Bill would give NC hospitals, doctors, nursing homes legal immunity during pandemic
Should North Carolina doctors, hospitals and nursing homes be shielded from criminal prosecution and lawsuits over treatment decisions they make concerning COVID-19?
That’s a debate that could play out next week when the N.C. legislature gets back to work against the backdrop of a still unfolding pandemic.
A working version of policy recommendations on how the state can best deal with the crisis would offer healthcare providers immunity from civil or criminal prosecution for actions “in response to or as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic.”
The legal protections would be retroactive to March 10, when Gov. Roy Cooper declared a state of emergency, and would extend 60 days beyond the lifting of the emergency order.
The bill before the House COVID-19 Healthcare Working Group is sponsored by GOP Rep. Perrin Jones, a Greenville physician. It is similar to protections already in place in New York and being discussed in other states.
Jones did not respond to an Observer email Friday seeking comment. But he told North Carolina Health News this week that the state’s healthcare community deserves the temporary protection.
“You really have a situation where you have healthcare providers who, at their own personal risk, are in facilities taking care of patients and not really knowing exactly the best way to do that,” Jones said.
“That obviously opens the door for a tremendous amount of liability concerns.”
Members of the state’s legal community, however, say Jones’s bill is so broadly written that it could block N.C. residents from suing doctors, nursing homes and other healthcare providers for decisions that have nothing to do with COVID-19.
Charlotte lawyer Charles Monnett said North Carolina’s healthcare system does not need the same legal immunity as virus-racked New York.
“I admire what health professionals do. I’m grateful for what they do, and I have no problem giving them protection when it’s needed,” Monnett said.
“But this is like using a machete instead of a scalpel to cure the problem. It needs to be more tailor-fitted for the alleged problem, which is really not a problem here.”
This week, a Salisbury family sued the nursing home where their elderly mother contracted COVID-19.
The viral outbreak at The Citadel Salisbury has sickened more than 100 residents and staff, according to reports. An unknown number have died.
The family’s complaint alleges that an undersized staff helped fuel the rash of cases by failing to properly clean the facility or respond to residents.
The owner of the nursing home has denied the allegations. Salisbury police say a Thursday inspection of the facility revealed no signs of criminal neglect.
Under the language of Jones’s bill, medical decisions “resulting from a resource or staffing” would be exempted from liability.
Monnett said that provision goes too far.
“If a nursing home deliberately put fewer orderlies on the ward to save money, they should get immunity for that? Seriously?” he said.
“If that’s my mom and dad dying in there because the home did not want to pay to have an adequate staff, that should get immunity?”
Rep. Becky Carney, a Charlotte Democrat and member of the House working group, told the Observer that the wording of the immunity provision likely will change in the days ahead as hospitals, trial lawyers, nursing homes and other groups have their say.
“It’s still being debated. Different entities are weighing in,” she said.
“We have to be careful. We have to protect everybody. This is unprecedented, and I think everybody wants to come to the table to do what’s best.”
At least for now, according to Rep. Mary Belk of Charlotte, there’s bipartisan support in the House for offering healthcare providers legal protection during the pandemic without compromising patients’ rights.
“We are asking the healthcare providers to make these decisions in an extreme time,” said Belk, a second-term Democrat and another working group member.
“We want to say to them. ‘Make your best decision without the worry that someone will second guess you when this is all over.’”
This story was originally published April 24, 2020 at 6:06 PM with the headline "Bill would give NC hospitals, doctors, nursing homes legal immunity during pandemic."
