Hospitals cannot claim sweeping immunity from negligence lawsuits for claims that occurred during the early, chaotic days of the COVID-19 crisis, according to a precedent-setting opinion released Tuesday by the Michigan Court of Appeals.
The period from April to July of 2020 was so turbulent that the Legislature adopted a law granting unusual – and temporary – immunity for healthcare providers. The law set a high bar that only excluded acts of “willful misconduct, gross negligence, intentional and willful criminal misconduct, or intentional infliction of harm by the health care provider or health care facility.”
In this case, Beaumont Hospital in Troy, which is now part of Corewell Health, argued that immunity should extend beyond just COVID cases because the chaos was systemwide.
The case was filed by the family of 88-year-old Shirley Jokinen, who was treated for injuries and conditions medically unrelated to COVID. According to court documents, she died on May 14, 2020, and the cause of death was listed as sepsis due to an infected ulcer and heart disease.
Beaumont won in the Oakland County Circuit Court. But the three judges on the appeals panel held that was too broad an interpretation of the law’s protections for providers and, in a unanimous decision, reversed the lower court.
“They recognized that this patient was not there for COVID, so the COVID immunity really should not apply and they ruled in that manner,” said Kevin Oliver, the attorney for Jokinen’s family.
“The immunity does not apply where the patient did not have COVID, was not treated for COVID,” he told Michigan Public Radio.
Corewell did not comment on the decision, which could be appealed to the Michigan Supreme Court. It is one of a number of cases moving through the courts to resolve issues regarding healthcare providers’ legal exposure for events that occurred during the COVID crisis.
