On the afternoon of the April 1 pandemic press conference, Governor J.B. Pritzker said, “We’re doing our best to take care of our seniors, our children, people who are in our care. Our number one concern is the welfare of the people who are in our care.” Later that same day, Pritzker quietly issued an emergency order granting Illinois nursing homes and hospitals a broad swath of legal immunities for injuries or deaths from negligence. The AARP-IL, disability rights activists, attorneys, experts, and a Department on Aging official believe the immunities from litigation will harm Illinoisans, especially those in long-term care.
Law school professors Nina Kohn and Jessica Roberts have published criticisms of similar orders in other states. They say the Illinois order’s breadth is unusual, unnecessary, and likely harmful. After reviewing EO 2020-19, Kohn, David M. Levy Professor of Law at Syracuse University College of Law, said, “Granting long-term care facilities immunity from negligence claims is not something you would do if you truly care about residents of long-term care facilities.”
In the two years since her 79-year-old mother, Carol Orlando, had moved into the nursing home a 40-minute drive from Heimbrodt’s home in Huntley, she became resigned to her mother’s thick, curled toenails the nurses were too busy to cut. Carol’s inability to hear Heimbrodt, due to the staff losing track of her mother’s hearing aids, also was in the distant past. And Heimbrodt had come to terms with her mother’s immobility. “My mom was a walker, five miles a day.”
The facility refused to hook up Carol to an IV, but assured Heimbrodt someone would squeeze water into Carol’s mouth from a sponge. Carol had a do-not-resuscitate order. “I wasn’t looking for a ventilator,” Heimbrodt said. “I was asking for humane treatment. When someone is dehydrated, you give them fluids. How many days can you live without water? Three?”
One reason facilities like Bria might have thought they were immune from accountability is that they helped write EO 2020-19. Dozens of e-mails released following a request under the Illinois FOIA law (147, 156) reveal Pritzker turning his office over to the CEOs and lobbyists of hospitals, nursing homes, insurance firms, and their attorneys, a pattern similar to what happened in New York, Georgia, and over a dozen other states.
“Their response to a terrible problem where they have people trapped in these facilities is to think about nothing but protecting their money. If people at the state and federal level listened to us 20 or 30 years ago then we wouldn’t have this problem now,” Ervin said, noting that Illinois Dems were slow-walking closing down the state’s own long-term care facilities because of labor union pressure.
