A. In the absence of gross negligence or willful misconduct, any health care provider who responds to a disaster shall not be liable for any injury or wrongful death of any person arising from the delivery or withholding of health care when (i) a local emergency, state of emergency, or public health emergency has been or is subsequently declared in response to such disaster, and (ii) the emergency and subsequent conditions caused a lack of resources, attributable to the disaster, rendering the health care provider unable to provide the level or manner of care that otherwise would have been required in the absence of the emergency and which resulted in the injury or wrongful death at issue.

Terms Used In Virginia Code 8.01-225.02

  • Person: shall include individuals, a trust, an estate, a partnership, an association, an order, a corporation, or any other legal or commercial entity;

    6. See Virginia Code 8.01-2

  • State: when applied to a part of the United States, includes any of the 50 states, the District of Columbia, the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico, Guam, the Northern Mariana Islands, and the United States Virgin Islands. See Virginia Code 1-245

B. For purposes of this section:

“Communicable disease of public health threat” has the same definition as provided in § 44-146.16.

“Disaster” means any “disaster,” “emergency,” or “major disaster” as those terms are used and defined in § 44-146.16.

“Health care provider” has the same definition as provided in § 8.01-581.1.

“Local emergency” has the same definition as provided in § 44-146.16.

“Public health emergency” has the same definition as provided in § 8.01-225.01.

“Resource shortage” has the same definition as provided in § 44-146.16.

“State of emergency” has the same definition as provided in § 44-146.16.

2008, cc. 121, 157; 2022, c. 617.