Grimm Quoted on Legal Implications for Hospitals as They Brace for Immigration Agents
Law360
Health Care Practice Leader Douglas A. Grimm was quoted by Law360, urging hospital leaders and lawyers across the country to start implementing new strategies after the Trump Administration pulled back a Biden Administration 2021 directive to avoid immigration enforcement at certain locations, including hospitals.
Douglas said, “If you’re not prepared, now is the time to get prepared.”
Douglas said that he encourages his clients to anticipate scenarios in which federal agents enter a hospital and inquire if the facility has treated undocumented immigrants, which could raise legal issues related to patient privacy, the provision of health care, and police powers.
“Learning it on the fly is not the way to go with this, because people’s lives are at stake,” he said.
Douglas noted that prior to the 2021 policy change, there were “some very challenging cases to read about — individuals who have been attempting to make their way to emergency rooms, either in ambulances or in private vehicles, who are in emergent situations and they’re intercepted.”
Douglas added that as hospitals begin to navigate varied and often contradictory state and federal laws, he expects litigation.
He said, “The only question in my mind is: ‘How fast is it going to get here?’”
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