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Beginning a thread on nursing home litigation: 24 states have given nursing homes immunity from lawsuits related to #COVID19
At least 4 other states already had liability in place for nursing homes in times of disaster
Protections vary state to state
Major states w/o immunity protections: California, Florida and Texas
Also, the Public Readiness and Emergency Preparedness Act, enacted in 2005, gives the fed govt provides expansive immunities for “covered persons” who
prescribe, administer, or dispense “covered
countermeasures” necessary to combat a public
health emergency, such as #COVID19
prescribe, administer, or dispense “covered
countermeasures” necessary to combat a public
health emergency, such as #COVID19
Attorneys giving this talk recommend that because of this, attorneys defending nursing homes get any case that comes out of #COVID19 moved to a federal court
It& #39;s not clear if a nursing home would be given immunity under the PREP act if it was doing extended use for PPE because it was concerned about running out
There& #39;s a question about whether extended use of PPE is a covered countermeasure
PREP Act does not explicitly provide protections for nursing homes, but attorneys giving this talk are providing the framework to make the argument they should be covered
Important to note that some states& #39; immunity laws don& #39;t provide absolute immunity to nursing homes. Some will have a time limitation and don& #39;t cover staff shortages or care of non- #COVID19 residents..
"arguably all care is being altered by the existence of this emergency..." - Jennifer L. Strange, an attorney in Indiana
The very first #COVID19 nursing homes case filed on April 10 against Life Care Center Kirkland. The plaintiff claims
the home “lacked a clear plan of action leading to a systemic failure" and that their loved one died 22 hours after they were notified she had the virus
the home “lacked a clear plan of action leading to a systemic failure" and that their loved one died 22 hours after they were notified she had the virus
The lawyers speaking said it will be important in these cases to show who knew what when and what they did about it ...
Don& #39;t know how damages are going to be determined..
Lawsuits currently pending give a sense of what lawsuits might claim in the future, such as failure to recognize a change in a resident& #39;s medical condition
Ok..End of thread 
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