A proposed law that would give limited civil immunity to doctors and other medical providers who provide emergency care during natural disasters has been reintroduced in the Ohio Senate.
A nearly identical proposal passed the Senate by a 22-10 vote last year, but never made it to a vote in the Ohio House of Representatives.
The proposal, Senate Bill 129, is a high priority for the Ohio Hospital Association (OHA) and Ohio State Medical Association (OSMA), the state’s largest trade group for doctors. Each of the associations said the “qualified civil immunity” proposal was near the top of their agendas when asked in January to list their highest priorities for the 2011-2012 legislative session.
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The legal proposal is “qualified” in that it doesn’t apply to wrongful death claims. The proposal also doesn’t apply to instances in which it’s demonstrated that physicians or other providers have shown “reckless disregard” for a patient’s health.
The bill gives legal immunity from damage claims to a wide variety of health providers, including physicians, physician assistants, dentists, optometrists and a number of types of nurses.
“Qualified immunity would allow hospitals to care for victims of a public crisis without the fear of litigation,” OHA spokeswoman Tiffany Himmelreich said in January.
But not everyone’s a fan. The Ohio Association for Justice (OAJ), the state trade group for trial lawyers, issued a press release denouncing the measure, the Daily Court Reporter reported.
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The OAJ said such a law, if enacted, “will require taxes to be raised, will reduce the quality of medical care in Ohio and will invite bad doctors to practice in Ohio.”
Photo from Flickr user Mark Coggins
