Industries seek immunity in state legislatures.

Each year, special-interest groups introduce a host of immunity bills in statehouses around the country to protect industries from liability for the harm they cause.

The prototype bill generally reads like this:

   Notwithstanding any other law to the contrary,
   no person shall have a civil cause of
   action against any person or other legal
   entity that [describe conduct for which
   immunity is proposed], for any loss or
   damage caused by such activities, unless
   said loss or damage was caused by the
   deliberate and wanton act or gross negligence
   of such person.

These are a few of the proposals introduced this year:

In Delaware, a bill (H.B. No. 3) has been introduced that requires retailers without public restrooms to allow people with an "eligible medical condition" to use the retailer's private facilities. Unless it is established that the retailer or its employees engaged in willful misconduct or gross negligence in providing access to the private facilities, the bill provides the retailer immunity if the customer or anyone else, other than an employee accompanying the customer, is injured or killed in an area of the establishment that is not accessible to the public.

In Colorado, an immunity bill (S.B. No. 43) has been introduced to protect health care providers who render emergency care without compensation to someone who is injured in a competitive sport sponsored by a school, college, or university. Colorado legislators are also grappling with an immunity bill (H.B. No. 1079) for lottery sales agents for acts connected with the sale of lottery tickets, when those acts comply with the state's lottery laws.

In South Carolina, the Charitable Health Care Services Act (S.B. No. 108) extends immunity to charitable health care organizations, such as nonprofit hospitals. The immunity is provided to

   physicians and surgeons, nurses, oral surgeons,
   dentists, pharmacists, chiropractors,
   podiatrists, hospitals, nursing homes,
   or any similar major category of licensed
   health care providers that provide medical
   care or dentistry without compensation or
   charge, and without expectation of compensation
   or charge, to an individual, without
   payment or reimbursement by any governmental
   agency or insurer.

The clear message of this bill is that the poor don't deserve the same redress as others when they are injured by doctors' actions.

Also, a proposal (S.B. No. 71) to immunize users of certified defibrillators has been introduced in South Carolina. The bill extends the immunity to situations where the harm occurs in a training session.

While proponents argue in each case that there is a special circumstance requiring immunity for their industry, legislators need to know that these proposals would circumvent the civil justice system and leave consumers with inadequate protections and little recourse for injury.