Advocates for health care organizations are weighing whether to push Florida legislators to extend COVID-19 legal liability protections for medical professionals beyond the March 2022 expiration date.
Discussions about the need to extend legal liability protections come in the wake of Florida seeing a spike in coronavirus cases due to the increased transmissibility of the Delta variant. Those legal protections were included in Senate Bill 72, which was signed by Gov. Ron DeSantis on March 29.
“The pandemic has continued to impact our caregivers who are delivering care in what is still a challenging environment,” Kristen Knapp, senior director of strategy and communications for the Florida Health Care Association, told the Florida Record in an email. “FHCA is currently reviewing the extension of the COVID-19 liability protections, which have been important so providers can maintain the resources they need and stay focused on keeping our long-term care residents safe and well cared for.”
SB 72 gave health care providers a level of protection from civil litigation, but the provisions were less robust than similar protections provided to businesses and individuals, according to a legal analysis of the measure by the state Senate Committee on Rules staff.
The bill’s health care protections apply when health care professionals treat or diagnose a patient for COVID-19, provide novel coronavirus treatments, or delay or cancel a surgery or procedure during the pandemic.
“Additionally, claims need not be proven by clear and convincing evidence,” the analysis of the bill states.
The legal liability protections afforded health care professionals will likely hold up if the health care provider was acting in sync with established government health care standards in force during the pandemic, according to the analysis.
The discussion of extending legal liability protections in Florida also comes amid concerns about the state’s nursing homes and their personnel. Confirmed COVID-19 cases among Florida nursing home residents number 5.28 per 100, the highest rate of any of the 50 states, according to an online tally compiled by the AARP.
The same online data dashboard indicates that only 48.5% of nursing home health care staffs are fully vaccinated for COVID-19, the second lowest vaccination rate in the nation, behind Louisiana.