Covid-19 Shield Law Barred West Virginia Medical Injury Suit

The estate of a West Virginia man can’t proceed with a medical malpractice claim stemming from a hospital’s delay in treating him after receiving a number of Covid-19 cases, a state appeals court said.

West Virginia’s Covid-19 Jobs Protection Act shielded the hospital from suit because a “dramatic increase” in Covid-19 patients and related staff absences “impacted” Ellis Price’s care for a suspected a heart attack, the West Virginia Intermediate Court of Appeals said Tuesday. The provision, moreover, didn’t violate the state constitution, and the dismissal before discovery didn’t deprive the estate of due process, Judge Daniel W. Greear said. ...