What my amendment does is it adds language to the definition of a provider by making it clear that this protection from liability only applies when mistakes were made related to the treatment, diagnosis, prevention, or mitigation of COVID-19, or the assessment or care of an individual with a confirmed case, or suspected case, of COVID-19. If we do not narrowly tailor this language to COVID-19, my concern is that this liability shield will be used to protect folks who have engaged in gross misdiagnoses, errors in judgement, and errors in procedures that normally they would and should be accountable for.
Senator Irwin’s second statement, in which Senator Bullock concurred, is as follows:
My amendment seeks to provide some clarity and assurance to a large portion of our citizens who have a lack of trust in the health care industry. Many of our citizens, particularly black Americans, feel that in the health care system, they don’t always get a fair shake. We can see that with the dollars that are put into health care research and how those dollars are spent, and we can see that from time to time in facilities right here in Michigan.
I want to direct you all to the story of Mr. Fowler. Mr. Fowler was a Detroiter who recently passed from COVID-19 and this gentleman visited three emergency rooms and was turned away from all three of those emergency rooms, not admitted, and not tested. In the wake of this, his son said in the media, “I honestly believe it was because my father was black. They didn’t honestly take his symptoms serious enough to give him a test.”
What I’m asking for my colleagues to do is to support this amendment—provide some reassurance to our citizens who know that there is racial bias in pain assessment, who know that there is racial bias in treatment, who know that there is racial bias in diagnosis and prescriptions. I urge my colleagues to Google racial bias and pain assessment. See what’s happening with doctors post-training here in the United States of America who believe falsely that there are biological differences between black Americans and white Americans, and it affects the way that they diagnose and it affects the way that they prescribe treatment for individuals.
What I’m asking for you to do today is to adopt this amendment to add clearly to this bill that wipes away liability and accountability for our health care professionals during this COVID-19 crisis to say that no, that does not apply if our citizens can show that you’ve discriminated against them based on their race or based on their ethnicity or based on who they love.
That’s wrong, we should stand against it here in this Legislature, and particularly in this moment when we’ve been challenged here in this Capitol and on these grounds with the racism in our society. I think now is an especially-important time for this body to stand up and say we do not support discrimination in health care and we are not going to pass a bill that wipes away liability in an environment where we know our citizens are being discriminated against.
The following bill was read a third time:
House Bill No. 5496, entitled
A bill to amend 1994 PA 451, entitled “Natural resources and environmental protection act,” by amending sections 11503 and 11504 (MCL 324.11503 and 324.11504), as amended by 2018 PA 640.
The question being on the passage of the bill,
The bill was passed, a majority of the members serving voting therefor, as follows: