A court hearing will determine if the Director of Michigan's Department of Health and Human Services will stand trial on Involuntary Manslaughter and Misconduct charges.
Startling testimony came from from Dr. Marcus Zervos of Wayne State University and The Henry Ford Health System, who said that the top Michigan health official said, “people will die of something” when they were arguing about studying an outbreak of Legionnaires Disease in Flint in February of 2016.
That was a year and a half after the outbreak.
The testimony came in day one of a Preliminary Exam to determine if Nick Lyon, the Director of the Michigan Department of Health and Human Services will stand trial on charges of Involuntary Manslaughter and Misconduct in Office.
The medical doctor also testified that by not taking action, more people would die.
In Flint and Genesee County, 90 people had contracted Legionnaires Disease and 12 would die.
Also testifying was Tim Becker, the former second in command in the state health department under Lyon.
He testified no heath warning was issued. Becker was also asked by Judge David Goggins why it was more important to communicate to the Governor before the public while the Legionnaires outbreak was happening.
He said he didn’t know what that was.
The hearing continues Friday in Flint and is expected to go a few more days.
