Whitmer vetoes bill to expand protection against lawsuits

LANSING, Mich. (AP) — Gov. Gretchen Whitmer on Monday vetoed Republican-sponsored legislation that would have given additional health providers legal protection from lawsuits in any state-declared emergency and extended the immunity during the ongoing coronavirus pandemic.

The governor, a Democrat, said she would have considered signing the bill if it only had attempted to “mop up” an issued created when the GOP-led Legislature refused to lengthen the COVID-19 emergency. The measure goes “much further,” however, she wrote in a letter to senators.

“For example, this bill would give health care providers and the facilities that employ them broad immunity every time an emergency or disaster is declared, regardless of whether the circumstances demand this extreme measure,” Whitmer said. “A person receiving treatment at a hospital or a resident in a nursing home would be powerless to seek relief when they are h armed in any but the most egregious cases.”

The legislation was supported by hospitals, doctors, nurses and nursing homes but opposed by plaintiffs' lawyers.