Nursing homes wield pandemic immunity laws to duck wrongful death suits

In early 2020, with reports of COVID-19 outbreaks making dire headlines, Trever Schapers worried about her father's safety in a nursing home in Queens.

The nursing home did not return calls seeking comment. In a court filing, the home argued that Schapers offered no evidence that the home was "grossly negligent" in treating her father. The industry says federal health officials and lawmakers in most states granted medical providers broad protection from lawsuits for good-faith actions during the health emergency. Rachel Reeves, a senior vice president with the American Health Care Association, an industry trade group, called COVID "an unprecedented public health crisis brought on by a vicious virus that uniquely targeted our population.

Governors of at least 38 states issued COVID executive orders, or their legislatures passed laws, granting medical providers at least, according to one consumer group's tally. Just how much legal protection was intended is at the crux of the skirmishes. Relatives of residents have filed more than 750 negligence or wrongful death cases in New York counties since the start of the pandemic, according to court data KFF Health News compiled using the judicial reporting service Courthouse News Service. No other area comes close.

So far, appeals courts have ruled lawmakers didn't specify that the repeal should be made retroactive, thus stymying many negligence cases. When they phoned to check on elderly parents, they either couldn't get through or were told there was "no COVID-19 in the building," according to one court affidavit.

She died at a local hospital on Sept. 16, 2020, from sepsis attributed to dehydration and malnutrition, according to the suit.

Source: Real Estate Daily Report (realestatedailyreport.net)

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