How Far Does COVID-Related Legal Immunity Extend?

When the COVID-19 pandemic hit the United States in 2020, much was unknown about the virus. The health care community had to react to a threat about which they had limited knowledge and defenses. In March 2020, as COVID-19 began driving hospitalization numbers up and personal protective equipment was in short supply, the state and federal governments enacted emergency measures to protect health care workers who were trying to care for patients during this challenging time. We are now starting to see lawsuits from that period, and the courts are going to be looking at these emergency measures and deciding how far they go to give legal immunity to health care practitioners. A Connecticut court recently looked at this issue.

The Case

The patient’s family sued the hospital and physician. The defendants moved to dismiss the case, arguing that they had immunity from liability based on the governor’s emergency executive order and the federal Public Readiness and Emergency Preparedness (PREP) Act.

The Decision

The court ultimately decided that both the executive order and the PREP act protected the defendants for any acts or omissions that had occurred before the negative test result on the evening of March 24, but there is no immunity for what happened after the negative test result was obtained and the defendants were aware that the patient did not have COVID-19.

Bottom Line

The court dismissed the claims that arose before the evening of March 24 but allowed the claims based on what happened afterward to proceed. Expect to see more cases like this in the future.

Ann W. Latner, JD, is a freelance writer and attorney based in New York. She was formerly the director of periodicals at the American Pharmacists Association and editor of Pharmacy Times.