Congratulations to Samantha Quinn and Alan Lieber for successfully moving to dismiss plaintiff’s claim involving treatment of a patient with COVID at St. John’s Episcopal Hospital during February and March of 2021! As noted in the decision, the New York Emergency or Disaster Treatment Protection Act (“EDTPA”) which was signed into law on April 3, 2020, and which was made effective as of March 7, 2020, was initially designed to be extremely broad, granting complete civil immunity to health care providers whose services were impacted by the response to COVID-19. The EDTPA was subsequently amended effective August 4, 2020, to narrow the granting of civil immunity to the treatment of a patient with confirmed or suspected COVID-19, as opposed to all treatment in facilities or situations affected by the pandemic. And on April 6, 2021, the EDTPA was repealed. Attached is the decision by Judge O’Donoghue which held that immunity under the EDTPA was applicable and dismissed plaintiff’s complaint in its entirety.
30615-01.Decision-and-Order