers to the fact that the Governor is planning to institute a “comprehensive…
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Virginia Regulations for the Licensure of Nursing Facilities Violate Virginia Law
James C. Sherlock The weaknesses of Virginia’s nursing facility (NF) and skilled nursing facility (SNF) system have been exposed by COVID-19 with deadly consequences. Virginia’s licensing regulations applicable to these facilities are both part of the problem and violate Virginia law. This essay recommends an straightforward permanent fix that will bring Virginia regulations into compliance…
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Virginia Board of Health & the Infrastructure of Influence
by James C. Sherlock The Virginia Board of Health (the Board) is by law a policy board (§ 2.2-2100) appointed by the Governor with the majority of seats specifically reserved for representatives of interests regulated by the Department of Health. Virginia law gives the Board broad policy, regulation and enforcement responsibilities and duties to communicate…
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A Great Idea from Pennsylvania to Help Nursing Homes
by James C. Sherlock Perhaps the Governor can call the General Assembly into special session to copy the best idea I have heard for a short-term fix to nursing home medical care. The Pennsylvania House of Representatives has just passed the “Senior Protection Act” by a vote of 201-1 to appoint the state’s academic medical…
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Virginia Disaster Law is Fatally Flawed
by James C. Sherlock Executive Summary It is an urgent legal necessity to revise the Commonwealth of Virginia Emergency Services and Disaster Law of 2000. That law has never been tested in court. It has many flaws that both hinder good governance in Virginia and will be exposed as potentially unconstitutional in any judicial review.…
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Wisconsin Supreme Court calls a Halt to Governance by Decree
by James C. Sherlock The creation of laws in America is subject to separation of powers, as is their review for constitutionality by the courts. The question in the current crisis is about executive orders. One-person rule was the primary fear of the founders of the republic and is exquisitely guarded against by separation of…
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Rorschach Test
Look at this map that shows the relative percentages of stay at home by citizens on the week ending April 30 and comment on what you see and why you think that is. The darker the shading, the more people stayed at home.
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Private Lab COVID testing and Medical Supplies in Virginia
by James C. Sherlock PBS posted an excellent article yesterday relating that: “Virginia (Virginia Department of Emergency Management (VDEM)) is in the process of finalizing contracts with private labs to expand COVID-19 testing in Virginia. Gov. Ralph Northam has said that widespread testing of at least 10,000 people per day is key to reopening the…
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Virginia’s Nursing Home Regulations Non-compliant with Federal Regulations and Virginia Law
by James C. Sherlock (Updated 1 PM Sunday, May 10) In 2016 the federal Department of Health and Human Services, Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) revised the regulations for nursing homes seeking certification under Medicare and Medicaid, which is effectively all nursing homes. The overall title of the changes was Medicare and Medicaid…
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Limit the Governor’s Power to Restrict Constitutional Freedoms at His Sole Discretion
by James C. Sherlock Updated May 9 at 8:15 AM The U.S. Constitution proceeded from and combined with the Declaration of Independence to form the basis on which we the people agreed to form a government. At its core it limits government so that government cannot limit freedom. The separation of powers within each state…
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COVID-19 – Virginia is the Most Under Tested State in the Union
by James C. Sherlock I have told readers that I will update the state testing rankings here regularly. In a spreadsheet that I constructed using testing data from the COVID Tracking Project and Bureau of the Census data for population of 50 states and D.C., Virginia ranks 48th in testing per 100,000 citizens as of…
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Virginia Department of Health and the Staffing of Nursing Homes
by James C. Sherlock Virginia announced on Friday that the state’s tally of COVID-19 deaths in long- term care facilities had reached 311. That can be traced at least in part to understaffing of nurses in nursing homes such as Canterbury (49 deaths) in Richmond in which Virginia’s sickest un-hospitalized patients reside. Under Dr. Oliver’s…
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Things You Need to Know about Nursing Homes
James C. Sherlock Nursing homes are certified as nursing facilities (NF), skilled nursing facilities (SNF) or both for Medicare and Medicaid participation based on inspections by the state survey agency (Virginia Department of Health). I have italicized skilled nursing facility where it occurs to make it easier to distinguish between those two types of facilities…
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Virginia’s Nursing Homes – Sources of Data and Ratings
James C. Sherlock I am being flooded with very good questions from readers and private correspondents on what sources of information go in to the ratings of nursing homes. There are two primary sources, Center for Medicaid and Medicare Services (CMS) data, some of which comes from the states and most from its own…