PHILADELPHIA – Despite the recent stall of a proposal to extend legal immunity to health care providers and their staff providing critical care in response to the coronavirus, trade organizations continue to support such a move for Pennsylvania.
The Pennsylvania Health Care Association and LeadingAge PA, among other groups that represent health care providers and workers, recently sent a letter to Gov. Tom Wolf requesting he “stand up for providers and workers, as governors in our neighboring states, including New York, New Jersey, and Connecticut have already done, and issue an executive order providing civil immunity to health care professionals.”
The Pennsylvania Medical Society also recently authored a similar missive.
Liability protections for health care providers and workers are on the discussion table in a number of states, and in some form have already been enacted in New York, New Jersey, Connecticut, Illinois, Michigan, Maryland, Alabama, Georgia, Louisiana, Mississippi, Kentucky, Arizona, Arkansas and North Carolina.
“Many states have moved quickly in providing immunity to health care professionals treating COVID-19 patients and otherwise assisting in the unprecedented response to the current coronavirus health crisis,” White & Williams attorney Jason Poore, of Philadelphia, told the Pennsylvania Record.
“This limitation on liability includes limiting liability of providers/physicians who are treating patients outside the scope of the provider/physician’s practice, or who are treating patients remotely through telemedicine, unless there is gross negligence or willful misconduct.”
In Pennsylvania, the Pennsylvania Coalition for Civil Justice Reform (PCCJR) recently called on the legislature to enact legal immunity protections for health care providers and manufacturers working to combat the coronavirus, after criticizing trial lawyers in that state for allegedly working to bury such a measure which was to be proposed in the Pennsylvania House of Representatives.
“This is an egregious case of lawyer greed triumphing over the need to protect our health care heroes as they risk their own lives to save others,” said Curt Schroder, Executive Director of the PCCJR.
“Many other states have recognized that those working to defeat COVID-19 should not have to worry if decisions made, in the midst of a pandemic, will get them sued later on. Pennsylvanians deserve no less protection.”
Sud Patel, the leader of the state’s trial lawyers group, the Pennsylvania Association for Justice (PAJ), called the immunity proposal “a little off-putting” and said the PAJ’s opposition to the measure came from its language and the breadth of its scope in extending immunity to both small and large-scale health care institutions. Legislators in the House of Representatives, both Republican and Democrat, concurred.
As things stand now, such a move seems to have been stalled in the Keystone State.
“In Pennsylvania, a proposal for such immunity for health care professionals and hospitals was met with sharp opposition from interest groups, including those representing patients in lawsuits against health care providers. It appears that so far, in Pennsylvania, efforts to assist health care providers during the pandemic have been effectively thwarted, at least for the time being,” Poore stated.
Wolf is reportedly “exploring” the concept of providing immunity to health care providers and workers, though he hasn’t commented officially on any possible action he plans to take on that subject, if any.
The governor did announce Monday evening that he is working towards a goal date of May 8 to begin easing restrictions in Pennsylvania, such as the stay-at-home order.
“My team is listening to experts, following the data and prioritizing keeping people. As much as I want to get us back to normal, our response must be measured. Lifting restrictions overnight will be a process and cannot happen overnight,” Wolf said.
From the Pennsylvania Record: Reach Courts Reporter Nicholas Malfitano at nick.malfitano@therecordinc.com