Illinois’ Healthcare Workers Could Face COVID-19 Lawsuits Without Immunity

SPRINGFIELD – Healthcare providers in Illinois are not only fighting against an ongoing pandemic, but the threat of malpractice and negligence lawsuits connected to thousands of COVID-19 deaths.

Healthcare Heroes Illinois, a nonprofit group that advocates on behalf of long-term care providers and hospital workers, is calling on Gov. J.B. Pritzker to reinstate a level of protection from lawsuits connected to COVID-19. Pritzker included a level of immunity in his emergency orders early in the pandemic but allowed them to sunset in June.

“From the outset of this global health crisis, the first-responders in the field and the doctors and nurses in the ERs, ICUs and skilled nursing facilities didn’t flinch at responding to the call of duty to protect their patients, while opportunistic TV lawyers were already drawing up plans to turn the tragedies of this pandemic into their own personal profit centers,” said Healthcare Heroes Illinois spokesman Paul Gaynor.

The threat of legal liability could extend to taxpayers, as hundreds of residents living in state-run veterans homes and other facilities have died of COVID-19. The Illinois Department of Public Health halted long-term care facility inspections in May, though federal inspections sparingly resumed. Around half of all COVID-19 deaths have come from long-term care facilities.

Trial lawyers are advertising their services with respect to wrongful COVID-19 deaths during stays in nursing homes. HHI estimates U.S. law firms spent an estimated $67 million on TV commercials to source leads to create a wave of COVID-19-related lawsuits.

There’s talk of federal legislation that would grant healthcare providers immunity from civil lawsuits. One firm soliciting their services, Chicago-based Levin & Perconti, is warning against states or the federal government granting healthcare entities any further immunity from legal scrutiny.

“The act would have a devastating impact on residents of long-term care facilities,” said Steven M. Levin, senior partner at the firm. “COVID-19 has claimed the lives of over 100,000 residents and staff of long-term care facilities. Countless others have suffered harm from isolation and neglect. The Act would excuse long-term care facilities from almost all negligent care that harms residents during the pandemic - including injuries unrelated to COVID-19. If passed, the bill would place hundreds of thousands of current and future nursing home residents at risk of harm or death.”

Gaynor said these firms are taking advantage of Illinois’ litigation-friendly environment.

“These TV lawyers aren’t seeking policy solutions,” Gaynor said.

Three Illinois counties were again labeled “Judicial Hellholes” by the American Tort Reform Foundation. The state received an “F” grade from the American College of Emergency Physicians for its medical liability environment.

Cole Lauterbach

The Center Square

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