North Dakota Code 32-48-05 – Liability of health care providers and health care facilities
1. A health care provider or health care facility is immune from civil liability for any act or omission in response to COVID-19 that causes or contributes, directly or indirectly, to the death or injury of an individual. The immunity provided under this subsection includes:
Terms Used In North Dakota Code 32-48-05
- Individual: means a human being. See North Dakota Code 1-01-49
- State: when applied to the different parts of the United States, includes the District of Columbia and the territories. See North Dakota Code 1-01-49
a. Injury or death resulting from screening, assessing, diagnosing, caring for, triaging, or treating an individual with a suspected or confirmed case of COVID-19.
b. Prescribing, administering, or dispensing a pharmaceutical for off-label use to treat or prevent a suspected or confirmed case of COVID-19.
c. An act or omission while providing a health care service to an individual unrelated to COVID-19 if the act or omission supports the state‘s response to COVID-19, including:
(1) Delaying or canceling a nonurgent or elective dental, medical, or surgical procedure; delaying the diagnosis of an individual; or altering the treatment of an individual.
(2) Conducting a test or providing treatment to an individual outside the premises of a health care facility.
(3) An act or omission undertaken by a health care provider or a health care facility because of a lack of staff, facility, medical device, treatment, equipment, or other resource, attributable to COVID-19 which renders the health care provider or health care facility unable to provide the level or manner of care to an individual which otherwise would have been required in the absence of COVID-19.
(4) An act or omission undertaken by a health care provider or a health care facility relating to use or nonuse of personal protective equipment.
(5) An act or omission undertaken by a health care provider or a health care facility relating to the administration, delivery, distribution, allocation, prioritization, or dispensing of scarce resources among individuals such as medical devices, treatment, and equipment.
2. The immunity provided under subsection 1 does not apply to an act or omission that constitutes:
a. Willful and wanton misconduct; b. Reckless infliction of harm; or
c. Intentional infliction of harm.