Legislature Approves Legal Protections Extended For Health Providers Against COVID-Related Claims

Florida Phoenix

February 10, 2022

The Florida House voted Thursday to extend protections for medical providers against COVID-related legal claims for another year. The Senate had already approved the legislation, meaning its next stop would be the governor’s desk.

The Legislature first interposed the liability shield last year, subject to expiration on March 29 this year. Under the new bill (SB 7014) the protections would run until June 1, 2023.

The vote was 87-31. Last month’s Senate vote went 22-13.

Democrats argued that the liability protection could give cover to medical providers offering substandard care.

“To just have a blanket extension on any kind of bad medical care that may be given and say, ‘Well, it’s the pandemic, you know, you can kind of get away with anything you want to’ — that’s not a good approach,” said Democrat Joe Geller, representing parts of Broward and Miami-Dade counties.

“If this was health care, we’d be using a scalpel, and I think we’re using an ax here, instead,” he said.

Republican Ralph Massullo, a medical doctor who represents Citrus and part of Hernando counties, by contrast, argued that emerging variants of the coronavirus, which available vaccines and treatments control with varying efficacy if at all, justify the extension.

“For some of these treatments, that may be good today and not good tomorrow, they should not be held liable,” he said of health-care providers.

The bill would still allow lawsuits alleging gross negligence, Massullo added.

“But when there is no standard of care, or when the standard of care is so dynamic and shifting from variant to variant, you cannot hold a health-care provider liable in those instances.”

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