Missouri Loosens Liability For Health Care Volunteers

Lawmakers have voted to override Governor Jay Nixon’s vote to veto SB 129. 

SB 129, aka the Volunteer Health Services Act. This act that would relax the liability of volunteers so that they would not be subject to the same medical malpractice laws.

Senator David Sater, R-Cassville, the bill’s sponsor, said, “This is going to increase access to health care for thousands of Missourians at no cost to the taxpayer.” The bill worked to remove liability for volunteers unless there is a “gross deviation from the ordinary standard of care or willful misconduct.” The intention was to make it easier to health care professionals to donate their time and services to care for others without fearing lawsuits.

According to Senator Sater, health workers and retired physicians were dissuaded from volunteering their services in their communities by the cost of liability insurance. Sater was trained as a pharmacist and he explained that he believes people should be able to volunteer their time and expertise when they have it to offer without fearing a lawsuit. “We just want them to work within the scope of their practice and if they do that and follow the standard of care, which we have in the bill, then they won’t have to fear being sued for some frivolous stuff,” Sater said. This law also allows volunteer health professionals to donate their services in Missouri even though they are licensed in other states.

Some charitable groups depend on physicians and nurses from out of state to help staff their events and could benefit greatly from the access to volunteers. For example, Remote Area Medical is a Tennessee-based charitable organization that holds events across the country. Over the course of a weekend, the group provides general medical care, as well as free dental and eye care to the thousands of people in the community who are underserved. Patients line up many hours before the event begins, some even drive for hours and then camp out overnight just to ensure that they get a place in line. RAM wants to be able to see everyone who shows up, but it’s the out of state volunteers that make this possible.

The founder of RAM, Stan Brock, said that of the volunteers who are coming to next event RAM has organized, about 60 percent of these doctors and nurses are licensed outside of Tennessee. RAM ran into this problem in 2011 when the group tried to help out with recovery efforts after the major tornado in Joplin hit. They sent their mobile eyeglass clinic to Joplin, but the group was not allowed to participate since the opticians and the optometrist were not licensed to practice in Missouri.

The governor had vetoed the bill in July because Missouri already has a system for its free clinics. He said that if there are gaps in coverage, those gaps “should be addressed within the system.”

At least seven states have already eased up on restrictions for volunteer health workers and Brock reported that it has been a great success with regard to patient care and the number of patients who can be treated.

It was a close call on whether the measure would pass or not. The bill first passed in the Senate 25-9. The governor vetoed it and then there was a vote in the House regarding overriding his decision. That vote fell short, though only by one vote. However, it was reconsidered just after midnight and this time it passed.

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