New York state lawmakers are considering a bill that would narrow an immunity law that gave hospitals and nursing homes broad protections against potential coronavirus litigation.

The new proposal keeps the immunity law intact overall, but removes protections against circumstances in which a person did not have the coronavirus. A competing bill in the state Legislature would repeal the immunity law.

In the backdrop of the liability debate, there have been at least 6,300 confirmed or presumed coronavirus deaths at nursing homes across New York, data shows. Gov. Andrew Cuomo has also faced deep scrutiny over the state's response to the virus in those facilities. 

The immunity law, buried in a state budget bill and quietly passed by politicians this spring, gave hospitals and nursing homes cover from possible lawsuits related to the coronavirus crisis.

The Greater New York Hospital Association, a health care trade association that represents hospitals and health systems, has said they "drafted and aggressively advocated" for the immunity clause.

The immunity provision does not cover gross negligence or reckless misconduct, but the law says that those definitions do not apply to "decisions resulting from a resource or staffing shortage." 

The liability legislation is among a hodgepodge of bills being considered by state lawmakers this week as they meet virtually and in person. Health care interests have come out in opposition to the bill tweaking the immunity law. 

The GNYHA says state directives and other actions can impact the care of a noncoronavirus patient, such as the accelerated triage of emergency room patients to make room for a rush of coronavirus patients.

When asked if the association was involved in drafting the new proposal, a spokesman for the association said it had no involvement in the measure.

The organization has pumped millions of dollars to political committees in the last several years.

Stephen Hanse, president and CEO of the New York State Health Facilities Association, defended the immunity law and said the association has voiced its concerns over the bill to policymakers. 

Meanwhile, AARP New York State Director Beth Finkel on Wednesday urged state lawmakers to repeal the liability protections given to nursing homes and "other long-term care facilities."

In a statement, she said residents and their families should have the capacity to hold facilities to account for substandard care. Finkel said the organization calls on lawmakers to "right the wrong they slipped into this year's state budget at the behest of the nursing home industry."

"The right to seek legal redress through the courts is a fundamental American principle," she said in a statement. "It was stripped from nursing home residents and their families in New York, and it should be restored. Period."

Assemblyman Richard Gottfried, D-Manhattan, has described being blindsided by the immunity law.

"That kind of locking down of an issue doesn't happen without extraordinary political influence," he said. "And you had that from all the trade associations involved combined with the governor [pulling] this issue out of a hat and ramming it through with everything he had."

Cuomo weighed in on Wednesday and implied he had not seen the new proposal that would tweak the existing immunity law.

"What they're talking about is excluding limitations for non-COVID-related situations, which I could see the rationale with that," he said on a conference call with reporters Wednesday. "COVID was one thing, if there was [an] issue that had nothing to do with COVID, that's a separate situation but [I'd] have to see the actual bill."