In response to the COVID-19 pandemic, Indiana and federal governments declared a state of emergency to prevent the spread of the virus. To protect healthcare workers at the frontlines, the Indiana legislature enacted statutes to immunize them from civil liability in certain cases where a patient’s injury arose from actions taken in response to COVID-19.
Background Facts
In January 2022, while the state and federal health emergencies were still in effect, Elmer Waggoner was hospitalized in Kentucky after testing positive for the COVID-19 virus and developing pneumonitis. As his symptoms worsened, he was transported to a second Kentucky hospital where he was intubated and put on a ventilator. Then, on January 27, he was transferred to Anonymous Hospital 1 in Indiana where he was medically paralyzed and kept on a ventilator. The ventilator was briefly removed in early February but replaced within four days. On February 10, 2022, Elmer developed a pressure wound, also known as a bed sore, on his lower back and began wound care.
On March 3, 2022, Elmer was still on a ventilator but was not testing positive for the COVID-19 virus when he was transferred to Anonymous Hospital 3, also in Indiana. The same day, Governor Holcomb rescinded the COVID-19 state of emergency. The federal public-health emergency was still in effect. Elmer’s bed sore continued to worsen and showed signs of necrosis. On March 17, Elmer was transferred back to Anonymous Hospital 1 where he died twelve days later.
Elmer’s death certificate listed his cause of death as cardiopulmonary arrest with the following conditions leading to the arrest: acute hypoxic and hypercapnic respiratory failure, sepsis, and necrotizing fasciitis. When he died, Elmer’s bed sore spanned from the outside of his left thigh to his lower back.
Elmer’s estate filed a proposed complaint under the Indiana Medical Malpractice Act (MMA) against over eighty Healthcare Providers, alleging negligence. In response, the Providers argued they are immune from liability under statute.
The trial court issued an order granting Providers’ motion for summary judgment and dismissing the complaint with prejudice after finding the Providers entitled to statutory immunity. The trial court found that immunity was an issue for the court, not the medical-review panel. The trial court then determined the Providers were immune under the
Immunity Statutes because Elmer’s care arose from the COVID-19 emergency, even though he received some care after the state-emergency order expired. The Estate appealed.
The Indiana Supreme Court, in its Opinion filed on March 4, 2026, held: “Our lawmakers chose as a matter of policy to immunize healthcare providers working the frontlines in response to the COVID-19 emergency. Assuming the patient here died from his bed sore rather than COVID-19, his bed sore still arose from treatment he was receiving due to his COVID-19. Therefore, the Providers’ services here fall within the Immunity Statutes. We affirm.”
Estate of Elmer Gordon Waggoner v. Anonymous Health System, Inc., et al., Supreme Court Case No. 26S-CT-71.
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