Committee hears bill to extend product-liability exemption to hospitals

The House Committee on Rules opened a public hearing June 25 on Senate Bill 1173A, which would exempt health-care facilities, hospital-affiliated clinics, professional corporations formed to practice medicine, and residential care facilities from product-liability claims for products they provide to patients when the entity did not manufacture or design the product or offer it for sale to the public.

Supporters told the committee the bill restores parity between physicians and hospitals after a recent state-court decision. "Physicians were providing a service. They were not in the retail business when they were providing treatment," State Senator Floyd Brzezinski said, describing the exemption physicians have had since 2009 and urging the committee to extend similar protection to hospitals when they are acting in a care role. "If the pharmacy is being used for just the patients, I submit to you that they should have the exemption. But…