Gov. Ron DeSantis recently signed a bill to provide COVID-19 liability protection for health care providers and businesses on March 29, according to a press report.
The new legislation, Senate Bill 72, establishes separate standards and procedures for lawsuits against general businesses against health care providers.
"We supported this legislation and we’re pleased with the governor’s unwavering commitment to our long-term care facilities since the pandemic began. We’re also thankful for CFO (Jimmy) Patronis for championing this issue before the session and grateful to Sen. Jeff Brandes for sponsoring the bill," Florida Health Care Association's Senior Director of Strategy & Communications Kristen Knapp said.
Gov. Ron DeSantis recently signed a bill to provide COVID-19 liability protection for health care providers and businesses on March 29.
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The bill states that individuals seeking damages in lawsuits against health care providers for COVID-19 related damages must present sufficient evidence to support claims the health care provider was negligent or involved in willful misconduct.
"We believe the provisions in Senate Bill 72 will help keep opportunistic lawsuits from diverting precious resources away from our facilities as they continue safeguarding residents and ensuring their high-quality care," Knapp said. "I don’t have specific data on an uptick of COVID lawsuits. We testified just prior to the bill's passage and at that time four of our member facilities had already seen 120 notices of intents filed."
Additionally, individuals must bring a civil action lawsuit to court within one year of the COVID-19 related damages occurring. This shortens the usual time allotted time of four years for negligence-related lawsuits.
Seventeen states have also enacted legislation to provide civil liability immunity to individuals and entities from COVID-19-related claims.