Friends of Medicare says the Kenney government’s introduction of Bill 70, The COVID-19 Related Measures Act, puts protecting the legal interests of for-profit and private long-term care facilities over protecting the lives and safety of residents in those facilities. “We know in January the Alberta Continuing Care Association, that represents long-term for profit and private not for profit providers, was lobbying the government in asking them to put in these COVID protections so they can save themselves from being sued, and then we see Bill 70 being introduced in the house last week,” explains Friends of Medicare executive director Sandra Azocar. “What we are concerned about is this bill will prevent families from being able to seek answers and hold care homes responsible for the negligence toward their loved ones. We know in Canada over 70 per cent of the COVID-19 related deaths have been in care homes. And in Alberta it has consistently been over 60 per cent of the people
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Alberta’s UCP government introduced new legislation Thursday that would protect long-term care and supportive living operators from COVID-19 related lawsuits.
If passed, Bill 70: the COVID-19 Related Measures Act, would raise the legal bar for those alleging harm caused by exposure to COVID-19, forcing plaintiffs to demonstrate gross negligence, rather than ordinary negligence.
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The bill would extend civil liability protection to Alberta Health Services, regulated health professionals, pharmacies, residential addiction treatment facilities and continuing care facilities, as long as they acted in good faith to follow public health guidelines during the pandemic.
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The Alberta government recently introduced a bill that will make it much more difficult to obtain compensation from health facilities and professionals who provided negligent care during the COVID-19 pandemic. This bill is backed by the Alberta Continuing Care Association who lobbied the government to limit their liability following many deaths and several legal challenges against their members.
Bill 70, the COVID-19 Related Measures Act, would set a higher, more stringent standard for negligence claims brought against health facilities as a result of individuals contracting or being exposed to COVID-19. Under the bill, there can be no legal claim for injuries related to COVID-19 such as the loss of a parent or grandparent unless the facility failed to make “a good faith effort” to comply with public health laws and guidance and its conduct amounted to “gross negligence.”
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