North Carolina is just one of dozens of states that has granted legal immunity to skilled  nursing facilities and assisted living communities to shield them from COVID-19-related lawsuits. In addition, many industry leaders have been advocating for federal protections for the senior living and care industries against COVID-19 related lawsuits. 

But this push for immunity has received criticism from some consumer advocates and the family members of those living within senior living and care facilities. They contend that the immunity shield should not apply to all lawsuits arising from care during the pandemic — not just care related to COVID. 

For example, Palestine Howze died April 14 in a North Carolina nursing home as a result of a worsening pressure ulcer. The family has filed a lawsuit against the facility but has found that it’s unclear whether the suit can proceed, according to an NPR article on Tuesday. A Superior Court judge soon will decide whether to dismiss the case because of the immunity statute or allow it to continue.

The family’s lawyer, Elizabeth Todd, said she is especially worried that the law gives a “free pass” to nursing homes that are short-staffed.

“Literally, the nursing homes can take their own understaffing, their chronic understaffing, and use it as a shield to prevent any liability at all during the COVID pandemic,” Todd told NPR.

But for long-term care facilities, these immunity measures may be the only thing still keeping their doors open. The high cost of personal protective equipment, testing and staff member support have pushed two-thirds of nursing homes and more than half of assisted living communities into the red, according to the findings of two surveys conducted last month by the American Health Care Association / National Center for Assisted Living.

“[These immunity shields] just take a little bit of pressure off,” Dave Voepel, CEO of the Arizona Health Care Association, told the media outlet, adding that protections allow operators to focus on what is most important. “We need to worry about keeping COVID out of the building.”

Sometimes, he added, doing so cuts into the bottom line.

“Take, for instance, a 100-bed building and they really have 50 rooms, two beds per room,” Voepel said. To keep infection from spreading, those rooms may have to be converted to private rooms, cutting revenue in half.

“It really takes its toll on the business side of the ledger,” Voepel said.