Monmouth County Lawmakers Call for Temporary Public Health Law Changes Amid Medical Crisis

Senator Declan O’Scanlon, Assemblywoman Serena DiMaso, and Assemblyman Gerry Scharfenberger (all R-Monmouth) today issued a statement calling for Governor Murphy to institute certain temporary public health law changes to protect healthcare workers from undue civil liability:

“We are dealing with an unprecedented healthcare crisis, and we need to make sure that we do everything necessary to ensure that hospitals and healthcare facilities are able to increase the number of beds available to patients and make potential staffing changes to treat the most patients.”

“We need to grant reasonable, qualified immunity to healthcare personnel treating patients with COVID-19. The qualifier here would be if there is established evidence that the injury or death of the COVID-19 patient is as a direct result of gross negligence on the part of the medical personnel. The Governor needs to follow in New York’s footsteps and issue an executive order that would allow for certain leniency in staffing, treatment protocols, and other medical practice regulations so that our healthcare workers can do what needs to be done to save lives without having to worry about malpractice issues.”