COVID-19 creates thicket of legal concerns for providers

Tenet is preparing for potential lawsuits from patients claiming they caught the coronavirus at one of its hospitals. A New York nursing union is suing hospitals claiming inadequate protection for workers on the front lines.
Providers are grappling with a host of novel legal concerns like these as they treat patients amid the COVID-19 pandemic, leading them to seek protections from various levels of government.
From decisions over what qualifies as elective surgery to navigating near-daily CMS updates and fears of doctors claiming unsafe working conditions, doctors and hospitals have little precedent to go on.

“This is such an unknown area,” Damaris Medina, co-chair of the life sciences practice at law firm Buchalter, told Healthcare Dive. “It’s really hard to predict what’s going to happen in terms of litigation.”
Hospitals and physician groups are taking unprecedented economic hits and many have furloughed or laid off staff as they try to weather the storm. That could leave them even more unprepared for legal issues that arise, as they almost inevitably will.
“It’s just a horrible, difficult situation, and there’s not a lot of easy answers here,” Douglas Grimm, healthcare practice co-leader at Arent Fox, told Healthcare Dive. “I’m not sure we’ve experienced something like this before. In fact, I know we haven’t.”

Potential immunities

Provider groups are pushing Congress to include some immunity for those treating COVID-19 patients in relief legislation. The four bills signed into law so far have only extended protections for medical volunteers.
It could be an uphill battle. The last bill approved in the Democratic-controlled House, panned by Republicans in the Senate and the president, does not include any immunity language.
Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell and fellow Republicans have said they want future legislation to provide broad-based liability protections to businesses that could face lawsuits from employees or customers who say they became infected with COVID-19 on their premises.
McConnell opposes other provisions in the Democrats’ bill such as extending enhanced unemployment insurance and additional direct payments to citizens.
Mike Stinson, vice president of government relations and public policy for the Medical Professional Liability Association, which represent liability insurance providers and supports the creation of federal legislation providing a form of immunity, contends the idea has broad support.
“Right now, I think there’s fairly unanimous consent that liability protections for healthcare providers are necessary and appropriate,” he said. “We’re not hearing a lot of pushback on that, depending on what the scope is going to be.”
https://www.healthcaredive.com/news/covid-19-creates-thicket-of-legal-concerns-for-providers/578764/