Pandemic | COVID-Related Archives - TriMark Legal Funding

Lawmakers move to extend protections for health providers against COVID lawsuits

January 14, 2022January 14, 2022

For all that Gov. Ron DeSantis and the state’s Republican leaders play up their “freedom” agenda at the expense of COVID-19 mitigation, an average Floridian might conclude the coronavirus isn’t such a big deal anymore.

So why are the state House and Senate advancing legislation extending the liability shield enacted last year, to protect health care providers against medical malpractice lawsuits arising from the COVID pandemic? The shield is scheduled to expire on March 21.

That’s what Democrat Kelly Skidmore of Palm Beach County wanted to know during a House Health and Human Services Committee hearing Friday on a new bill, PCB 22-01, to extend that protection through June 1, 2023.

Skidmore couldn’t help remarking on the “contradictory narrative” between the COVID danger the bill ostensibly recognizes and coolness to mask-wearing and vaccinations expressed by the state’s GOP leaders.

“We keep pushing out that this is over, that we need to be back to normal, and yet we sponsor legislation and we have legislation that extends these liability protections,” she said.

In the end, Skidmore joined the 15-5 majority in approving the legislation.

Colleen Burton, chairwoman of the Health and Human Services Committee, who presented the bill, had this explanation:

“Optimistically, I think we all hoped that the pandemic would be in its final stages by this coming March but, unfortunately, we also are quite aware that mutations of the COVID-19 virus continue to prolong the pandemic. It is vitally important that we continue to protect our front-line workers as they fight the pandemic,” Burton said.

Identical legislation (SB 7014) has cleared both the Judiciary and Rules committees in the Senate.

Both versions would make it harder for people injured by medical providers to win compensation in court if the provider can attribute the harm to COVID.

Will Fired Unvaccinated Employees Get Their Jobs Back After SCOTUS Blocks Biden Mandate?

January 14, 2022January 14, 2022

Employees who were terminated from their job because of their refusal to get vaccinated for COVID-19 aren’t guaranteed to get their jobs back just because the Supreme Court struck down President Joe Biden’s vaccine or testing mandate.

The mandate, which required millions of employees to be vaccinated or undergo weekly testing, sparked questions about the legality of terminating employees over their vaccination status. However, in the majority of the United States, businesses can terminate employees for not complying with company policies and that doesn’t necessarily change because of the Supreme Court’s decision.

Dorit Reiss, a University of California Hastings College of Law professor, told Newsweek that unless employees can claim religious discrimination or disability-based discrimination, employers are free to terminate employees for not being vaccinated. Employment in the United States is “at-will” so employers can implement whatever policies they want within the confines of the law and the default is that if employees don’t like the policy, they can find a new job.

Given that private employers can require employees to be vaccinated, Reiss said wrongful termination lawsuits are “unlikely to succeed.”

Judge blocks hospital from taking COVID-19 patient off ventilator

January 14, 2022January 13, 2022

An Anoka County judge has ordered that Mercy Hospital must leave a Buffalo, Minnesota, man on a ventilator.

Scott Quiner was diagnosed with COVID-19 last fall and hospitalized in Waconia in October. His wife Anne told 5 EYEWITNESS NEWS that Scott was transferred to Mercy Hospital in November where he remains sedated and on a ventilator.

A lawsuit filed Wednesday against the hospital alleges that doctors at the hospital were planning to take COVID-19 patient Scott Quiner off the ventilator Thursday.

“I have advised the doctors that I vehemently disagree with this action and do not want my husband’s ventilator turned off,” Anne Quiner states in the filing.

On Thursday, Judge Jennifer Stanfield ordered that Mercy Hospital cannot turn the ventilator off. A hearing is set for Feb. 11. In the meantime, Stanfield told both parties to put together their legal arguments on the authority to remove someone from life support in Minnesota.

Allina Health, which operates Mercy Hospital, said it was “unable to comment on specific patient care” for privacy reasons.

“We will follow the court’s order in this case and continue to work through the legal process. In the meantime, our care teams remain committed to providing exceptional care to all our patients

Michigan auditor general says COVID deaths 30% higher than reported

January 14, 2022January 13, 2022

The State of Michigan says of roughly 28,000 deaths related to COVID-19, a little more than 6,000 of them were in long-term care facilities, including nursing homes. But a new report coming out on Monday will reportedly show that number is higher. So why the discrepancy?

The state says their data is right, even as the data was released following a lawsuit filed by the Mackinac Center Legal Foundation, on behalf of former FOX 2 reporter Charlie LeDuff. The suit was to force MDHHS to turn over numbers and the department settled.

Steve Delie from the Mackinac Center says that the public has a right to know how many people in these facilities that house the elderly have passed away from COVID-19.

Facilities that have fewer than 13 beds are not counted in the state’s data – and that includes adult foster care, homes for the aged, and skilled nursing facilities. If those were included, the number would be at least 30% higher.

It may all come down to the definition of long-term care facilities.

“It seems to be a lot of definitional fighting,” he said

U.S. business fears never-ending liability from ‘take-home’ COVID-19 lawsuits

January 19, 2022January 12, 2022

As COVID-19 cases surge in the United States, businesses say they fear a California court ruling has increased the likelihood that companies will be sued for infections, even by people who are not employees or customers.

The Dec. 21 ruling allowed a wrongful death lawsuit to proceed against See’s Candies Inc, owned by Berkshire Hathaway (BRKa.N), by the family of Arturo Ek of Los Angeles who died in April 2020 at 72 from COVID-19.

See’s employed his wife, Matilde Ek, who said she was infected by the coronavirus while working inches apart from sick coworkers, and then her husband caught it from her at home.

The ruling is the first by an appeals court to allow a novel “take-home” COVID-19 lawsuit, which seek damages from a business over allegations of violating safety protocols and setting off a chain of infections beyond the company’s premises.

See’s, which did not respond to a request for comment, could appeal to California’s supreme court.

The See’s ruling is only binding in California, but it may offer guidance to judges in other states, legal experts said.

Business groups warned in court papers filed before the See’s decision that such a ruling could prompt lawsuits by an infected employee’s family and friends, and anyone infected by that circle of people.

The groups called it a “never-ending chain” of liability.

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