Congress’ Next COVID-19 Relief Bill May Come with Dangerous Blanket Liability Immunity

In response to the COVID-19 outbreak, governors of several states – including Illinois – have issued executive orders granting civil liability protections to certain categories of people and organizations.

Illinois protects the healthcare industry from medical malpractice claims during the pandemic

In Illinois, an executive order put in force on April 1, 2020 shields health care professionals and facilities from civil liability “for any injury or death alleged to have been caused by any act or omission by the Health Care Facility, which injury or death occurred at a time when a Health Care Facility was engaged in the course of rendering assistance to the State by providing health care services in response to the COVID-19 outbreak.”

While we understand that this outbreak represents uncharted territory, blanket immunity orders like this can create more dangers than they solve.

Under this Illinois executive order, healthcare workers would be completely immune from civil liability for any medical negligence (regardless of whether the patient is being treated for COVID-19 or any other medical condition) as long as that healthcare facility is also treating patients with COVID-19.

Even in times of crisis, many patient advocates view blanket immunities as overly broad and dangerous. In Illinois right now, medical providers can only be held accountable for failing to meet the medical standard of care if it rises to the level of gross negligence or willful misconduct. Both of these standards are considerably worse than the usual standard of care.

Nursing home industries also asking for blanket immunity during the outbreak

Other industries nationwide are now asking for similar blanket immunity orders. The nursing home industry has been particularly strong in their lobbying efforts for civil immunity. NBC News recently published an interesting article about the topic.

Nursing home residents are among the most vulnerable population. By granting nursing homes complete immunity from civil liability, these nursing homes will not have any incentive to make sure they make every effort possible to protect their residents.

This would be bad news for nursing home residents across the country. We recognize that the vast majority of nursing homes are good institutions that are doing their best during a difficult situation.

However, there are many bad actors in the industry. Accountability in the form of exposure to civil liability is often the one line of defense making sure these facilities are doing what they are supposed to be doing to protect their residents.

Next COVID-19 Relief Bill May Contain Protections for Businesses that will Re-Open

Now, there are rumblings from Washington that the next coronavirus relief bill must contain significant liability protections for businesses that are beginning to re-open. We don’t yet know what these liability protections would look like, but we hope that Congress gives significant consideration to the potential victims if any of these businesses that act negligently.

What we cannot have is a situation where employees in these businesses are required to go back to work without the protection of worker’s compensation benefits if they happen to contract the virus at work. Similarly, we cannot leave customers that are negligently or recklessly exposed by the misconduct of these businesses without any civil remedy.

Doing so would leave victims harmed by negligence with no recourse. It would discourage businesses from following all rules and regulations aimed at curbing the spread of COVID-19.

Were you exposed to COVID-19 at your workplace? Contact us today.

In Illinois, workers that may have contracted COVID-19 during the course of their employment may be eligible for workers’ compensation benefits.

If you or someone you know may have contracted COVID-19 through workplace exposure, please contact us to evaluate your potential case. Call us at (312) 578-9501 or fill out the form at the bottom of the page to get started.