Connecticut Lawmakers Seek To Address Controversial Legal Immunity Mandate For Nursing Homes, Hospitals
- September 09, 2020
The Connecticut Mirror (9/8, Carlesso) reports that as officials with Connecticut Gov. Ned Lamont’s (D) administration “consider which executive orders to extend beyond Wednesday, lawmakers want to have a broader discussion about a controversial mandate that’s been in place since April: legal immunity for nursing homes and hospitals.” Lamont issued the “order shielding those facilities from lawsuits less than a month after the first recorded case of COVID-19 in Connecticut,” which “prevents families of nursing home residents and other potential plaintiffs from seeking financial recourse in the courts for injury or death, except in cases of ‘crime, fraud, malice, gross negligence or willful misconduct.’” In the state, “where 2,874 nursing home residents have died during the pandemic – about 64% of the state’s overall COVID-19 fatalities – legislators want to have a conversation about how long the immunity should be prolonged – if it all.”