Florida’s Ron DeSantis opted not to sign a letter bearing the signatures of 21 other Republican governors last month that urged congressional leaders to provide legal liability protections to health care workers, enterprises and schools during the coronavirus pandemic.
But at least one Florida health care association remains confident that DeSantis will address legal liability concerns for health care workers at the state level in due course.
The Florida Osteopathic Medical Association, along with the Florida Medical Association and the Florida Justice Reform Institute, sent a letter to DeSantis in late March asking that he sign an executive order limiting legal liability for physicians after the suspension of elective medical procedures in Florida in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic.
DeSantis has yet to follow through on recommendations sought by the associations, which include the suspension of some parts of the state’s Good Samaritan Act and the extension of sovereign immunity to health care workers providing care under the governor’s coronavirus order No. 20-72.
“With regard to the executive order that the governor put out, we felt there were some unintended consequences and that we could offer some recommendations to them,” Stephen R. Winn, executive director of the Osteopathic Medical Association, told the Florida Record.
But Winn said he was not disappointed with the governor’s inaction.
“We just have those concerns that we sent to the governor for his review and hopefully an action at some point in time,” he said.
The governors’ July 21 letter to Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer and House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy called for Congress to pass more expansive legal liability protections.
“We ask that you take action to provide common-sense liability protections to health care workers, businesses and schools,” the letter states. “When Americans take sensible steps to implement public health best practices, they should have confidence that they will be secure from unreasonable claims.”
The governors, including Mississippi’s Tate Reeves, Oklahoma’s Kevin Stitt and Texas’ Greg Abbott, are seeking more clarity and consistency from federal law as they deal with the effects of the coronavirus.
“To accelerate reopening our economies as quickly and as safely as possible, we must allow citizens to get back to their livelihoods and make a living for their families without the threat of frivolous lawsuits,” the letter says.