COVID-19 was a once-in-a-century pandemic which caused millions of hospitalizations and deaths. Many health care providers risked their lives to provide services to people who were exposed to and infected with COVID.
Now that we are on the “other side” of the pandemic, lawsuits against health care providers regarding care impacted by COVID have increased. Fortunately, there are federal and state statutes which provide immunity for those health care providers if (1) they were providing care during the time period when there was a public health emergency and (2) that care was provided in good faith.
We recently represented an attending physician who was sued by the family of an elderly patient who contracted and died from COVID in a nursing home. We filed a motion for summary judgment, citing the applicable immunity statutes. The court granted our motion based upon the timing of the care and the lack of any evidence of bad faith.
If you are aware of any health care providers who have claims or lawsuits filed against them for care impacted by COVID, please know that state and federal immunity statutes may provide valuable defenses. If you would like more information about these immunity statutes, or other immunity statutes which protect health care providers, please contact us.