In the category of “Civil Remedies and Procedure,” the 2008 Virginia General Assembly passed identical bills HB0403 and SB0657 addressing “Health care provider liability protections.” The following summary of the two bills is from the Virginia General Assembly Legislative Information Systems.
The bills provide that, in the absence of gross negligence or willful misconduct, health care providers who respond to a disaster are immune from civil liability for any injury or wrongful death arising from the delivery or withholding of health care. This immunity only applies (i) if a state or local emergency has been or is subsequently declared in response to such a disaster, and (ii) if the emergency and subsequent conditions caused a lack of resources, attributable to the disaster, rendering the health care provider unable to provide the same level or manner of care that would have been required in the absence of the emergency. The bill also allows persons who hold licenses or certificates evidencing their professional or mechanical skills who render aid involving that skill during a disaster to receive reimbursement for their actual and necessary expenses. The bill also combines the definitions of the terms “man-made disaster” and “natural disaster” as contained in the Commonwealth of Virginia Emergency Services and Disaster Law of 2000 into the term “disaster” and adds the term “communicable disease of public health threat” to the definition. The bill also expands when immunity attaches for health care providers who abandon patients in order to respond to a disaster to include disasters, emergencies, and major disasters. This bill also makes technical amendments.
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The patrons were: for the House Bill, Philip A. Hamilton (R); and for the Senate Bill, Stephen D. Newman (R). The bill text passed the House and Senate on February 21, 2008 and was signed into law by Governor Tim Kaine on March 5, 2008. The new law takes effect on July 1, 2008. To read its text, click here.
