In a series of consolidated wrongful-death suits against a nursing home relating to COVID-19 complications suffered by residents during the pandemic’s outset, the Appellate Court of Illinois, Second District fielded a significant question. The court was asked to determine whether Executive Order No. 2020-19 offers “blanket immunity for ordinary negligence [claims] to healthcare facilities that rendered assistance to the state during the COVID-19 pandemic”.
With modifications to the query, the court confirmed this interpretation in anAug. 17 opinion written by Justice Susan F. Hutchinson.
The court drew its conclusion from an absence of ambiguity in Section 21(c) of the Illinois Emergency Management [Act], stating, “The statutory authority is clear that, except for willful misconduct, any ‘private person, firm or corporation’ who renders ‘assistance or advice at the request of the state during [a] disaster shall not be civilly liable for causing the death of, or injury to, any person.’” Therefore, with the exception of willful misconduct, a state appeals court has conclusively stated that healthcare facilities that offered aid during the COVID-19 pandemic have been granted immunity from ordinary negligence claims.
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